Cambridge & Pearson Edexcel Past Paper Questions

Power is measured in watts. What is the correct symbol for millions of watts?

The following statements are about motion. 1 A plane flies due East for 600 km. 2 A runner's average speed in a race around a track is 5m/s. 3 A sn...

A student measures the speed of a trolley. At one instant, the speed of the trolley is 1.0 m/s and two seconds later the speed is 4.0m/s. What is t...

The speed-time graph shows the movement of a car. What does the shaded area of the graph represent?

Two men jump out of an aeroplane at the same time. One of the men opens his parachute and the other man remains in free-fall. Why is the man in fre...

The diagram shows an aeroplane turning in a horizontal circle at constant speed. In which direction is there a resultant force?

A passenger is sitting in an aeroplane, which takes off and climbs to 10 000m. During this time, what happens to the mass and to the weight of the ...

A wooden trapdoor is hinged along one side and, when closed, is supported on the other side by a ledge. When the trapdoor is closed, the ledge exer...

Which part of the graph shows the limit of proportionality for an elastic solid?

Five blocks have the same mass but different base areas. They all rest on a horizontal table. A graph is plotted to show the relationship between t...

The diagram shows the levels X and Y in a liquid manometer with the gas tap open. What is the pressure of the gas supply?

A parachutist has opened his parachute and is falling to Earth at constant speed. What is the principal energy conversion taking place as he falls?

A small emergency generator supplies 432 000 000 J of electrical energy in twenty-four hours. What is the average power output of the generator?

The liquid in a puddle evaporates and this causes its temperature to change. How does the temperature of the liquid change and why?

When a refrigerator is switched on for the first time, the air surrounding the ice-box is cooled. What happens to the density of this air and to it...

An ice-cube has a mass of 7.50 g. The ice-cube is at 0°C. Heat from the surroundings reaches the ice-cube at an average rate of 1.25J/s. How long d...

A bimetallic strip made from brass and iron is used as a thermostat. When the strip is heated, the brass expands more than the iron. Which shape wi...

Which diagram shows an example of a longitudinal wave?

A student holds a sheet of paper with letters on it facing a plane mirror. The letters on the paper are shown. TOF What does the student see in the...

A semi-circular block is made from a plastic. A ray of light passes through it at the angles shown. To two decimal places, what is the refractive i...

Convex lenses are used in cameras and as magnifying glasses. Which types of image are formed?

A hospital needs to sterilise medical equipment. Which electromagnetic waves could be used?

A flash of lightning and the corresponding sound of the thunder are detected 6s apart. A student calculates that the lightning struck about 1800m a...

Which properties make materials suitable for use as a core in an electromagnet?

Two metal spheres P and Q are mounted on insulating stands and are touching each other. They are uncharged. A positively-charged metal sphere on an...

A length of resistance wire is used as a resistor in a simple circuit. Four separate changes are made to the wire. Which change will not reduce the...

A 6V supply is connected in series with an ammeter and a 4Ω resistor. What is the reading on the ammeter?

Sets of voltage-current readings are obtained for different electrical components. Which set of readings is for a 10Ω resistor?

A student tests the circuit of a press-button telephone with a lamp and a battery. Which single switch can be pressed to make the lamp light?

Which quantity is measured in kilowatt-hours?

The metal case of an electric heater is earthed. The plug to the heater contains a 5 A fuse. There is a current of 4 A when the heater works normal...

A long flexible wire is wrapped round two wooden pegs. A large current is passed in the direction shown. Which two pairs of lengths of wire attract...

The diagram shows a d.c. motor. Why is a split-ring commutator used?

A magnet is pushed slowly into a coil and there is a current in the coil in the direction shown. The magnet is then pulled out quickly from the sam...

A cathode-ray oscilloscope is connected to an a.c. generator. A wave is seen on the screen of the oscilloscope. The speed of rotation of the genera...

A capacitor C charges when it is connected to a d.c. power supply. Which arrows show the direction of the conventional current when the capacitor i...

In one radioactive decay, radium (Ra) gives rise to radon (Rn) as shown. ²²⁶Ra → ²²²Rn ⁸⁸ ⁸⁶ What particle is also produced?

Which row is correct for fission and for fusion?

When a sample of a radioactive nuclide decays, the count rate falls from 1200 to 150 in three minutes. What is the half-life of the radioactive nuc...

Proton number is another name for atomic number. Nucleon number is another name for mass number. What are isotopes?

A plumber measures, as accurately as possible, the length and internal diameter of a straight copper pipe. The length is approximately 80 cm and th...

What is the correct unit for the quantity shown?

A skydiver falls from rest through the air and reaches terminal velocity. What is the acceleration of the skydiver during his fall?

A car accelerates from traffic lights for 10 s. It stays at a steady speed for 20 s and then brakes to a stop in 3s. Which graph shows the journey?

Which vehicle has an acceleration of 5 m/s²?

A car moves in a circle at constant speed. What is the direction of the resultant force acting on the car?

A student collects stones and finds their density. Which apparatus is needed to measure the mass and the volume of the stones?

A uniform beam is balanced at its midpoint. An object is placed on the beam, as shown. Which force will rebalance the beam?

A student finds the centre of mass of a triangular lamina PQR. He drills a small hole at Q. He suspends the lamina from a pin through the hole at Q...

The same downward force is applied to four objects resting on a horizontal surface. Which exerts the greatest pressure on the surface?