Cambridge & Pearson Edexcel Past Paper Questions

Three students each suggest a consequence of wiring lamps in parallel rather than in series. student 1: If one lamp breaks, the other lamps stay li...

When wire XY is moved downwards between the poles of a stationary magnet, an e.m.f. is produced across X and Y. Which action produces an e.m.f. acr...

An a.c. voltage is displayed on an oscilloscope screen. The Y-gain is set at 2.0 V/cm. What is the maximum value of the voltage?

The results of a scattering experiment show that a very small nucleus contains most of the matter in an atom. What is scattered in this experiment?

Atoms P and Q are isotopes of the same element. How does the composition of an atom of P compare with the composition of an atom of Q?

The nucleus of an atom emits an alpha-particle. How do the proton number and nucleon number change?

The diagram shows how the thickness of paper is measured during manufacture. If the sheet is too thick, fewer beta-particles can reach the detector...

A sample of tritium has a mass of 32 mg. Tritium has a half-life of 12 years. How much of the sample of tritium decays in 36 years?

It takes 27 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth. The average value of the radius of the Moon's orbit is 3.8 × 10⁸ m. What is the average orbital s...

What is the nuclear reaction that takes place in stable stars?

In an experiment, a ball is rolled down a curved track that is about half a metre long. Which measuring device is used to measure the length accura...

Which row describes acceleration, displacement, distance and speed?

What is the size of the resultant of the two forces shown?

The curved line on the distance-time graph shows the motion of a toy car. The straight line is the tangent to the curve at 10 s. What is the speed ...

The diagrams show four balances, W, X, Y and Z. The scales of all the balances are calibrated on the Earth to measure mass. Which balances also mea...

A spacecraft carries a probe to Mars where the gravitational field strength is 3.7 N/kg. The weight of the probe on Mars is 370 N. The gravitationa...

A student determines the density of a liquid. Which equipment does the student use?

Newton's third law describes a pair of forces. Which row shows whether the two forces are of the same type and whether they act on the same object?

The stopping distance of a car is the sum of the thinking distance and the braking distance. Which factors affect the braking distance?

A load-extension graph for a spring is shown. Which point is the limit of proportionality for the spring and what is the spring constant of the spr...

A uniform beam is pivoted at its midpoint. An object weighing 40 N is placed on the beam 20 cm to the left of the pivot as shown. Which force and p...

A worker pulls a rope with a force P through a distance d in the direction of the force as shown. This causes a block of weight W to move verticall...

A battery is connected in a circuit to light a lamp. What is the energy store in the battery?

What is a property of both liquids and gases?

In an experiment, the volume of a gas in a cylinder is measured as the pressure of the gas is increased. The values obtained are shown. What is a p...

The diagrams show examples of thermal expansion. In which diagrams is the thermal expansion useful?

Which statement about copper explains why it is a better thermal conductor than glass?

Which statement describes the transfer of thermal energy in a liquid by convection?

Which characteristics describe the image formed by a vertical plane mirror?

A ray of light passes into a block of transparent material as shown. What is the refractive index of the transparent material?

The diagrams show light incident on the straight edge of a semi-circular glass block after passing through it. Which diagram shows refraction and a...

Which radioactive isotope can be used for measuring cracks or flaws in metal components?

Ultrasound is a type of sound wave that is not audible to a healthy human ear. Which range of frequencies contains only ultrasound?

The diagram shows a bar magnet and four labelled arrows. Which arrow shows the direction of the magnetic field at the point where the arrow is shown?

A metal conductor is connected between the positive and negative terminals of a battery. Which row gives the direction of movement of the particles...

A student has three 15Ω resistors. She connects the resistors together in different arrangements. What is the minimum resistance and what is the ma...

The circuit diagram shows a variable resistor R connected in parallel to the lower section of a potential divider. The resistance of R increases. W...

The power consumption of a microwave oven is 1500 W. The cost of 1.0 kWh of electrical energy is 24 cents. What is the cost of using the microwave ...

A coil of wire above a magnet is dropped. As the coil falls over the magnet, an e.m.f. is induced across the coil. What does not affect the magnitu...

The results of the alpha-particle scattering experiment give evidence for which of the following?

A nucleus of an isotope of cobalt is represented by the symbol ⁵⁹₂₇Co. What is the composition of this nucleus?

The only stable isotope of gold, Au, has 79 protons and 118 neutrons in a nucleus of an atom. How many elecrons are there in a neutral atom of this...

A sample of a radioactive isotope with a very long half-life is placed next to a detector. Sheets of different materials are inserted, one at a tim...

In a fission reactor, which particle causes a uranium-235 nucleus to split?

What is the purpose of moderators in nuclear reactors?

In which region of the electromagnetic spectrum does the Sun radiate the most energy?

Four of the stages in the life cycle of a star, until it becomes a red giant, are shown. W Inward force of gravitational attraction is balanced by ...

An aircraft pulls a glider along a runway as shown in Fig. 1.1. [Figure 1.1] Fig. 1.2 shows the speed of the glider during the first 12s of the mot...

In a safety test, a car of mass 1100kg travels at a speed of 10m/s and collides with a stationary van of mass 3000kg. After the collision the car a...

Fig. 3.1 shows a circuit containing three resistors, a 12V power supply and an ammeter. [Figure 3.1]