Cambridge & Pearson Edexcel Past Paper Questions

Four beakers contain the same liquid. At which point is the pressure the greatest? [Beakers with liquid and points]

The strength of the forces between the particles of a solid determines how much the solid expands when heated. Which statement about these forces i...

Air is heated in a sealed container with constant volume. Why does the air pressure increase when the temperature increases?

A student determines the specific heat capacity of a metal by carrying out an experiment. The list shows the apparatus that the student has availab...

When a liquid evaporates, molecules escape from its surface. Which molecules escape, and what happens to the average kinetic energy of the molecule...

A sample of water in a beaker is at a temperature T. The surface area of the water is A and an electric fan blows air across the top of the beaker ...

Thermal energy passes quickly from hot regions of a metal to cold regions of the metal. Why are metals good conductors of thermal energy?

The diagram shows light striking a plane mirror and reflecting. Which angle is the angle of incidence? [Light reflection diagram]

A shoe shop puts a mirror on the wall so that customers can look at their shoes. The length of the mirror is 50 cm. A customer has eyes 150 cm abov...

The rays of light from a ray-box pass through three lenses placed at positions 1, 2 and 3. [Ray-box and lenses diagram] Which type of lens is used ...

A swimming pool is lit by an underwater light. A ray of light is incident on the surface of the water. What is the path for the ray of light? [Swim...

When a converging lens is used as a magnifying glass, what is the nature of the image?

A sound wave consists of compressions and rarefactions. Which type of wave is sound and how does the pressure in a rarefaction compare with the pre...

What happens to a sound wave when the note heard gets louder?

A pulse of ultrasound from a sensor is reflected back to the sensor by a crack in a piece of metal and by the bottom surface of the metal. [Ultraso...

A 12 V battery is connected to a resistor of resistance 100 Ω. How much charge passes through the resistor in 30 minutes?

A circuit consists of a resistor connected between the positive terminal and the negative terminal of a power supply. Which row describes the direc...

The graph shows how the resistance of a thermistor varies with temperature. [Thermistor resistance-temperature graph] The thermistor is at a temper...

Each of the resistors in the circuit shown has a resistance of 6.0 Ω. [Resistor circuit diagram] What is the total resistance of the circuit?

An alternating current (a.c.) generator is connected to an oscilloscope. The diagram shows the trace produced on the oscilloscope screen. [Oscillos...

A beam of beta particles travelling vertically downwards enters the magnetic field between two magnetic poles. [Magnetic field and beta particles d...

A step-up transformer is connected between a power station and a long-distance electricity transmission cable. What is the purpose of the step-up t...

Each diagram shows the nucleus of an atom. [Atomic nuclei diagrams] Which diagrams show isotopes of the same element?

A radioactive nucleus X decays to another radioactive nucleus. After a number of decays, a stable nucleus Q is produced. The proton number (atomic ...

The graph shows the results of an experiment to measure the count rate of a radioactive isotope. [Radioactive isotope count rate graph] What is the...

During fission, a nucleus of uranium-235 (U-235) absorbs one neutron to produce two daughter nuclei and three neutrons. Krypton-92 (Kr-92) is one o...

The orbital speed of a planet around the Sun is v and its orbital period is T. Jupiter is further from the Sun than the Earth. Which planet has the...

What is the Earth's position in the order of planets from the Sun?

Which list contains only vector quantities?

The diagram shows the distance-time graph for a moving object. [Figure 2.1 - distance-time graph] What is a description of the moving object?

The speed-time graph for a falling skydiver is shown. As he falls, the skydiver spreads out his arms and legs and then opens his parachute. Which p...

A car driver travelling at constant speed in a straight line sees a hazard in the road ahead at time = 0. The speed-time graph shows how the speed ...

The diagram shows a graph of load against extension for a material. At which point is the limit of proportionality?

There is no atmosphere on the Moon. Two metal spheres of identical volume but different mass are at rest at the same height above the ground on the...

A student determines the density of a small rock. The weight of the small rock is 1.2 N. She pours 100 cm³ of water into a measuring cylinder. She ...

A rock of mass 20 kg is travelling in space at a speed of 6.0 m/s. What is its kinetic energy?

Which row shows an advantage and a disadvantage of using nuclear fuel to generate electrical power?

Which row gives the definition of work done and the unit of work done?

A hammer hits a nail into a piece of wood. [Figure 11.1 - Diagram of hammer hitting a nail] The weight of the nail is negligible. The hammer exerts...

The pressure at a point beneath the surface of a liquid varies with the depth of the point and with the density of the liquid. Which changes both i...

The diagram shows a cylinder containing air. The piston is free to move inside the cylinder and atmospheric pressure acts outside the cylinder. [Fi...

A fixed mass of air has a volume of 150 cm³ and a pressure of 120 kPa. The volume of the air is now changed to 100 cm³. The temperature of the air ...

The diagram shows four changes of state, W, X, Y and Z. [Figure 15.1 - Diagram showing changes between gas, liquid, solid] Which row gives the name...

The diagram shows a metal pan on a hotplate. [Figure 16.1 - Diagram of metal pan on a hotplate] The pan is heated by the hotplate. How is the therm...

A beaker of cold water is heated at its base. [Figure 17.1 - Diagram of a beaker of water being heated] What happens to the heated water?

The graph shows, at one instant, the pressure variation along a sound wave. [Figure 18.1 - Graph of pressure vs distance for a sound wave] Which po...

A cork on the surface of water moves up and down as a wave passes across the surface. The diagram shows how the height of the cork above the averag...

A water wave travels from deep water to shallow water in a ripple tank. What happens to the speed and to the wavelength of the wave?

The diagram shows a ray of light directed at a plane mirror. [Figure 21.1 - Diagram of light ray hitting a plane mirror] What are the angle of inci...

An object O is placed between a converging lens and one principal focus F of the lens. [Figure 23.1 - Diagram showing object O, converging lens, an...