Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
A granite rock at the surface of the Earth has density ρ. The rock is transported to the surface of another planet. The acceleration of free fall o...
A closed U-shaped tube contains a stationary liquid of density ρ. One side of the tube contains a gas at pressure p₁ and the other side contains a ...
Which product of two quantities is equal to power?
Researchers have developed a new type of filament lamp with an efficiency of 40%. Old-type filament lamps have an efficiency of 5.0%. The two types...
A student attempts to derive the formula for kinetic energy Eκ. She begins by considering an object of mass m which is initially at rest. A constan...
A metal wire obeys Hooke's law and has a Young modulus of 2.0 × 10¹¹ Pa. The wire has an original length of 1.6 m and a diameter of 0.48 × 10⁻³ m. ...
A wire is being stretched by a tensile force. Which statement about the elastic limit must be correct?
Which statement is correct for all types of progressive wave?
A transverse water wave is moving along the surface of some water. This causes a ball to move vertically without moving horizontally as it floats u...
A sound wave travels from left to right across a room. The variation with distance across the room of the displacement of the air molecules at one ...
A source emits a sound wave of a single frequency. The Doppler effect causes a different frequency of sound to be heard by a stationary observer. W...
An electromagnetic wave in free space has a frequency of 2.5 × 10¹⁴ Hz. Which region of the electromagnetic spectrum includes this frequency?
Two polarising filters are placed next to each other so that their planes are parallel. The first polarising filter has its transmission axis at an...
A stationary wave on a stretched string is set up between two points P and T. [Figure 27.1] Which statement about the stationary wave is correct?
A bar vibrates with frequency f to produce water waves in a ripple tank. [Figure 28.1] The waves pass through a gap of width x in a barrier so that...
An outdoor concert has two large speakers beside the stage for broadcasting music. In order to test the speakers, they are made to emit sound of th...
The equation λ = d sin θ / n is used to calculate the wavelength λ of light in an experiment that uses a diffraction grating. The light from the di...
The diagram shows a metal block. [Figure 31.1] The block has sides of length a, b and c as shown, and its volume is V. Each charge carrier has a ch...
The circuit diagrams show two lamps X and Y each connected to a cell. The current in lamp X is 0.50 A and its resistance is 9.6 Ω. The current in l...
The intensity of light incident on a light-dependent resistor (LDR) is increased. The temperature of a thermistor is increased. In each case, the c...
An iron wire has length 8.0 m and diameter 0.50 mm. The wire has resistance R. A second iron wire has length 2.0 m and diameter 1.0 mm. What is the...
A cell with constant electromotive force (e.m.f.) is connected across a fixed resistor. Over time, the internal resistance of the cell increases. W...
Kirchhoff's first and second laws are consequences of the conservation of different quantities. What are those quantities?
A potentiometer circuit is used to determine the electromotive force (e.m.f.) Eₓ of a cell. The circuit includes a second cell of known e.m.f. E₀ a...
In an experiment on α-particle scattering, α-particles are directed at a thin gold foil. Most of the α-particles pass straight through the foil or ...
Four nuclei are represented below. ²⁸₁₄E ²⁵₁₅G ²⁵₁₂M ²⁴₁₃Q Which statement about these nuclei is correct?
A neutron is composed of one up (u) quark and two down (d) quarks. When a neutron decays to a proton, a beta-particle is emitted. What is the chang...
A stone sinks in water. What is a possible value for the density of the stone?
Gm, Tm, µm and pm are all units of length. Which unit is the largest and which unit is the smallest?
Two measurements for a solid sphere are shown. mass = (32.5 ± 0.1) g diameter = (1.87 ± 0.04) cm These values are used to determine the density of ...
An aircraft travels along a horizontal path. Two of the forces that act horizontally on the aircraft are the thrust force of the engines and the fo...
A ball travels from point X to point Y around a semicircular track of radius 1.0 m, as shown. [Figure 5.1] What is the displacement of the ball fro...
A rock is launched vertically upwards from the surface of the Earth and an identical rock is launched vertically upwards from the surface of Mars. ...
Which statement describes the mass of an object?
A submarine of total mass 3200 kg is at rest underwater. [Figure 8.1] The total mass of the submarine is suddenly decreased by 200 kg by pumping wa...
A box in air slides with increasing speed down a rough slope from point P to point Q. [Figure 9.1] The slope surface exerts a constant frictional f...
Two balls, X and Y, approach each other along the same straight line and collide. The collision is perfectly elastic. Their initial speeds are uₓ a...
A rod is pivoted at point O. A force F is applied to the rod at point W, as shown. [Figure 11.1] What is the moment of the force F about O?
Two solid cubes X and Y are made of material of the same density. Cube X has twice the mass of cube Y. Cube X has sides of length x. Cube Y has sid...
A U-shaped glass tube contains liquid of density 2000 kg m⁻³, as shown. [Figure 14.1] What is the difference in pressure due to the liquid between ...
A steam turbine is used to drive a generator. The input power to the turbine is Pᵢ and the output power is Pₒ. The power loss in the turbine is Pₗ,...
A variable force is applied to ensure that a constant power is supplied to a train. Which graph best shows the variation of the force F applied wit...
A block is released from rest and slides a distance x down a straight slope. The slope is at an angle θ to the horizontal. [Figure 17.1] The slope ...
What is meant by the spring constant of a spring?
A child holds a thin metal wire that is attached to a kite. The graph shows how the extension of the wire varies with its tension. [Figure 19.1] A ...
A microphone detects a sound wave. The microphone is connected to a cathode-ray oscilloscope (CRO). The shape of the trace on the screen of the CRO...
A longitudinal wave is travelling from left to right. The graph shows the variation of the displacement of the particles with distance along the wa...
A source X emits a sound wave of constant frequency f. The wave is subsequently received at a stationary detector Y. The frequency of the wave that...
A beam of visible light is in a vacuum. What could be the frequency of the light?
A vertically polarised beam of light of intensity I₀ is incident normally on a polarising filter. The transmission axis of the filter is at 45° to ...