Cambridge Past Paper Questions

A stationary wave is formed by two progressive waves travelling in opposite directions along the same line of travel. Which statement about the two...

The sound from a loudspeaker placed above a tube causes resonance of the air in the tube. A stationary wave is formed with two nodes and two antino...

A continuous progressive water wave in a ripple tank passes through a gap in a barrier and diffracts. The width of the gap is greater than the wave...

The diagram shows a view from above of a double-slit interference demonstration. L is a monochromatic light source with a vertical filament. B is a...

Green light of wavelength 550 nm is incident normally on a diffraction grating and produces a diffraction pattern on a screen placed 3.5 m from the...

Which charge can be carried by a charge carrier?

A resistor of resistance R is connected across a cell of electromotive force (e.m.f.) E and negligible internal resistance. Which single change to ...

An electrical cable is made up of one thick strand of copper wire that is surrounded by eight thin strands of copper wire. All nine strands of wire...

A car has sensors for detecting the light intensity and temperature of its environment. The sensors make use of a light-dependent resistor (LDR) an...

A student assembles the circuit shown. [Figure 34.1] Which row describes the state of the two lamps?

Kirchhoff's first law is a consequence of the conservation of which quantity?

Three identical cells each have electromotive force (e.m.f.) E and negligible internal resistance. The cells are connected to three identical resis...

In the potentiometer circuit shown, the reading on the ammeter is zero. [Figure 37.1] The light-dependent resistor (LDR) is then covered and the am...

What are isotopes?

A π⁺ meson has a charge of +e, where e is the elementary charge. It consists of an up quark and one other quark. What could be the other quark in t...

What is a scalar quantity?

The value of quantity X has a percentage uncertainty of 2%. The value of quantity Y has a percentage uncertainty of 4%. The value of a quantity W i...

A football is kicked so that it moves vertically upwards through the air. What is the variation in the air resistance and the resultant force actin...

Which statement is not correct?

The diagram shows a laboratory experiment in which a feather falls from rest in a long evacuated vertical tube of length L. [Figure 5.1] The feathe...

A car travels along a straight horizontal road. The graph shows the variation of the velocity v of the car with time t for 6.0 s of its journey. [F...

Two satellites in deep space collide inelastically. What happens to the total kinetic energy and total momentum? total kinetic energy, total moment...

What is a reasonable estimate of the momentum of a family car travelling at 25 kilometres per hour?

A ball collides with a wall. Before the collision, the ball moves with velocity 8 m s⁻¹ to the right. After the collision, it moves with velocity 3...

A lead pellet is shot vertically upwards into a clay block that is stationary at the moment of impact, but is able to rise freely after impact. [Fi...

Two forces act on an object. Which diagram represents a couple? [Figure 11.1]

The diagram shows a uniform rod, XY, that is freely hinged to a vertical wall at end Y. The rod is at an angle of 60° to the wall. [Figure 12.1] A ...

Water has a density of 1.0 g cm⁻³. Glycerine has a density of 1.3 g cm⁻³. A student measures out a volume of 40 cm³ of glycerine into a container. ...

The force resisting the motion of a car is proportional to the square of the car's speed. The magnitude of the force at a speed of 20.0 m s⁻¹ is 80...

A box of weight W is pulled by a force P along a slope. The length of the slope is d, and the box rises a height h. The frictional force between th...

The kinetic energy of a particle is increased by a factor of 4. By what factor does its speed increase?

A mass of 28 g is raised vertically upwards through a distance of 4.6 m. What is the change in gravitational potential energy of the mass?

Two wires, P and Q, made of the same material, are stretched with an increasing force. A graph is plotted of the variation with force of the extens...

An extension–force graph for a spring is shown. [Figure 20.1] What is the spring constant of the spring?

A man stands stationary in front of a swing. A child sits and swings. [Figure 21.1] The child blows a whistle that emits a sound at a constant freq...

A loudspeaker is playing music in a room. The door to the room is open and has a width of 0.80 m. Sound waves of many different frequencies pass th...

A stationary sound wave is set up between a loudspeaker and a wall. A microphone is connected to a cathode-ray oscilloscope (CRO) and is moved alon...

Polarisation is associated with certain waves. Which waves cannot be polarised?

A guitar string is plucked. Which statement describes the resulting waves?

A diffraction grating with N lines per metre is used to diffract light of various wavelengths λ. The graph shows the relation between the diffracti...

A stationary sound wave is formed in the air column inside a tube that is open at both ends. The stationary wave has three nodes. How many antinode...

Interference fringes of separation x are observed on a screen at a distance of 1.00 m from a double slit that is illuminated by yellow light of wav...

What is the definition of potential difference across a component?

The diagram shows a cell of negligible internal resistance connected to a switch and two resistors of resistances R and 2R. [Figure 30.1] The circu...

The I–V characteristics for four components, A, B, C and D, are shown. [Figure 31.1] Which component has the greatest resistance when the potential...

A cylindrical wire has cross-sectional area A and number density of free electrons n. The wire has current I and the free electrons have average dr...

An electric current is formed by moving charge carriers. What is not a possible charge on a charge carrier?

Which description of Kirchhoff's first law is correct?

Two resistors of resistances r and R are connected in parallel. The value of r is less than that of R. [Figure 35.1] Which statement about the comb...

The diagram shows four identical resistors connected in a circuit. [Figure 36.1] Which resistor dissipates the most power?