Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
Nuclide X with proton number Z undergoes β⁺ decay to form nuclide Y. The decay may be represented by the equation shown. X → Y + β⁺ + W What is the...
Which fundamental particles form a hadron?
The unstable nuclide ²¹⁸₈₄X decays through a sequence of emissions of α and β⁻ particles to form the stable nuclide ²¹⁰₈₃Y. How many α and β⁻ parti...
Which statement about radioactive decay is correct?
What must all physical quantities have?
What is 0.25kN mm¯² expressed in Nm¯²?
A student calculates the density of a solid steel cube in an experiment. The measured mass is 975g±10g and the measured length of side is 50mm±1mm....
The time period T of a pendulum is given by Τ = 2π (L/g)^n where L is the length of the pendulum and g is the acceleration of free fall. The equati...
Radio waves can be used to measure the distance between Earth and the planet Jupiter. A pulse of radio waves is emitted from the surface of Earth. ...
The graph shows the variation with time of the velocity of a car. [Diagram of velocity-time graph with velocity /ms-1 on y-axis (0-12) and time/s o...
A solid object of mass 1.0 kg falls vertically downwards in a vacuum. When the speed of the object is 60 ms¯¹, an additional constant force of 50 N...
A stone is thrown upwards and follows a curved path. [Diagram of a curved projectile path starting from bottom left, going up, then down to bottom ...
A rocket engine ejects 90kg of exhaust gas per second at a velocity of 190 ms¯¹ relative to the rocket. What is the force acting on the rocket due ...
Which statement does not describe an elastic collision between two objects?
A cyclist is riding at a constant speed on a level road. According to Newton's third law of motion, what is equal and opposite to the backward push...
A stone is released from rest and falls a long distance in air. Which graph could show the variation with time t of the acceleration a of the stone?
An empty cart is moving along a horizontal track at a constant velocity. Resistive forces acting on the cart are negligible. A heavy rock is droppe...
A wooden block is held stationary in a container of water using a string that is attached to both the wooden block and the bottom of the container....
A square shop sign of uniform density has mass 2.4 kg and sides of length 0.86 m. The sign is supported by a hinge along its top edge. There is fri...
A block is submerged vertically in a liquid. The four diagrams show the block viewed from the side. Which diagram shows, to scale, the forces exert...
The diagram shows a couple. [Diagram shows two parallel forces of equal magnitude acting in opposite directions, separated by a perpendicular dista...
A ball of mass 1.2kg travels horizontally at a speed of 3.0 ms¯¹. The ball hits a cushion and comes to rest over a horizontal distance of 0.020 m. ...
A box of mass 4.9kg is pushed at a constant velocity from point P at the bottom of an inclined plane to point Q at the top. The box is pushed by a ...
Which expression gives the efficiency of a system?
A student has a copper wire and a steel wire with equal lengths and cross-sectional areas. The student hangs identical loads on the two wires. The ...
Two springs X and Y stretch elastically. The graphs show the variation with extension x of the force F applied to each spring. [Diagram shows two F...
Which phrase describes the strain at the elastic limit on a stress-strain graph?
A teacher removes the turntable from a microwave oven and places a bar of chocolate in the oven. She then switches the oven on for a short time. A ...
A sound wave travels from the left to the right. The graph shows the variation of the displacement to the right of particles in the sound wave with...
Vertically polarised light of intensity I_0 is incident normally on a polarising filter. The transmission axis of the filter is at an angle θ to th...
Which statement compares the behaviour of transverse and longitudinal waves?
A student uses a diffraction grating to determine the wavelength of visible light from a source. The diffraction grating has 300 lines per mm. The ...
Two waves meet. What is not a necessary condition for the waves to produce a stationary wave?
Light of a single wavelength is incident normally on a double slit. Interference fringes are observed on a screen. The distance from the double sli...
A wire is made from a metal of constant resistivity. There is a constant current in the wire. Which statement about the potential difference across...
The I-V characteristics for three electrical components are shown. [Three I-V graphs. Graph 1: linear through origin with positive slope. Graph 2: ...
A resistor of resistance 200 Ω is connected to a supply that has a p.d. of 4.00 V. How many electrons enter the resistor in 4.00 s?
The diagram shows a cell of internal resistance 1.0R connected to a variable resistor. [Diagram shows a cell with internal resistance 1.0R connecte...
The diagram shows a four-terminal box connected to a battery and two ammeters. [Diagram shows a battery connected to Ammeter A, which is connected ...
Two neutral atoms are isotopes of the same element. Which statement about the atoms is correct?
What is the composition of a meson?
A nucleus of carbon-11 contains 6 protons and 5 neutrons. The nucleus of carbon-11 decays by βt emission. What is the total number of up and down q...
The drag force F acting on a moving sphere obeys an equation of the form F = kAv², where A represents the sphere's frontal area and v represents it...
The graph shows two current-voltage calibration curves for a solar cell exposed to different light intensities. [Figure 2.1] At zero voltage, what ...
The diagram shows an oscilloscope screen displaying two signals. [Figure 3.1] Signal X has a frequency of 50 Hz and peak voltage of 12 V. What is t...
On a particular railway, a train driver applies the brake of the train at a yellow signal, a distance of 1.0 km from a red signal, where it stops. ...
A ball is released from rest above a horizontal surface and bounces several times. The graph shows how, for this ball, a quantity y varies with tim...
The diagram shows a velocity-time graph. [Figure 6.1] What is the displacement during the last 2 seconds of the motion?
Which statement about a ball that strikes a tennis racket and rebounds is always correct?
The diagram shows two spherical masses approaching each other head-on at an equal speed u. One has mass 2m and the other has mass m. [Figure 8.1] W...