Cambridge & Pearson Edexcel Past Paper Questions

Which device can be used to measure the thickness of a single sheet of paper?

In a test, four students linked the quantities on the left with their units on the right. Which student matched them all correctly?

The speed-time graph represents a short journey. Which distance-time graph represents the same journey?

A boy sits on a playground roundabout (carousel). The roundabout carries the boy in a horizontal, anticlockwise circle at a constant speed. The dia...

A scientist places a rock on a spring balance. She then places the same rock on a beam balance. At the North Pole, the gravitational field strength...

Which object behaves as an elastic solid as it deforms?

A spring extends by 6.0 cm when a 15 N weight is suspended from its lower end. Three of these springs are used as shown to support a 90 N weight. W...

Objects of different weights are placed on a rigid, horizontal surface. Which row shows the correct pressure acting on the surface?

The diagram shows a simple manometer that contains a liquid. Side X is connected to a gas supply of pressure R. Side Y is open to the atmosphere at...

Air is trapped in a cylinder by a piston. The pressure of the air is p and the length of the air column is 20 cm. The piston is moved outwards unti...

A student uses a newton meter to pull an object horizontally along rough ground. The student multiplies the newton meter reading by the distance mo...

A builder carrying six bricks climbs a ladder. Each brick weighs 25N and the builder climbs a vertical distance of 4.0 m in 8.0 s. What is the aver...

The diagram shows a clinical thermometer. Which factor affects the sensitivity of the thermometer?

A centimetre scale is fixed next to an unmarked mercury-in-glass thermometer. The ice point and the steam point are marked. What is the temperature...

Water is poured into four dishes. In two of the dishes the water has a small surface area and in the other two it has a large surface area. The wat...

A wave of frequency 13000 Hz travels 1300 m in 4.0 s. What is the wavelength of the wave?

The diagram shows light travelling through a medium. The light reaches the boundary with a vacuum as shown. The light emerges travelling along the ...

The diagram shows an object on the principal axis of a converging (convex) lens. A principal focus of the lens is at F. Where is the image formed b...

A digital camera uses a lens to produce a diminished (reduced in size) image on a light sensor. Which row shows the correct type of lens and the na...

Which application uses microwaves?

A star explodes in outer space. Which waves from the exploding star do not reach the Earth?

A metal bar PQ hangs from a thin thread and always comes to rest with end P pointing north. Another bar XY of the same metal settles in no definite...

The diagram shows a 12V d.c. power supply connected across a coil with a metal core. The core becomes a magnet when the current is switched on. It ...

With component X placed in the circuit below, the brightness of the lamp can be gradually reduced until it goes out. What is component X?

Which circuit is connected correctly to measure the current in a fixed resistor and the potential difference (p.d.) across the same resistor?

The diagram shows a current-carrying wire in a horizontal magnetic field. Which arrow shows the direction of the force experienced by the wire?

The diagram shows a d.c. motor with its coil horizontal. Why is a split-ring commutator used?

Which graph shows the voltage output of an a.c. generator when the coil makes one complete revolution?

An electric current flows through a thin metal filament in a vacuum. The filament emits particles. Which particle is emitted and what is its charge?

In the circuit shown, resistors X and Y act as a potential divider to control the speed of a motor. What is the reason for the potential divider?

In the circuit shown, R is a light-dependent resistor. Its resistance decreases when the intensity of the light shining on it increases. The light ...

Why is a reed relay used in a switching circuit?

Three types of radiation emitted by unstable nuclei are electrons, helium nuclei and electromagnetic radiation. What are these types of radiation?

The energy emitted by the Sun is released when the nuclei of an element fuse together. Which nuclei, when fusing together, release most of the ener...

A sample of wood contains 9.0 × 10¹⁶ nuclei of carbon-14. The nuclei undergo radioactive decay with a half-life of 5600 years. How many carbon-14 n...

When a heavy coin falls a short distance towards the ground it does not reach terminal velocity. Why is this?

A car travels along a road at 50 km/h. The driver applies the same braking force at the same place on a day when the surface is dry and then on a d...

In a model of an atom, electrons move in circular orbits around a nucleus. Which statement about the electrons is correct?

A boy stands on some bathroom scales. The reading on the scales is 50 kg. What is the mass and what is the weight of the boy?

Two identical beakers contain the same mass of liquid. There is a different liquid in each beaker. Why is this?. Liquid Q has a density ρ. What is ...

The diagram shows a simple manometer that contains a liquid.. Side X is connected to a gas supply of pressure R. Side Y is open to the atmosphere a...

A child of mass 30 kg is moving at a speed of 4.0 m/s when she reaches the bottom of a slide.. What is her kinetic energy?

A constant force F pulls a block of weight W up the slope shown.. How much work is done in pulling the block up the slope?

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

The diagram shows a frozen pond with the surface of the ice slowly melting as heat is transferred from the warmer air above it.. By which processes...

The diagram shows a clinical thermometer.. Which factor affects the sensitivity of the thermometer?

At a constant temperature, a solid has a fixed shape and a fixed volume. Which row describes the shape and the volume of a liquid at constant tempe...

A plastic tube is immersed in a liquid of refractive index 1.4. Light travelling in the plastic tube strikes the inside surface at an angle of inci...

A student stands at a distance d from the base of a tall cliff. He claps together two pieces of wood and measures the time that elapses before he h...

Ultrasound has many uses. For what are ultrasound waves used?