Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
One object moves directly from P to R. [Figure 6.1] In a shorter time, a second object moves from P to Q to R. Which statement about the two object...
The graph shows how velocity v varies with time t for a bungee jumper. [Figure 7.1] At which point is the bungee jumper momentarily at rest and at ...
An aeroplane travels at an average speed of 600 km h⁻¹ on an outward flight and at 400 km h⁻¹ on the return flight over the same distance. What is ...
What is meant by the mass and by the weight of an object on the Earth?
A beam of α-particles collides with a lead sheet. Each α-particle in the beam has a mass of 6.6 × 10⁻²⁷ kg and a speed of 1.5 × 10⁷ ms⁻¹. 5.0 × 10⁴...
An object in air is thrown upwards and towards the left. Which diagram shows the force(s) acting on the body when it is at its highest point?
An archer draws his bowstring back to position X. The bowstring and arrow are shown. The tension T in the string is also shown. Then he draws the b...
A uniform metre rule of weight 2.0 N is pivoted at the 60 cm mark. A 4.0 N weight is suspended from one end, causing the rule to rotate about the p...
What is the internal energy of a system?
The diagram shows a barrel of weight 1.0 × 10³ N on a frictionless slope inclined at 30° to the horizontal. [Figure 17.1] A force is applied to the...
A car travelling on a level road at a steady 20 ms⁻¹ against a constant resistive force develops a power of 40 kW. What is the magnitude of the res...
A turbine at a hydroelectric power station is situated 30 m below the level of the surface of a large lake. The water passes through the turbine at...
Which two substances are normally both crystalline?
Water in a bath varies in depth from 20.0 cm at the shallow end to 30.0 cm at the end with the plug. [Figure 22.1] The density of the water is 1000...
Which properties best describe modelling clay?
A steel spring has a spring constant of 150 N m⁻¹. When a 25 N weight is hung from the spring, it has a stretched length of 55 cm. What was the ori...
The diagram shows a sketch of a wave pattern, over a short period of time. [Figure 25.1] Which description of this wave is correct?
Which statement about a light wave and a sound wave is correct?
Light of wavelength λ passes through a diffraction grating with slit spacing d. A series of lines is observed on a screen. [Figure 28.1] What is th...
A student connects two loudspeakers to a signal generator. [Figure 29.1] As the student walks from P to Q, he notices that the loudness of the soun...
When plane-polarised light of amplitude A is passed through a polarising filter as shown, the amplitude of the light emerging is A cos θ. [Figure 3...
Two vertical conducting plates X and Y are positioned so that they are separated by a distance of 6.0 mm in air. A 60 V d.c. supply is connected as...
Two parallel metal plates have a potential difference between them of 12 V. The distance between the plates is 1.0 mm. What are the electric field ...
The diagram shows an electric circuit in which the resistance of the external resistor is 2R and the internal resistance of the source is R. [Figur...
Two lamps are connected in series to a 250 V power supply. One lamp is rated 240 V, 60 W and the other is rated 10 V, 2.5 W. Which statement most a...
The wire of a heating element has resistance R. The wire breaks and is replaced by a different wire. Data for the original wire and the replacement...
In the circuit below, P is a potentiometer of total resistance 10 Ω and Q is a fixed resistor of resistance 10 Ω. The battery has an electromotive ...
A 2 Ω resistor and a 4 Ω resistor are connected to a cell. [Figure 37.1] Which graph shows how the potential V varies with distance between X and Y?
Four resistors of resistance R, 2R, 3R and 4R are connected to form a network. A battery of negligible internal resistance and a voltmeter are conn...
When α-particles are fired at a thin metal foil, most of the particles pass straight through but a few are deflected by a large angle. Which change...
Plutonium-239 (²³⁹₉₄Pu) decays by emitting α-radiation. Which nuclide is formed from one of these decay reactions? (The product nuclides are repres...
A 0.10 kg mass is taken to Mars and then weighed on a spring balance and on a lever balance. The acceleration due to gravity on Mars is 38% of its ...
What is equivalent to the unit of electric field strength?
The diagram shows the reading on an analogue ammeter. [Figure 3.1] Which digital ammeter reading is the same as the reading on the analogue ammeter?
A steel wire is stretched in an experiment to determine the Young modulus for steel. The uncertainties in the measurements are given below. What is...
The acceleration of free fall on the Moon is one-sixth of that on Earth. On Earth it takes time t for a stone to fall from rest a distance of 2 m. ...
Which graph represents the motion of a car that is travelling along a straight road with a speed that increases uniformly with time? [Figure 6.1]
What is the principle of conservation of momentum?
Water is pumped through a hose-pipe at a rate of 90 kg per minute. It emerges from the hose-pipe horizontally with a speed of 20 ms⁻¹. Which force ...
Two railway trucks of masses m and 3m move towards each other in opposite directions with speeds 2v and v respectively. These trucks collide and st...
A glider is descending at constant speed at an angle of 15° to the horizontal. The diagram shows the directions of the lift L, air resistance R and...
A ball is falling at terminal speed in still air. The forces acting on the ball are upthrust, viscous drag and weight. What is the order of increas...
A uniform ladder rests against a vertical wall where there is negligible friction. The bottom of the ladder rests on rough ground where there is fr...
A mass attached to the lower end of a spring bounces up and down. At which points in the path of the mass do the gravitational potential energy of ...
A mass m is situated in a uniform gravitational field. [Figure 14.1] When the mass moves through a displacement x, from P to Q, it loses an amount ...
A small electric motor is mounted on a bench, as shown. The motor is connected to a 6.0V supply and the current in the motor is 0.50A. The motor is...
What is the correct name for a material containing long-chain molecules that are tangled and coiled?
Which statement about molecules in a gas is correct?
The diagram shows the atoms of a substance with the atoms at the corners of a cube. The average separation of the atoms at a particular temperature...
The stress-strain graph for a glass rod, up to the point at which it breaks, is shown below. [Figure 20.1] Which statement about the glass rod is c...