Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
A parallel beam of monochromatic light of wavelength λ is incident normally on a diffraction grating G. The angle between the directions of the two...
A flat plate is positively charged and a curved plate is negatively charged. Which diagram shows the electric field lines between the two plates?
Two parallel metal plates are connected to a d.c. supply, as shown. [Figure 32.1] The two plates are moved towards each other at constant speed. It...
Which two units are used to define the coulomb?
An electrical device of fixed resistance 20 Ω is connected in series with a variable resistor and a battery of electromotive force (e.m.f.) 16 V an...
A wire of length L has resistance R. The cross-section of the wire is circular with radius r. A second wire, also of circular cross-section, and of...
A battery of negligible internal resistance may be connected between any two points P, Q, R and S of the network of resistors shown. [Figure 36.1] ...
Kirchhoff's second law is a consequence of a basic principle. What is this principle?
Two cells are investigated using a potentiometer. At the balance point, cell X gives a reading of 44 cm and cell Y gives a reading of 70 cm. [Figur...
A proton in a nucleus undergoes β⁺ decay. One of the products is a neutron. What are the other products?
A certain type of hadron has zero charge. It is composed of a down quark, a strange quark and one other quark. What could be the other quark?
A wooden block moves along a horizontal frictionless surface, as shown in Fig. 2.1. [Figure 2.1] The block has mass 85g and moves to the left with ...
A golfer strikes a ball so that it leaves horizontal ground with a velocity of 6.0 ms⁻¹ at an angle θ to the horizontal, as illustrated in Fig. 1.1...
The kilogram, metre and second are all SI base units. A uniform beam AB of length 6.0m is placed on a horizontal surface and then tilted at an angl...
(a) State the principle of conservation of momentum. (b) The propulsion system of a toy car consists of a propeller attached to an electric motor, ...
(a) Sound waves are longitudinal waves. By reference to the direction of propagation of energy, state what is meant by a longitudinal wave. (b) A s...
Red light of wavelength 640 nm is incident normally on a diffraction grating having a line spacing of 1.7 × 10⁻⁶m, as shown in Fig. 5.1. [Figure 5....
(a) Define the volt. (b) A battery of electromotive force (e.m.f.) 7.0V and negligible internal resistance is connected in series with three compon...
(a) The current I in a metal wire is given by the expression I = Anve. State what is meant by the symbols A and n. (b) The diameter of a wire XY va...
(a) In the following list, underline all particles that are leptons. antineutrino positron proton quark (b) A stationary nucleus of magnesium-27, ²...
Mass, length and time are all SI base quantities. A wire hangs between two fixed points, as shown in Fig. 1.1. [Figure 1.1] A child's swing is made...
A cannon fires a shell vertically upwards. The shell leaves the cannon with a speed of 80 ms¯¹ and a kinetic energy of 480 J. The shell then rises ...
A toy rocket consists of a container of water and compressed air, as shown in Fig. 3.1. [Figure 3.1] Water is pushed vertically downwards through a...
A horizontal string is stretched between two fixed points X and Y. A vibrator is used to oscillate the string and produce a stationary wave. Fig. 4...
A particle of mass m and charge q is in a uniform electric field of strength E. The particle has acceleration a due to the field. The particle has ...
The diameter of a wire ST varies linearly with distance along the wire as shown in Fig. 6.1. [Figure 6.1] There is a current I in the wire. At end ...
A potentiometer is connected to a battery of electromotive force (e.m.f.) 9.6V and negligible internal resistance, as shown in Fig. 7.1. [Figure 7....
In this experiment, you will investigate the motion of a wooden strip. Set up the apparatus as shown in Fig. 1.1. The longer nail should be held in...
In this experiment, you will investigate the movement of a chain of paper clips.
In this experiment, you will investigate the equilibrium of a system of three identical springs.
An ideal gas undergoes a cycle of changes as shown in [Figure 2.1]. At point P, the gas has volume 950 cm³, pressure 2.10 × 10⁵ Pa and temperature ...
A U-tube contains liquid, as shown in [Figure 3.1]. The total length of the column of liquid in the tube is L. The column of liquid is displaced so...
The digital numbers shown in [Figure 5.1] are transmitted at a sampling rate of 500 Hz.
Two parallel metal plates A and B are situated a distance 1.2 cm apart in a vacuum, as shown in [Figure 6.1]. Plate A is earthed and plate B is at ...
An ideal operational amplifier (op-amp) has infinite bandwidth and infinite slew rate.
A particle has mass m, charge +q and speed v. The particle enters a uniform magnetic field of flux density B such that, on entry, it is moving norm...
A solenoid S is wound on a soft-iron core, as shown in [Figure 9.1]. A coil C having 120 turns of wire is wound on to one end of the core. The area...
Some of the electron energy bands in a semiconductor material at the absolute zero of temperature are shown in [Figure 10.1]. Use band theory to ex...
A stationary isolated nucleus emits a γ-ray photon of energy 0.51 MeV.
The variation with time t of the number N of undecayed nuclei in a sample of a radioactive isotope is shown in [Figure 12.1].
A U-tube contains liquid, as shown in Fig. 4.1. [Figure 4.1] The total length of the liquid column is L. The column of liquid is displaced so that ...
A circuit incorporating an ideal operational amplifier (op-amp) is shown in Fig. 7.1. [Figure 7.1] The variation with temperature θ of the resistan...