Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
Light of a single frequency is incident on a pair of narrow slits that are a distance of 0.10 mm apart. A series of bright and dark fringes is obse...
Red light of a single wavelength passes through a diffraction grating. Bright dots are formed on a screen, as shown. [Figure showing bright dots on...
A nichrome wire has a resistance of 15Ω and a diameter of 3.0mm. The number density of the free electrons in nichrome is 9.0 × 10²⁸ m⁻³. A potentia...
The diagrams show two different circuits. [Figure showing two circuits: left with one resistor R, right with two resistors R in parallel connected ...
The potential difference (p.d.) across a filament lamp is increased. Which statement is correct?
A metal wire has resistance R. The wire is stretched so that its diameter decreases to 94.0% of the original diameter. The volume of the wire is un...
The diagram shows a cell of electromotive force (e.m.f.) 3.0V and internal resistance 4.7Ω connected across a lamp. The lamp has a resistance of 9....
A circuit consists of a battery, a high-resistance voltmeter and four fixed resistors, as shown. The battery has an electromotive force (e.m.f.) of...
A potential divider circuit is designed to detect the difference in temperature between two different places. [Figure showing a potential divider c...
Which two particles have opposite charges?
Which particle is a lepton?
A student estimates the maximum speed of some different moving objects. Which maximum speed is not a reasonable estimate?
Which quantity is an SI base quantity?
A student takes measurements to determine the constant acceleration of a model car moving from rest in a straight line. The measured values with th...
An aeroplane is moving at a constant speed in a straight line at an angle θ to the horizontal. Four forces act on the aeroplane: thrust force T, we...
An astronaut on the Moon, where there is no air resistance, throws a ball. The ball's initial velocity has a vertical component of 8.00 m s⁻¹ and a...
Two blocks, of mass 0.20 kg and 0.50 kg, are connected by a light inextensible string that passes over a frictionless pulley. [Figure 7.1] The bloc...
A resultant force causes an object to accelerate. What is equal to the resultant force?
An object falls from a stationary helicopter and reaches terminal velocity. What happens to the acceleration of the object between leaving the heli...
A force F is applied at an angle of 45° to a door handle at a distance d from the pivot of the handle, as shown. [Figure 11.1] What is the moment o...
A couple consists of two forces, each of magnitude F, that act in opposite directions in the same plane. The perpendicular distance between the two...
The diagram shows an experiment to determine the force exerted on a ball by a horizontal air flow. [Figure 13.1] The ball is suspended by a light s...
Two solid cylindrical objects X and Y are held fully submerged in a liquid, as shown. [Figure 14.1] The objects have the same volume. The density o...
An electric car travels at a constant speed of 70 km h⁻¹ for 80 km on a straight horizontal road and uses energy E from its battery. The total resi...
What is meant by the efficiency of a system?
When an object of mass m is raised through a vertical height Δh, the gain of its gravitational potential energy is ΔEₚ. ΔEₚ and Δh are related by t...
Three identical springs, each with the same spring constant, are connected together in four different arrangements, as shown. [Figure 18.1] Which a...
The force–extension graph for a wire is shown. [Figure 19.1] Which row could identify the labels X, Y and Z?
X and Y are two points on the surface of water in a ripple tank. A source of constant frequency generates a wave which travels past X and Y, causin...
A transverse wave on a rope has wavelength λ and period T. The graph shows the variation of the displacement of the particles of the rope with dist...
A source of sound waves is moving at a constant speed directly towards a stationary observer. The sound waves have a speed of 340 m s⁻¹ and a frequ...
A student is investigating two electromagnetic waves, X and Y, in a vacuum. Wave X has a wavelength of 5.2 × 10⁻⁷ m. Wave Y has a frequency of 9.4 ...
A plane polarised light wave of intensity I₀ is incident normally on a polarising filter. The initial intensity of the transmitted wave is 0. A sec...
What can explain how stationary waves are formed from progressive waves?
A pipe has a length of 2.0 m. It is open at one end and closed at the other end. A stationary sound wave is set up within the pipe. There are four ...
A teacher is explaining diffraction to a group of students. Which piece of apparatus is most appropriate for the teacher to use to demonstrate diff...
Coherent light of constant wavelength is incident normally on a double slit. Interference fringes are formed on a screen that is a fixed distance f...
Light of wavelength 690 nm passes through a diffraction grating with 300 lines per mm, producing a series of bright spots (maxima) on a screen. [Fi...
A fine mist of oil droplets is sprayed into air. As the oil droplets leave the nozzle of the spraying device they can become electrically charged. ...
The potential difference across a metal wire is kept constant. The length l and the diameter d of the wire are both varied. The type of metal is ke...
A student sets up a circuit. The circuit diagram shows how the positive and negative terminals of a voltmeter are connected to the circuit. The vol...
Some resistors and a battery of electromotive force (e.m.f.) E and negligible internal resistance are connected in series, as shown. [Figure 34.1] ...
Kirchhoff's first law is a consequence of the conservation of which physical quantity?
The diagram shows a network of resistors. Each resistor has a resistance of 6.0 Ω. [Figure 36.1] What is the total resistance of the network betwee...
In the circuit shown, a battery of negligible internal resistance is connected in series with a pair of fixed resistors R₁ and R₂. [Figure 37.1] Th...
Two nuclides are different isotopes of the same element. Which statement about the nuclides is correct?
The charge-to-mass ratio r of a particle is given by the equation shown. r = charge on particle / mass of particle The value of r is determined for...
A physical quantity consists of a magnitude and a unit. Which row does not show a correct combination of a quantity and its unit?
A small car travels in a town. What is a reasonable estimate of the kinetic energy of the car?
A solid bar has a square cross-section. Its length is measured as 50.0±0.2cm and its width is measured as 2.00±0.01 cm. These values are used to ca...