Cambridge & Pearson Edexcel Past Paper Questions

The diagram shows a curved track. A ball is released from the position shown. At which point is the gravitational potential energy stored in the ba...

An electric motor is used to lift a load at a constant speed. The gravitational potential energy (GPE) stored in the load increases. The moving loa...

A battery delivers 3000 J of energy to a small 2.0 W electric motor before the battery stops working. For how long is the motor switched on?

A man finds it difficult to hammer a wooden post into the ground. How could he make the post go in more easily?

Which diagram shows the names of the changes of state that correspond to the directions of the arrows?

A sealed cylinder containing gas is left in direct sunlight. Eventually the cylinder explodes. How is this explained in terms of the behaviour of t...

Pot X and pot Y are both in a cool room. Pot X contains hot water below its boiling point. Pot Y is identical to pot X but contains water that is k...

Solid metals are good thermal conductors. How closely packed are their particles and do the metals contain free electrons?

Cotton wool is a good thermal insulator. It consists of many threads of cotton which are tangled together to make a material which can easily be pu...

A metal kettle is heated on a grid above red-hot glowing coal. What are the main thermal energy transfers through the bottom of the kettle and with...

The diagram shows two waveforms. Which arrow shows the wavelength of a longitudinal wave?

A bell, on a wall outside a classroom, rings. A student is standing at point X shown on the view from above. The door of the classroom is closed an...

A boy stands beside a girl in front of a large vertical plane mirror. They are equal distances from the mirror, as shown. The boy sees an image of ...

Light travelling in air is incident on a water surface. The refractive index of water is 1.3 and the angle of refraction in the water is 40°. What ...

The diagram shows a ray of light passing through a triangular glass block. Which angle is the critical angle of light in glass?

Ultraviolet radiation is a component of the electromagnetic spectrum. Which application uses ultraviolet radiation?

A student rubs different rods held in his hand. Which rod gains a large electrostatic charge?

Two permanent magnets are placed side by side in four different arrangements. In which arrangements do the magnets repel each other?

Which graph shows how the current changes when the voltage across a resistor of constant resistance is varied?

Two identical resistors are connected first in series and then in parallel. The two resistors in series are connected to a power supply and the cur...

The output of an a.c. generator is connected to a lamp. The coil of the generator is rotated at a constant rate which makes the lamp flash twice ev...

Which device uses the magnetic effect of an electric current?

A wire is placed at right angles to a uniform magnetic field. There is a current in the wire and it experiences a force. Beams of alpha-particles, ...

The diagram shows the trace produced on the screen of an oscilloscope due to an alternating voltage input. The time-base on the oscilloscope is set...

The half-life of a radioactive isotope is 2.5 minutes. This isotope is the only radioactive isotope in a radioactive sample. Between time t = 0 and...

When observed on the Earth, the redshift of the light from galaxy X is smaller than the redshift of the light from galaxy Y. Which galaxy is closer...

Fig. 1.1 shows a toy water rocket. [Figure 1.1] The rocket is half-filled with water and connected by rubber tubing to a pump.

A lorry (truck) is at rest on a straight, horizontal road. A constant driving force of 5.4 × 10⁴ N acts on the lorry and it accelerates forwards.

When the temperature of a liquid increases, the kinetic energy of its particles increases and the liquid expands.

Red light of frequency 4.7 × 10¹⁴ Hz travels in air at a speed of 3.0 × 10⁸ m/s.

Most of the energy emitted by the Sun is in three regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Fig. 6.1 shows a circuit that contains two identical cells, each of e.m.f. 1.5 V, that are connected in parallel. The circuit also contains two amm...

An alternating current (a.c.) generator is used in a remote location to supply electricity.

Uranium-235 (²³⁵₉₂U) is the isotope of uranium that is used as the fuel in a nuclear power station.

The planet Venus orbits the Sun at a constant speed of 3.5 × 10⁴ m/s and takes a time Tv to complete one orbit.

Velocity is a vector quantity but speed is a scalar quantity.

A spacecraft of mass 300kg is moving in a straight line in space, at a speed of 8000m/s.

A plane, irregular lamina has a mass of 50 g. It hangs from a nail that passes through a small hole H near to the edge of the lamina. The nail acts...

Fig. 4.1 shows a long vertical tube, sealed at the base and open at the other end. The tube is 1.0m long. The cross-sectional area of the tube is 4...

Fig. 5.1 shows a device that cools the air in a room by evaporation. [Figure 5.1] Water drips from the container into the sponge block and keeps it...

The loudspeaker shown in Fig. 6.1 produces a sound of frequency 800 Hz. [Figure 6.1]

An electric circuit contains a battery, a fixed resistor R, a voltmeter and a thermistor. Fig. 7.1 is an incomplete circuit diagram of the arrangem...

Fig. 8.1 shows a permanent magnet attached to one end of an unstretched spring and held at rest just above a solenoid. [Figure 8.1] The solenoid is...

In space, an interstellar cloud of dust and gas collapses to form a protostar. The cloud contains hydrogen.

The isotope iodine-131 emits two types of nuclear radiation. Gamma radiation is one of the types emitted. A sample of iodine-131 produces a narrow ...

In this experiment you will determine the speed of a wave on the surface of water. You are provided with: • a plate filled with water • a dropping ...

In this experiment you will investigate the resistance of a resistance wire. You are provided with: • a power source • a length of resistance wire ...

In this experiment you will investigate the indentation made by a glass ball in the surface of some modelling clay. You have been provided with: • ...

A student investigates the factors affecting the bend angle θ of a metal strip. The student places a thin straight metal strip on two supports and ...

In this experiment you will measure the spring constant k of a spring using two different methods. The spring constant k of a spring is a measure o...