Cambridge & Pearson Edexcel Past Paper Questions
Browse 35,704 questions from Cambridge O-Level & A-Level and Pearson Edexcel IGCSE & IAL exams. Click any question to practice.
A progressive wave of frequency 300 Hz is travelling with a speed of 600 m s⁻¹. What is the phase difference between two points on the wave that ar...
A polarised beam of light with intensity I is incident normally on a polarising filter. The transmitted light has intensity I. The filter is rotate...
Light waves are emitted from two sources. What is a necessary condition for observable interference fringes to be produced?
The diagram shows a water wave in a shallow tank. The wave is diffracted through a gap in a barrier and spreads. The wavelength of the wave is much...
Light of wavelength 567 nm is incident normally on a diffraction grating. The grating has 400 lines per mm. A number of diffraction maxima are obse...
Two cylindrical conductors, X and Y, are made from the same material. The conductors have equal lengths, but Y has a smaller diameter than X. X and...
A copper wire is 6.4 m long and has a resistance of 0.92 Ω. The resistivity of copper is 1.8 × 10⁻⁸ Ωm. What is the diameter of the wire?
A thermistor is connected to a cell with negligible internal resistance. [Figure 32.1] Which graph shows the variation with temperature of power, P...
A metal electrical conductor has a resistance of 5.6 kΩ. A potential difference (p.d.) of 9.0 V is applied across its ends. How many electrons pass...
Which circuit symbol does not represent an electric component that is designed to emit sound waves?
The diagram shows a junction in a circuit where three wires, P, Q and R, meet. The currents in P and Q are 1 A and 3 A respectively, in the directi...
A cell of electromotive force (e.m.f.) E and internal resistance r is connected in series with a switch S and an external resistor of resistance R....
What is a general description of a baryon?
A stationary nucleus has nucleon number A. The nucleus decays by emitting a proton with speed v to form a new nucleus with speed u. The new nucleus...
What is the change to the quark composition of a nucleus that takes place during β⁺ decay?
What is the charge, in terms of the elementary charge e, on a charm quark?
Explain what is meant by the accuracy of a measured value.
State the principle of moments.
A truck R of mass 9400kg moves with constant acceleration in a straight line down a slope, as illustrated in [Figure 3.1]. At point A the speed of ...
A device containing a microwave emitter and receiver is placed in front of a large metal sheet in a vacuum as shown in [Figure 4.1]. The line XY is...
A stationary loudspeaker emits sound of constant frequency. A microphone is placed near to the loudspeaker and connected to a cathode-ray oscillosc...
A cylindrical copper wire P of length 0.24 m is shown in [Figure 6.1]. The current in the wire is 0.85A. The resistance of the wire is 3.3 mΩ. The ...
An isolated stationary nucleus Q decays into nucleus R and an α-particle. The α-particle has speed 1.5 x 10⁷ms⁻¹.
The SI unit for potential difference (the volt) is given, in base units, by
A student finds the density of a liquid by measuring its mass and its volume. The following is a summary of his measurements. mass of empty beaker ...
An ion is accelerated by a series of electrodes in a vacuum. A graph of the power supplied to the ion is plotted against time. What is represented ...
The diagram shows a square-wave trace on the screen of a cathode-ray oscilloscope. A grid of 1 cm squares covers the screen. The time-base setting ...
A vector quantity V is resolved into two perpendicular components X and Y. The angle between V and component X is θ. [Figure 6.1] The angle between...
The product of pressure and volume has the same SI base units as
A small steel ball falls freely under gravity after being released from rest. Which graph best represents the variation of the height h of the ball...
The diagram shows a velocity-time graph for a vehicle. [Figure 9.1] The vehicle, moving at 4.0 m s⁻¹, begins to accelerate at time = 0. What is the...
The diagram shows two identical spheres X and Y. [Figure 10.1] Initially, X moves with speed v directly towards Y. Y is stationary. The spheres col...
Two equal masses travel towards each other on a frictionless air track at speeds of 60 cm s⁻¹ and 40 cm s⁻¹. They stick together on impact. [Figure...
Forces of 3 N, 4 N and 5 N act at one point on an object. The angles at which the forces act can vary. What is the value of the minimum resultant f...
An object, immersed in a liquid in a tank, experiences an upthrust. What is the physical reason for this upthrust?
A brick weighing 20 N rests on an inclined plane. The weight of the brick has a component of 10 N parallel with the plane. The brick also experienc...
A constant force F, acting on a car of mass m, moves the car up the slope through a distance s at constant velocity v. The angle of the slope to th...
A force of 1000 N is needed to lift the hook of a crane at a steady velocity. The crane is then used to lift a load of mass 1000 kg at a velocity o...
When ice melts, it contracts. Which row is correct for ice turning into water?
Atmospheric pressure at sea level has a value of 100 kPa. The density of sea water is 1020 kg m⁻³. At what depth in the sea would the total pressur...
A spring is compressed by a force. The graph shows the compressing force F plotted against the length L of the spring. [Figure 19.1] What is the sp...
Which graph represents the force-extension relationship of a rubber band that is stretched almost to its breaking point? [Figure 20.1]
In stress-strain experiments on metal wires, the stress axis is often marked in units of 10⁸ Pa and the strain axis is marked as a percentage. This...
The diagram shows a steel wire clamped at one end and tensioned at the other by a weight hung over a pulley. [Figure 22.1] A vibration generator is...
Diagram 1 shows a ripple tank experiment in which plane waves are diffracted through a narrow slit in a metal sheet. Diagram 2 shows the same tank ...
Electromagnetic waves from an unknown source in space were found to be significantly diffracted when passing through gaps of the order of 10⁻⁵ m. W...
Using monochromatic light, interference fringes are produced on a screen placed a distance D from a pair of slits of separation a. The separation o...
Two oppositely-charged parallel plates are arranged as shown. [Figure 26.1] An electron is released from rest from the surface of the negatively-ch...
In the diagram, the shaded area represents a uniform electric field directed away from the observer (at right-angles into the plane of the paper). ...
The diagram shows two points P and Q which lie, 90° apart, on a circle of radius r. A positive point charge at the centre of the circle creates an ...