Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
A particle with mass moves in a horizontal straight line through a uniform electric field in a vacuum. The electric field is vertical. [Figure 11.1...
Two parallel forces, each of magnitude F, act on a rod of length 5d. Which diagram shows the positions of the two forces that will produce the larg...
A mass of 30 kg is suspended from the end of a wire. A horizontal force F acts on the mass so that it is in equilibrium, with the wire at an angle ...
A balance is used to measure the mass m of a number of cylindrical metal rods of length l. All the metal rods have the same radius r. The graph sho...
Two blocks, X and Y, are on a horizontal frictionless surface. The mass of block Y is greater than that of block X. Block Y has a spring attached t...
A gas is contained in a cylinder by a movable piston. [Figure 16.1] The cylinder has a circular cross-section of diameter 20.0 cm. The pressure of ...
An egg of mass 25 g falls vertically downwards from the surface of a table which is 900 mm above the ground. Air resistance is negligible. What is ...
An aircraft travels at a constant velocity of 90 m s⁻¹ in horizontal flight. The diagram shows the horizontal forces acting on the aircraft. [Figur...
Which expression is equal to the stress on a wire?
A wire is stretched by applying increasing values of force F. For each value of force applied, the extension x is recorded. A force-extension graph...
A progressive radio wave in a vacuum has a frequency of 75 MHz. What is the phase difference between two points on the wave that are 50 cm apart fr...
Which statement is correct for longitudinal waves but not correct for transverse waves?
A loudspeaker emitting a sound wave of a single frequency is placed a distance L from a reflecting surface, as shown. [Figure 23.1] A stationary wa...
A source of sound of frequency F at point Z is moving at a steady speed. The pattern of the emitted wavefronts is shown. [Figure 24.1] Which row de...
What is not a possible value for the wavelength of the named electromagnetic waves when it is travelling in a vacuum?
Two waves, P and Q, meet at a point X and superpose. Initially, the two waves meet at X in phase (zero phase difference) so that the resultant wave...
A water wave is diffracted as it passes through a gap between two barriers in a ripple tank. The wave is observed to 'spread out' as it moves throu...
Two sources of microwaves P and Q produce coherent waves with a phase difference of 180°. The waves have the same wavelength λ. [Figure 28.1] At th...
A beam of red laser light of wavelength 633 nm is incident normally on a diffraction grating with 600 lines per mm. [Figure 29.1] The beam of red l...
Which diagram best represents the field lines in the electric field produced by a combination of one point positive charge and one point negative c...
The diagram shows a thundercloud whose base is 500 m above the ground. [Figure 31.1] The potential difference between the base of the cloud and the...
The current I in a metal wire is given by the equation I = Anvq. What does the symbol n represent?
A cell of negligible internal resistance is connected to resistors R₁, R₂ and R₃, as shown. The cell provides power to the circuit and power is dis...
A fixed resistor and a diode are connected in series to a battery of electromotive force (e.m.f.) 6.0 V and negligible internal resistance. The gra...
An electrical cable consists of seven strands of copper wire, each of diameter 0.30 mm, connected in parallel. The resistivity of copper is 1.72 × ...
A cell that has internal resistance is connected to a switch S and a variable resistor. A voltmeter is connected between the terminals of the cell,...
A battery is connected to a potentiometer. The potentiometer consists of a uniform resistance wire and a sliding contact P. [Figure 38.1] The poten...
The figure shows part of a chart of nuclides where neutron number is plotted against proton number. An unstable nuclide X decays by emitting an α-p...
The nuclei of common isotopes of hydrogen, helium, lithium and beryllium are shown. Which nucleus contains equal numbers of up and down quarks?
Answer all the questions in the spaces provided. (a) Complete Table 1.1 by stating whether each of the quantities is a vector or a scalar. Table ...
(b) A beach ball is released from a balcony at the top of a tall building. The ball falls vertically from rest and reaches a constant (terminal) ve...
A spring is extended by a force. The variation with extension x of the force F is shown in Fig. 3.1. [Figure 3.1]
(b) A transmitter produces microwaves that travel in air towards a metal plate, as shown in Fig. 4.1. [Figure 4.1] The microwaves have a wavelength...
A source of sound is attached to a rope and then swung at a constant speed in a horizontal circle, as illustrated in Fig. 5.1. [Figure 5.1] The sou...
(b) A battery of electromotive force (e.m.f.) 12.0V and internal resistance r is connected to a filament lamp and a resistor, as shown in Fig. 6.1....
The results of the α-particle scattering experiment provide evidence for the structure of the atom. Result 1: The vast majority of the α-particles...
What could not be a measurement of a physical quantity?
A computer memory stick is labelled as having a storage capacity of 128 GB. The letter B stands for byte, which is a unit. What is the equivalent s...
A man of mass 75.2 kg uses a set of weighing scales to measure his mass three times. He obtains the following readings. mass/kg reading 1 80.2 read...
Which statement about scalar and vector quantities is correct?
How can the acceleration of an object be determined?
A sprinter takes a time of 11.0s to run a 100m race. She first accelerates uniformly from rest, reaching a speed of 10ms⁻¹. She then runs at a cons...
A single horizontal force F is applied to a block X which is in contact with a separate block Y, as shown. [Figure 7.1] The blocks remain in contac...
A car of mass 750 kg has a horizontal driving force of 2.0 kN acting on it. It has a forward horizontal acceleration of 2.0 ms⁻². [Figure 8.1] What...
A rock of mass 2m, travelling in deep space at velocity v, explodes into two parts of equal mass, one of which is then stationary. What is the kine...
A horizontal metal bar PQ of length 50.0 cm is hinged at end P. The diagram shows the metal bar viewed from above. [Figure 11.1] Two forces of 16.0...
A cube WXZY has sides of length 2.0 cm and mass 24.0g. The cube rests on a metre rule of negligible mass. The geometrical centre of the cube is ver...
A rigid sphere is held at rest on the sea bed. When the sphere is released, it rises to the surface of the sea. The seawater has a uniform density....
What is a unit for density?
An escalator is 60 m long and lifts passengers through a vertical height of 30 m, as shown. [Figure 16.1] To drive the escalator against the forces...