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 hill separates a television (TV) transmitter from a house. The transmitter cannot be seen from the house. However, the house has good TV receptio...
The diagram shows an arrangement for demonstrating two-source interference using coherent light of a single wavelength λ. [Figure 29.1] An interfer...
Light of wavelength λ is incident normally on a diffraction grating. The angle between the second-order maximum and the normal to the grating is θ....
A dipole is a pair of charges of equal magnitude, one negative and one positive. The electric field of a dipole is shown below. [Figure 31.1] In wh...
A charged oil droplet of mass m is falling, initially freely, in a vacuum between two horizontal metal plates that are separated by a distance x. A...
The number density of free electrons in copper is 8.0 × 10²⁸ m⁻³. A copper wire has diameter 0.42 mm. What is the average drift speed of the free e...
An electric kettle is rated at 2.0 kW, which describes the power supplied to the heating coil in the kettle. The coil has a resistance of 5.0 Ω. Wh...
A conductor consists of three wires connected in series. The wires are all made of the same metal but have different cross-sectional areas. There i...
A cell of electromotive force (e.m.f.) E and internal resistance 0.50 Ω is connected to a resistor of resistance 4.7 Ω. [Figure 36.1] The maximum p...
Kirchhoff's first and second laws link to the conservation of physical quantities. Which quantities do they link to?
In the circuit shown, X is a variable resistor whose resistance can be changed from 5.0 Ω to 500 Ω. The electromotive force (e.m.f.) of the battery...
An unstable nucleus goes through successive decays to become a final, stable nucleus. The initial nucleus and the final nucleus are isotopes of eac...
A hadron has a charge of -e and is composed of three quarks. What could be the quark composition of the hadron? [Figure 40.1]
State Newton's second law of motion.
State two conditions for an object to be in equilibrium. 1. ..........................................................................................
By reference to the direction of propagation of energy, state what is meant by a longitudinal wave.
Metal wire is used to connect a power supply to a lamp. The wire has a total resistance of 3.4 Ω and the metal has a resistivity of 2.6 × 10⁻⁸ Ω m....
Two horizontal metal plates are separated by a distance of 2.0 cm in a vacuum, as shown in Fig. 6.1. [Figure 6.1] The top plate has an electric pot...
Define velocity.
(a) Fig. 2.1 shows the velocity-time graph for an object moving in a straight line. [Figure 2.1] (b) A ball is kicked with a velocity of 15ms⁻¹ at ...
Explain what is meant by work done.
(a) State the difference between progressive waves and stationary waves in terms of the transfer of energy along the wave. (b) A progressive wave t...
One end of a wire is attached to a fixed point. A force F is applied to the wire to cause extension x. The variation with F of x is shown in Fig. 5...
(a) A battery of electromotive force (e.m.f.) 7.8V and internal resistance r is connected to a filament lamp, as shown in Fig. 6.1. [Figure 6.1] A ...
(a) A nucleus of an element X decays by emitting a ẞ⁺ particle to produce a nucleus of potassium-39 (K) and a neutrino. The decay is represented by...
Two progressive sound waves Y and Z meet at a fixed point P. The variation with time t of the displacement x of each wave at point P is shown in Fi...
Define the volt.
The current I in a metal wire is given by the expression I = Anve where v is the average drift speed of the free electrons in the wire and e is the...
A potential difference is applied between two horizontal metal plates that are a distance of 6.0 mm apart in a vacuum, as shown in Fig. 7.1. [Figur...
In this experiment, you will investigate the equilibrium of a metre rule.
In this experiment, you will investigate a pendulum made from a wooden strip with masses fixed at one end.
In this experiment, you will investigate the bending of a rod under a compressive force.
In this experiment, you will investigate the equilibrium of a metre rule. (a) You have been provided with a metre rule with a string attached to it...
In this experiment, you will investigate the result of a collision between two cylinders.
The piston in the cylinder of a car engine moves in the cylinder with simple harmonic motion. The piston moves between a position of maximum height...
By reference to an ultrasound wave, explain what is meant by specific acoustic impedance.
State one similarity and one difference between the fields of force produced by an isolated point charge and by an isolated point mass.
(a) The transmission of signals using optic fibres has, to a great extent, replaced the use of coaxial cables. Advantages of optic fibres include g...
The output of a microphone is processed using a non-inverting amplifier. The amplifier incorporates an operational amplifier (op-amp). (a) State, b...
Define the tesla.
(a) A coil of wire is situated in a uniform magnetic field of flux density B. The coil has diameter 3.6 cm and consists of 350 turns of wire, as il...
(a) White light passes through a cloud of cool low-pressure gas, as illustrated in Fig. 10.1. [Figure 10.1] For light that has passed through the g...
An electron, at rest, has mass mₑ and charge –q. A positron is a particle that, at rest, has mass mₑ and charge +q. A positron interacts with an el...
(a) The decay of a sample of a radioactive isotope is said to be random and spontaneous. Explain what is meant by the decay being:
An isolated solid sphere of radius r may be assumed to have its mass M concentrated at its centre. The magnitude of the gravitational potential at ...
A square box of volume V contains N molecules of an ideal gas. Each molecule has mass m. Using the kinetic theory of ideal gases, it can be shown t...
By reference to the first law of thermodynamics, state and explain the change, if any, in the internal energy of:
A dish is made from a section of a hollow glass sphere. The dish, fixed to a horizontal table, contains a small solid ball of mass 45g, as shown in...
Explain the principles of the detection of ultrasound waves for medical diagnosis.
Telephone signals may be transmitted either by means of an optic fibre or by means of a wire pair. State three advantages of the use of an optic fi...