AQA A Level Physics Paper 1 June 2025 question paper 7408/1

This question is about an isotope of titanium that only decays by electron capture.

Complete Figure 1 to show the quark change that occurs during electron capture. Label the incoming and outgoing particles and the exchange particle.

In some circumstances, a nucleus of this isotope can exist with no orbiting electrons.

Explain why a neutral atom of this isotope is less stable than a nucleus that has no orbiting electrons.

A nucleus of this isotope of titanium has a proton number of 22 and a specific charge

Determine the number of neutrons in this nucleus.

State what is meant by a transverse wave.

Figure 2 shows apparatus that is used to investigate stationary waves on a stretched wire.

A block of weight W is used to keep the wire under tension.

The frequency of the ac supply is varied until a stationary wave is produced on the wire.

Explain how a stationary wave is produced on the wire.

Figure 3 shows a small section of the wire at one instant. Five points on the wire are labelled P₁ to P₅. The dashed line represents the position of the wire when the ac supply is turned off.

Describe how the phase of the oscillating particles varies along the wire

A student investigates stationary waves on a wire using the apparatus in Figure 2. The investigation requires the student to produce the first five harmonics on the wire.

The student needs to choose one of two wires, A or B, for the investigation.

The mass of a 2.00 m length of wire A is 1.32 g. The mass of a 2.00 m length of wire B is 2.94 g.

The ac supply can produce signals in the range 1 Hz to 50 Hz. The length of the wire that vibrates between the vibration generator and the pulley is 1.50 m.

The student needs to choose one value for weight W for the investigation. W can be either 1.0 N or 5.0 N.

Determine, in kg m⁻¹, the mass per unit length of each wire. Go on to suggest which wire and which value of W the student should use to produce the first five harmonics.

A mass–spring system is undergoing simple harmonic motion (SHM). The maximum velocity of the mass is 0.39 m s^–1 and the period of oscillation is 0.81 s

Draw, on Figure 4, a graph of acceleration against displacement for the system. Label each axis with a suitable unit and scale.

Label, with a P, a point on your graph where the mass has 50% of its maximum

Explain why the Young modulus and the breaking stress of a wire have the same SI unit.

Table 1 contains data about four metal wires W, X, Y and Z.

The metal used to make wire X costs £75 per gram.

Calculate, in £, the cost of wire X.

State and explain which of the wires in Table 1 are made from the same material.

One of the wires in Table 1 was used to obtain the stress–strain data shown in Figure 5.

Draw a line of best fit on Figure 5. Go on to deduce, using your line of best fit and Table 1, whether wire W could have been used to produce Figure 5.

This question is about the batteries used to store energy in electric vehicles. Each battery is a series of modules. Each module is an array of identical cells.

Table 2 shows the properties of one of these cells.

Calculate the terminal potential difference of the cell at its maximum current.

Figure 6 shows an array of 20 of these cells connected to form a module.

Calculate the internal resistance of the module shown in Figure 6.

Figure 7 shows the battery for an electric vehicle. This battery has an emf of 352 V and gives a maximum current of 500 A.

The battery consists of a series of identical modules. These modules are different from the module shown in Figure 6.

The individual cells used in each module have the properties shown in Table 2.

Deduce the number of cells in each module.

A person kicks a stationary football horizontally.

During the kick, the person gives an impulse of 6.55 N s to the ball during a contact time of 12.0 ms. The mass of the football is 410 g. Assume that friction forces are negligible.

Calculate the kinetic energy transferred to the ball during the kick.

Figure 8 shows how the force F acting on the ball varies with time t.

Determine the scale for the F / N axis and add your scale to Figure 8.

A player jumps up to head a football when it is 2.0 m above the ground. The initial velocity of the ball is 18 m s⁻¹ at an angle of 48° to the horizontal.

Figure 9 shows the path of the ball above horizontal ground.

Determine the time that the ball takes to reach the ground from the instant it leaves the player’s head.

Assume that the frictional forces acting on the ball are negligible.

A racing car of mass m travels around a horizontal oval track. The curved sections of the track are semicircles.

At the instant shown in Figure 10 the car is moving with constant speed v in a circle of radius R.

The car has kinetic energy E_k. The resultant force acting on the car is F.

The maximum centripetal force that can be produced between the car’s tyres and the track is 24 kN. The minimum value of R is 230 m.

m = 1600 kg

The car just starts to slip when it travels on the track in a circular path of radius 230 m

Deduce the speed of the car.

The driver wishes to drive this car around the curved section of the track, without slipping, at a speed greater than your answer to Question 07.2.

Suggest one way in which the driver can achieve this.

Figure 11 shows the car on the curved section of a different oval track. The curved section of this track is a slope. This means that cars can travel at greater speeds than on the track shown in Figure 10.

The car in Figure 11 stays at the same height on the curved section of the track. There is no tendency for the car to slip up or down the track and therefore there is no sideways friction on the tyres.

Draw and label, on Figure 11, arrows to show the direction of each force that acts on the car as it travels around the curved section of the track.

A car has a greater maximum speed on a sloped track than on a horizontal track of the same radius.

Explain why.

Electrons in a fluorescent tube are accelerated from rest by a potential difference of 130 V.

Calculate the maximum speed of an electron that is accelerated from rest by this potential difference.

Explain why the average speed of the electrons in the tube is much less than the maximum speed you calculated in Question 08.1.

Scientists want to replace the mercury in fluorescent tubes with substance X.

Figure 12 is an emission spectrum for X.

White light consists of the whole range of visible wavelengths from 380 nm to 700 nm

Explain, with reference to Figure 12, whether white light can be produced by a fluorescent tube that uses X.

Figure 12 shows a maximum intensity peak that occurs at wavelength λ_peak.

Calculate, in eV, the energy change of an atom that produces a photon with a

The following equation represents a strong interaction between particle X and a proton.

What is the quark configuration of X ?

In β − decay:

A force F moves through a distance x in the direction of F.

In which row is the work done by the force 1 J ?

In a photoelectric effect experiment, monochromatic light is incident on a metal surface and the stopping potential is measured.

Which change results in a greater stopping potential?

Which row provides evidence for the particle nature of light and the wave nature of light?

In an investigation of stationary waves on different wires, the frequency f of the first harmonic is measured.

Which quantity produces a straight-line graph through the origin when plotted against f ? In each case all other variables are kept constant.

A student derives the equation n λ = d sin θ for the production of a diffraction pattern on a screen. This derivation requires that:

The graph shows the I – V characteristic for a semiconductor diode.

Which is true for this graph?

Monochromatic light of wavelength λ is used in a double-slit experiment. The slits are vertical and have a separation s. A narrow screen of width Y is placed a distance D from the slits.

Which gives the number of fringes observed on the screen?

A light ray passes from medium X to medium Y.

The refractive index of X is 1.33

What is the refractive index of Y ?

The critical angle at a boundary between two media is 53°. The speed of light in one medium is 2.6 × 10⁸ m s⁻¹.

What is the speed of light in the other medium?

Monochromatic light of wavelength 420 nm is incident normally on a plane transmission diffraction grating that has a slit separation of 3.6 μm.

What is the total number of maxima produced by the grating?

A skydiver is falling at a terminal velocity v₁. When she is at a height h₁ she opens her parachute. When she is at a height h₂ she reaches a new terminal velocity v₂.

Which is true?

A photon with an energy of 3.8 × 10⁻¹⁹ J is incident on the metal surface.

Electrons are emitted from the surface with a maximum speed of 2.5 × 10⁵ m s⁻¹.

A ramp is inclined at an angle θ to the horizontal. A block of weight 240 N is pushed up the ramp by a 25.0 N force. This force acts parallel to the ramp. The block experiences a frictional force of 3.0 N. The block moves at a constant speed.

What is θ ?

A uniform wooden rod of mass 0.55 kg and length 1.3 m is attached to a wall by a light frictionless hinge.

A horizontal force F acts so that the rod hangs at an angle of 60.0° to the vertical.

What is the magnitude of F ?

A pendulum is oscillating with simple harmonic motion.

Which row gives the momentum of the pendulum bob and its gravitational potential energy (GPE) when the acceleration of the pendulum bob is zero?

Two thin metal rods W₁ and W₂, each of length L and diameter d, are connected in series.

A single metal rod X, also of length L and diameter d, has the same resistance as the

What is the resistivity of X ?

An alpha particle has a speed of 4.5 × 10⁵ m s⁻¹.

What is the de Broglie wavelength of the alpha particle?

In a circuit, the resistance of resistor R₁ is double the resistance of resistor R₂. The internal resistance of the battery is negligible.

When the switch is open, the voltmeter reads 12 V and the ammeter reads 12 mA.

What are the readings on the voltmeter and ammeter when the switch is closed?

The diagram shows part of a circuit.

The graph shows how the two currents I₁ and I₂ vary with time.

What is the total charge that flows through point P in 60 s ?

In a photoelectric experiment, the maximum kinetic energy E_k(max) of the emitted electrons and the frequency f of the incident radiation are measured.

A graph of the variation of E_k(max) with f has:

• a gradient p

• an intercept −q on the E_k(max) axis

• an intercept r on the f axis.

What is the value of the Planck constant?

A spring with a spring constant of 50 N m⁻¹ is attached to a rigid horizontal bar. An object of mass m is attached to the bottom of the spring.

When the bar is made to move vertically up and down with a frequency of 2.6 Hz, the mass–spring system undergoes resonance. Ignore the effects of damping.

What is m ?

A simple pendulum of length 8.0 cm oscillates on Earth with a frequency f₁. An identical pendulum on the Moon oscillates with a frequency f₂. The acceleration due to gravity is 1.6 m s⁻² on the surface of the Moon.

The diagram shows some of the energy levels for a hydrogen atom.

Photons of energy 12.74 eV excite hydrogen atoms that are all initially in the ground state (n = 1).

How many different photon frequencies are emitted as the atoms return to their