AQA GCSE Synergy Paper 1: Life and environmental sciences Foundation June 2023 question paper 8465/1F

Figure 1 shows part of the water cycle.

Name processes A, B and C.

Choose answers from the box.

Drinking water can be produced from sea water.

Which process is used to produce drinking water from sea water?

Tick (✓) one box.

Desalination

Digestion

Screening

Why is producing drinking water from sea water expensive?

Tick (✓) one box.

The process requires energy.

The sea water must be filtered.

The sea water temperature is too high.

Which two processes are used to kill bacteria during the production of drinking water?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

Adding chlorine

Exposure to ultraviolet light

Freezing

Grit removal

Sedimentation

Why is it important to kill bacteria in water during the production of drinking water?

This question is about plants.

Meristem is a specialised tissue found at the tips of shoots and roots.

What is the function of meristem tissue?

Tick (✓) one box.

Cell division

Fertilisation

Transpiration

Xylem tissue and phloem tissue are found in plants.

Cells in phloem tissue contain sugars.

Table 1 shows some features of xylem tissue and phloem tissue.

Complete Table 1.

Put one tick (✓) in each row to show if the feature is true for:

both xylem and phloem.

Stomata are tiny holes in the surface of leaves.

Guard cells surround the stomata.

Figure 2 shows the shape of guard cells around stomata at different times of the day.

Figure 2

Guard cells control water loss from the leaf.

Explain what happens to the guard cells to increase water loss from the leaf.

Use Figure 2.

Carbon is an element with several isotopes.

An isotope of carbon is carbon-14

Plants contain carbon-14

How does carbon-14 pass from plants to animals?

Carbon-14 is radioactive.

Carbon-14 nuclei emit beta particles.

A beta particle is an electron.

Which symbol represents a beta particle?

Tick (✓) one box.

When a carbon-14 nucleus emits a beta particle, the atomic number changes from 6 to 7

Which element has the atomic number of 7?

Use the periodic table.

Tick (✓) one box.

Helium

Lithium

Nitrogen

Which two of the following substances would beta particles not be able to penetrate?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

1 metre of concrete

10 centimetres of lead

1 centimetre of air

1 millimetre of aluminium

0.1 millimetre sheet of paper

In 1991, the frozen remains of a human body were found in a glacier.

The body was 5400 years old.

The body tissues had not decayed completely.

What causes the decay of body tissues?

Tick (✓) one box.

Carbon dioxide

Microorganisms

Mineral ions

The percentage of carbon-14 in an organism decreases after death.

Figure 3 shows how the percentage of carbon-14 nuclei remaining varies with time.

Determine the percentage of carbon-14 nuclei remaining in an organism after 3000 years.

Use Figure 3.

The half-life of carbon-14 is the average time taken for the number of carbon-14 nuclei in a sample to halve.

Determine the half-life of carbon-14

Use Figure 3.

Only a very small proportion of the carbon in an organism is carbon-14.

Scientists studying the body from the glacier were not concerned about the risk from beta radiation emitted by the body.

Why was the risk to the scientists low?

Tick (✓) one box.

The beta radiation emitted by the body was a type of ionising radiation.

The carbon-14 nuclei in the body had all decayed.

The radiation dose absorbed by the scientists was low.

Figure 4 shows a light microscope.

The eyepiece lens has a magnification of ×10

The high power objective lens has a magnification of × 40

Which calculation shows the total magnification?

Tick (✓) one box.

Write down the equation which links magnification, size of image and size of real object.

A student used a different microscope to view a cell.

The cell was viewed with a magnification of × 250

The size of the image of the cell was 1.5 cm.

Calculate the real size of the cell.

Give your answer in mm.

The student focused the image for the low power objective lens and then changed to the high power objective lens.

The high power objective lens should not be moved towards the stage to focus the image.

Give one reason why.

Viruses are approximately 100 times smaller than animal cells.

What type of microscope is used to view viruses?

Chilli plants can be infected with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV).

Farmers grow chilli plants and sell chilli fruits.

Figure 5 shows chilli fruits growing on a chilli plant.

Figure 6 shows how infection with TMV affects the number of chilli fruits produced on chilli plants.

Determine the decrease in the mean number of chilli fruits produced when plants are infected with TMV.

_ Decrease = _______________________ fruits

Suggest one reason why farmers remove and destroy plants that are infected with TMV.

Figure 7 shows part of the human breathing system.

Label structures A, B and C on Figure 7.

Choose answers from the box.

Describe one way that lungs are adapted for gas exchange.

A student investigated the effect of surface area to volume ratio on diffusion.

The student used gel cubes with different surface area to volume ratios.

The gel cubes: were pink at the start of the investigation became colourless as acid diffused into the cube.

This is the method used.

1. Cut the gel into a cube with sides that are 1 cm long.

2. Place the cube in a beaker.

3. Cover the cube with acid.

4. Keep the beaker at 20 °C.

5. Record the time taken for the cube to go colourless.

6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 with cubes of different sizes.

Draw one line from each type of variable to that variable in the investigation.

Table 2 shows the results.

Describe the effect of increasing the size of the cube on the time taken for the cube to go colourless.

What would be an improvement to the investigation?

Tick (✓) one box.

Repeat the method three times and calculate a mean for each size cube.

Repeat the method with 5 cubes all of the same size.

Repeat the method with a different size beaker for each size cube.

The human body protects itself from pathogens.

Describe how the skin and the stomach protect the human body from pathogens.

Earwax is produced by specialised cells in the ear.

Earwax can trap and kill bacteria.

People either have wet earwax or dry earwax.

The type of earwax people have is controlled by one gene.

Name the part of a human cell where genes are found.

Name the chemical that genes are made of.

Each person has two alleles for earwax.

Why does a person have two alleles for earwax?

The allele for wet earwax is dominant.

E = allele for wet earwax e = allele for dry earwax

Which word describes a person with the alleles Ee?

Tick (✓) one box.

Heterozygous

Phenotype

Recessive

A person with the genotype Ee and a person with the genotype ee plan to have a child.

Complete Figure 9 to determine the probability that the child will have dry earwax.

You should identify any offspring genotype that would have dry earwax.

Figure 9

Type of earwax is only affected by a gene.

Height is a characteristic that is affected by genes and environmental factors.

Give one other human characteristic that is affected by genes and the environment.

Do not refer to height in your answer.

Give one environmental cause for the variation in the characteristic you named in Question 06.7.

Heaters can be used to heat homes and gardens.

Gas heaters can be used to heat gardens.

The gas is stored in a container with a fixed volume.

Figure 10 shows a gas heater.

On a sunny day the burner is not lit.

The temperature of the gas in the container increases.

Complete Table 3.

Put one tick (✓) in each row.

Figure 11 shows an electric heater.

The heater is filled with a liquid.

When the heater is switched on, the temperature of the liquid in the heater increases.

On one day, the starting temperature of the liquid was 15.0 °C.

The final temperature of the liquid was 57.5 °C.

What was the temperature change of the liquid?

The change in thermal energy of the liquid in the heater was 892 500 J.

What was the change in thermal energy of the liquid in kJ?

1000 J = 1 kJ

On another day, the temperature change of the liquid was 45.0 °C.

The mass of liquid in the heater is 5.0 kg.

specific heat capacity of liquid = 4200 J/kg °C

Calculate the change in thermal energy of the liquid in the heater in joules.

Use the equation:

change in thermal energy = mass × specific heat capacity × temperature change

The liquid in the heater was replaced with a new liquid.

The new liquid had a greater specific heat capacity.

What happened to the energy required to increase the temperature of the liquid in the heater by 1 °C?

Tick (✓) one box.

The energy required decreases.

The energy required stays the same.

The energy required increases.

This question is about the blood and the circulatory system.

Figure 12 shows a human heart.

Draw one arrow on Figure 12 to show the movement of the blood between the left atrium and the left ventricle.

Which blood vessel carries blood from the lungs into the heart?

Tick (✓) one box.

A B C D

Which blood vessel is the aorta?

Tick (✓) one box.

A B C D

What structures prevent blood flowing in the wrong direction through the heart?

Heart muscle cells obtain oxygen from the blood.

Which blood vessels exchange oxygen with heart muscle cells?

Tick (✓) one box.

Arteries

Capillaries

Veins

Heart rate is controlled by a group of cells called the pacemaker.

Where is the pacemaker in the heart?

Tick (✓) one box.

Left atrium

Left ventricle

Right atrium

Right ventricle

Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas.

Explain why an increase of carbon monoxide in the air increases heart rate.

A person was exposed to carbon monoxide in the air for 1 hour.

During the hour the person’s heart rate increased from 80 beats per minute to 130 beats per minute.

Calculate the percentage increase in heart rate.

Use the equation:

A species of grass has the binomial name Lolium perenne.

What is the genus of the grass?

Grass leaves look green because of a green pigment found in chloroplasts.

Name the green pigment found in chloroplasts.

Which mineral ion is found in the green pigment in chloroplasts?

Tick (✓) one box.

Magnesium ion

Nitrate ion

Sodium ion

An area of grass changed colour after being covered by a tent.

The colour of the grass changed from green to yellow.

Figure 13 shows the area of green grass and the area of yellow grass.

A student used paper chromatography to investigate the pigments in grass leaves from: the area of green grass the area of yellow grass.

Figure 14 shows the results.

Figure 14

Distance

Start line

Green Yellow grass grass leaves leaves

The student crushed the grass leaves.

Describe a method to separate the pigments in the crushed grass leaves using paper chromatography.

Figure 14 is repeated below.

Figure 14

Distance

Start line

Green Yellow grass grass leaves leaves

Determine the R_f value of the pigment that is found in green grass leaves but not found in yellow grass leaves.

Use the equation:

R = distance moved by pigment ^f distance moved by solvent

Use Figure 14.

There are fewer pigments in the yellow grass leaves than in the green grass leaves.

Suggest one reason why.