AQA GCSE Synergy Paper 2: Life and environmental sciences Foundation June 2023 question paper 8465/2F

Bees feed on sugar solution produced by the flowers of plants.

Figure 1 shows a bee feeding on a flower.

Why do bees feed on sugar solution?

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For gaseous exchange

To obtain energy

To provide proteins

Bees have a simple nervous system.

The bee nervous system has many similar features to the human nervous system.

The antenna is a sense organ.

The antenna contains specialised cells that detect stimuli.

What are cells that detect stimuli called?

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Coordinators

Effectors

Receptors

When an antenna of a bee touches sugar solution the bee automatically sticks out its tongue.

What type of action is automatic?

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A conscious action

A delayed action

A reflex action

Figure 2 shows the nervous pathway taken when a bee antenna touches sugar solution.

What is the gap labelled X ?

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A gland

A synapse

An impulse

What type of neurone is Y ?

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Motor neurone

Relay neurone

Sensory neurone

Eyes are sense organs that can detect electromagnetic radiation.

A bee’s eye can detect ultraviolet radiation.

Detecting ultraviolet radiation allows the bee to see the parts of the flower that produce sugar solution.

Why is it an advantage for bees to see the parts of the flower that produce sugar solution?

Figure 3 shows the electromagnetic spectrum.

Which letter shows the position of ultraviolet radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum?

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Which part of the electromagnetic spectrum in Figure 3 has the lowest frequency?

The orca is a large animal that lives in the ocean.

Figure 4 shows an orca.

Figure 5 shows a food chain.

Draw one line from each organism to the description of that organism in the food chain.

Use information from Figure 5.

Figure 6 shows a food web.

Seaweed and microscopic algae photosynthesise.

Give two factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis.

The number of fish in the oceans has decreased since 1990.

Suggest one way that human activity has caused the decrease in the number of fish.

Explain how a decrease in the number of fish could affect the numbers of other organisms in the food web.

Use Figure 6.

Pollutants in the atmosphere can be harmful to the environment and to human health.

Four pollutants in the atmosphere are:

How is carbon monoxide produced?

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By carbon dioxide dissolving in water

From the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon fuels

When carbonates form sedimentary rocks

What is formed when sulfur dioxide dissolves in moisture in the air?

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Acid rain

Methane

Ozone

Give one way that oxides of nitrogen can be harmful to human health.

Particulates are classified into different groups depending on the diameter of the particulate.

Table 1 shows information about the different groups.

Figure 7 shows a soot particle viewed using an electron microscope.

The diameter of the soot particle in Figure 7 is 1.5 micrometres.

Which particulate group does the soot particle belong to?

Use Table 1.

Tick (✓) one box.

PM₁₀

Why is an electron microscope and not a light microscope used to view the soot particle?

Figure 8 shows the emissions of particulates from two different sources in 1990 and in 2020.

Determine the difference between the emission of particulates from industrial processes and the emission of particulates from road transport in 1990.

Use Figure 8.

Emission of particulates from industrial processes = ___________ millions of kilograms

Emission of particulates from road transport = ___________ millions of kilograms

Difference in emissions of particulates in 1990 = ___________ millions of kilograms

Give three conclusions from Figure 8.

Starch molecules are broken down into glucose molecules in the small intestine (gut).

The glucose molecules are absorbed across the wall of the small intestine into the blood.

Figure 9 shows part of the wall of the small intestine.

Give two ways that the small intestine is adapted for the absorption of glucose into the blood.

Use Figure 9.

Figure 10 shows:

the breakdown of starch molecules

the movement of glucose molecules across the wall of the small intestine.

Give one reason why starch molecules cannot be absorbed into the blood.

Use Figure 10.

A student investigated the breakdown of starch with an enzyme and without an enzyme.

Figure 11 shows the apparatus.

This is the method used.

1. Add 5 cm³ of starch and enzyme mixture to a test tube.

2. Place the test tube into a water bath at 37 °C.

3. Remove one drop of the mixture every 60 seconds and test for starch using iodine solution.

4. Repeat step 3 until the starch is broken down or until 20 minutes is reached.

5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 another three times.

6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 using 5 cm³ of starch solution with no enzyme.

What colour will the iodine solution change to when starch is present?

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Black

Orange

Red

White

What is the dependent variable in this investigation?

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Temperature of the water bath

Time taken for starch to break down

Volume of the sample tested

Table 2 shows the results for the starch and enzyme mixture.

One of the results in Table 2 is anomalous.

Which result is anomalous?

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300 s
420 s 60 s
360 s

What should the student do with the anomalous result?

The student removed one drop of the mixture every 60 seconds and tested the drop for starch.

How could the student improve the method?

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Test for starch every 30 seconds

Test for starch every 3 minutes

Test for starch every 10 minutes

Another student repeated the investigation.

Table 3 shows the results.

Give one conclusion that can be made from the results.

In a managed forest:

tree seedlings are regularly planted

some trees are regularly removed.

Figure 12 shows information about the managed forest.

Name the processes X, Y and Z in Figure 12.

Choose answers from the box.

The dead trees are broken down during process Z.

What type of organism breaks down the dead trees?

A farmer removes some of the young trees from the managed forest every year.

Explain why removing some of the young trees allows the remaining trees to grow faster.

Suggest one advantage to the farmer if the remaining trees grow faster.

Explain how growing trees reduces climate change.

You should refer to carbon dioxide in your answer.

A scientist investigated the number of tree species in two forests in 1970 and 2000.

Table 4 shows the results.

Give two conclusions about the number of tree species in the forests in 1970 and 2000.

The genetic material in a cell is made of DNA.

A DNA molecule is made from two strands twisted around each other.

What scientific term describes the structure of DNA?

Cells divide in a series of stages called the cell cycle.

Figure 13 shows a cell cycle for a human cell.

What happens during the mitosis stage of the cell cycle?

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Chromosomes move to opposite ends of the cell.

Copies of the organelles are made.

The cell increases in size.

Before a cell divides by mitosis, the mass of DNA in the cell is 6 picograms.

What mass of DNA will be in each of the new cells at the end of cell division?

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3 picograms

6 picograms

12 picograms

One cell takes 16 hours to divide and form two new cells.

Estimate the total number of cells produced from one cell at the end of 48 hours.

Use the following steps.

Calculate the number of divisions in 48 hours

Calculate the number of cells after 48 hours

Give one factor that can cause a mutation in DNA.

Do not refer to ionising radiation in your answer.

A mutation in DNA may cause cells to become cancerous.

Figure 14 shows the change in the number of cancerous cells and non-cancerous cells during 6 days.

Describe three patterns shown in Figure 14.

Use data from Figure 14.

Predict the number of non-cancerous cells on day 7 if the pattern from day 4 continued.

You should extend the line for non-cancerous cells on the graph in Figure 14.

Number of cells = ____________________ thousand

All living organisms are made of cells.

Figure 15 shows two types of cell.

Calculate how many times longer the liver cell is than the bacterial cell.

Compare the structure of cell A with the structure of cell B.

You should include similarities and differences in your answer.

Do not refer to cell size.

In multicellular organisms, cells are organised into tissues.

What is meant by a ‘tissue’?

A scientist investigated the effect of different concentrations of sugar solution on red blood cells.

Figure 16 shows the effect of placing a red blood cell into a sugar solution.

What conclusion can be made from the result in Figure 16 ?

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The sugar solution was less concentrated than inside the cell.

The sugar solution was the same concentration as inside the cell.

The sugar solution was more concentrated than inside the cell.

A student investigated the effect of different concentrations of sugar solution on the change in mass of plant tissue.

The student used pieces of potato.

Describe a method the student could use to produce valid results.

The student used a valid method.

The student calculated the percentage change in mass of the pieces of potato.

Table 5 shows the results.

Complete Figure 17.

You should:

plot the data from Table 5

draw a line of best fit.

Some of the results have been plotted for you.

Determine the concentration of sugar solution that would cause no change in the mass of a piece of the potato.

Use Figure 17.

Concentration of sugar solution = _________________________ mol/dm³

A student investigated how the density of a liquid affects the position of a wooden block floating in the liquid.

Figure 18 shows the apparatus.

This is the method used.

1. Put the wooden block in the beaker of liquid.

2. Allow the wooden block to come to rest so that it is floating in the liquid.

3. Measure the distance between the liquid surface and the bottom of the block.

4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 with liquids of different densities.

Give the independent variable in the investigation.

Give one control variable for the investigation.

Give one possible source of error when the student measured the distance between the liquid surface and the bottom of the block.

Table 6 shows the results.

Give one conclusion from the results.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 08.5 and 08.6.

Which equation links density (ρ), mass (m) and volume (V)?

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ρ = m × V

ρ = m × V³

The density of the wooden block was 0.85 g/cm³.

The mass of the wooden block was 30.6 g.

Calculate the volume of the wooden block in cm³.

Liquid C is water.

When liquid water is heated to its boiling point the water changes state.

What happens to the density of the liquid water as it changes state?

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The density decreases

The density stays the same

The density increases

Give a reason for your answer.