AQA GCSE Synergy Paper 1: Life and environmental sciences Higher June 2024 question paper 8465/1H

Bacteria can cause disease.

Bacterial cells do not have a nucleus.

Which term describes bacterial cells?

Tick (✓) one box.

Eukaryotic

Fungal

Prokaryotic

Bacterial cells have no nucleus and are smaller than animal cells.

Give one other difference between bacterial cells and animal cells.

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a type of bacterium.

E. coli causes symptoms of food poisoning.

Water companies sterilise rain water to produce drinking water.

The drinking water is then transported to homes in underground pipes.

Flooding can cause contamination of the drinking water by E. coli.

Suggest how people should treat drinking water at home if there is a risk of E. coli contamination.

Figure 1 shows two graphs:

The rainfall in one town in one month.

The number of cases of E. coli in the town in the same month.

The rainfall on day 12 was greater than on day 10.

Calculate how many times greater.

Symptoms of E. coli infection usually occur 5 days after infection.

A scientist stated:

‘Increased rainfall causes an increase in the number of cases of E. coli.’

Describe one piece of evidence from Figure 1 that supports the scientist’s statement.

Why might the number of cases of E. coli infection increase in the future?

Tick (✓) one box.

Climate change is causing loss of habitats for wildlife.

Climate change is causing more extreme rainfall.

Climate change is causing sea-levels to be lower.

Climate change is caused by an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas.

Name two other greenhouse gases.

Do not refer to carbon dioxide in your answer.

Describe one way the rate of increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere could be reduced.

Figure 2 shows equipment used to investigate how light intensity affects photosynthesis.

The light intensity can be changed by moving the pondweed to different distances from the lamp.

Describe a method to investigate the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis in pondweed.

Figure 3 shows a ripple tank used to investigate the behaviour of water waves.

Describe a method a student could use to determine the frequency of the water waves.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer Questions 03.3 and 03.4.

Which equation links frequency (f), wavelength (λ) and wave speed (v)?

Tick (✓) one box.

v = f λ

v = f² λ

Figure 4 shows the water waves in the ripple tank when viewed from above.

Figure 4 has been drawn to actual size.

The water waves have a frequency of 2.5 Hz.

Calculate the wave speed of the waves in Figure 4.

You should take measurements from Figure 4.

The symptoms of a measles infection are: a fever

a red skin rash.

Why can measles not be treated with antibiotics?

Describe two ways the human body defends against the entry of the measles pathogen into the lungs.

A person is given a measles vaccination by injection.

There is a small amount of bleeding from the wound.

What is the role of platelets after the person receives the injection?

Tick (✓) one box.

To begin phagocytosis

To cause the blood to clot

To release antitoxins

How do white blood cells respond to a vaccination against measles?

In the UK, most people have been vaccinated against measles.

In a sample population, the ratio of vaccinated people to unvaccinated people is 594 000: 99 000

Give 594 000: 99 000 as the simplest whole number ratio.

Simplest whole number ratio = __________: __________

Explain why it is important that the ratio of vaccinated people to unvaccinated people is high.

This question is about the nervous system.

A person steps on a sharp object.

The person immediately moves their foot away from the object.

The response is a pain withdrawal reflex.

Describe two ways that a reflex action is different from a conscious action.

Describe how the nervous system causes the reflex action after stepping on the sharp object.

Table 1 shows information about two types of reaction time.

Scientists investigated how the age of students affects SRT and CRT.

Figure 5 shows the results.

In the investigation the sex, physical health and mental health of the students were control variables.

Suggest one other control variable the scientists should have used.

Determine the size of the range of CRT for students aged 11 years.

Give your answer in seconds.

Size of range = ________________________ seconds

A student stated:

‘The age of students affects their reaction time.’

Evaluate the student’s statement.

Use Figure 5.

The atmosphere of the Earth has changed since the Earth formed.

What was the source of nitrogen in the Earth’s early atmosphere?

Figure 6 shows the change in the percentage of nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere during the last 4.5 billion years.

The graph shows a tangent drawn at 3.0 billion years ago.

Determine the rate of change in the percentage of nitrogen in the atmosphere 3.0 billion years ago.

Give your answer to 2 significant figures.

Rate of change (2 significant figures) = ____________________ % per billion years

Why did the percentage of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s early atmosphere change when the oceans formed?

A student stated:

‘The evolution of algae was essential for the evolution of animals.’

Explain why the student’s statement is correct.

Figure 7 shows part of a food web from one ecosystem.

Define the term ‘ecosystem’.

Describe the difference between a population and a community in one habitat.

Humans kill narwhals for meat and skin.

Killing more narwhals can cause the number of seals to increase or decrease.

Explain why killing more narwhals can have two different effects on the number of seals.

The algae in Figure 7 store a mass of 68 arbitrary units of carbon in 1 year.

8.4% of the carbon in each stage of the food web is passed to the next stage.

Calculate the mass of carbon stored in tertiary consumers in 1 year.

Mass of carbon = _____________________ arbitrary units

Mineral ions are at: a low concentration in sea water

a high concentration in algae.

Name the process algae use to absorb mineral ions from sea water.

Algae and plants are producers.

Explain how not having enough magnesium ions and nitrate ions can limit the mass of carbon stored in producers.

This question is about plant tissues.

Plant meristem tissue is found in the growing tips of shoots and roots.

Name two processes in plants that only occur in meristem tissue.

An acorn is a nut that contains the seed of an oak tree.

When one type of insect lays an egg in an acorn, the acorn grows abnormally.

The abnormal growth is called a gall.

An insect embryo grows inside the gall.

Figure 8 shows a normal acorn and an acorn that has grown a gall.

The seed in an acorn forms from one original cell with two sets of oak tree chromosomes.

The original cell in each seed was produced by sexual reproduction.

The gall has cells that contain two sets of oak tree chromosomes.

Compare the process that produced the original cell in each seed with the process that produced cells in the gall.

The insect embryo inside the acorn:

causes the growth of the gall

uses nutrients from the gall to grow

causes lignin to form around the outside of the gall.

The lignin around the gall protects the acorn from being eaten by herbivores.

Which other structure in the oak tree contains lignin?

Tick (✓) one box.

Phloem

Root hair cells

Xylem

Many years ago, a mutation of an insect embryo led to the embryo causing lignin production in an acorn.

Explain how the mutation could have produced a population of insects that all cause lignin production.

This question is about atoms.

Complete Figure 9 to represent this atom of lithium.

You should draw and label the sub-atomic particles.

Scientific models of the atom have included: the Dalton atom

the plum pudding model

the nuclear atom.

Explain why the model of the atom has changed over time.

You should refer to these three models.

An atom has a radius of 0.348 nm.

Calculate the radius of the atom in metres.

Give your answer in standard form.

In chemistry, a pure substance is a single element or compound.

Describe how measurements taken during a change of state can show if a substance is pure.

A student investigated the heating of some wax.

This is the method used.

1. Put a cube of wax in a beaker.

2. Place the beaker on a heater connected to a joulemeter.

3. Turn on the heater.

4. When the wax begins to melt, turn on the joulemeter.

5. When all the wax has melted, record the reading shown on the joulemeter.

Figure 10 shows the arrangement.

The student made these measurements:

mass of the cube of wax = 0.15 kg

energy transferred to melt the wax = 33 kJ

Calculate the specific latent heat of fusion of wax using the student’s measurements.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet.

The student’s value for specific latent heat of fusion is not accurate because some energy was dissipated to the surroundings.

Explain how the dissipation of energy affected the student’s calculated value.

The student continued to heat the wax after it had melted.

The student measured the temperature of the wax every 10 seconds.

Figure 11 shows how the temperature of the wax varied with time.

Between 0 seconds and 80 seconds, 4950 J of energy was transferred to the wax.

The mass of the wax was 0.15 kg.

Determine the specific heat capacity of the wax.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet.

Specific heat capacity = __________________________ J/kg°C