AQA GCSE Physics Paper 1 Foundation June 2025 question paper 8463/1F

Manufacturing a petrol car causes carbon dioxide to be emitted into the atmosphere.

Driving a petrol car also causes carbon dioxide to be emitted.

Which of the following is an environmental problem caused by the emission of carbon dioxide?

Tick () one box.

Carbon dioxide is emitted during the manufacture of the car before the car has been driven.

Figure 1 shows the relationship between the total distance travelled by a petrol car and the total carbon dioxide emitted.

How much carbon dioxide is emitted during the manufacture of the car?

Use Figure 1.

How does the total carbon dioxide emitted change as the total distance travelled by the car increases?

Use Figure 1.

An electric car does not emit carbon dioxide as it is driven.

Choose one reason why.

Tick () one box.

Some energy resources used to generate electricity cause environmental issues.

Draw one line from each method of generating electricity to the environmental issue it causes.

A student investigated the thermal conductivity of different metals.

Figure 2 shows some of the apparatus used.

Each rod was made from a different metal.

The metal rods are joined at the centre.

The size of each metal rod was the same.

This is the method used.

1. Attach a drawing pin to the end of each metal rod using wax.

2. Light the Bunsen burner.

3. Start a stopclock.

4. Record the time taken for the wax to melt and for the drawing pin to fall off each metal rod.

Table 1 shows the results.

Complete Figure 3.

You should:

• label the x-axis

• plot the data from Table 1 as a bar chart.

Which type of metal in Table 1 had the greatest thermal conductivity?

Give a reason for your answer.

Tick () one box.

The thermal energy transferred to the nickel rod was 132 J.

The temperature change of the rod was 20 °C.

mass of the nickel rod = 0.015 kg

Calculate the specific heat capacity of nickel.

Use the equation:

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 02.4 and 02.5.

Write down the equation which links energy transferred (E), power (P) and time (t).

At the end of the investigation, the Bunsen burner was turned off.

As the nickel rod cooled to room temperature, the rod transferred 132 J of energy to the room.

The mean power transfer was 0.33 W.

Calculate the time taken for the energy transfer.

Different radioactive isotopes emit different types of radiation.

One isotope of uranium (U) decays into thorium (Th) by emitting an alpha particle (He).

Which nuclear equation shows the decay of this isotope of uranium?

Tick () one box.

Figure 4 shows how the percentage of uranium atoms in a sample of one uranium isotope varies with time.

What is the time taken for 50% of the atoms of this uranium isotope to decay?

Use Figure 4.

What is the half-life of this uranium isotope?

Figure 5 shows how the percentage of uranium atoms varies with time for three different isotopes of uranium, A, B and C.

Figure 5

Which isotope is the most unstable?

Give a reason for your answer.

Tick () one box.

Figure 6 shows the nuclei of four different atoms.

Which nucleus in Figure 6 has the smallest mass number?

Tick () one box.

Which nucleus in Figure 6 has an atomic number of 4?

Tick () one box.

Which two nuclei in Figure 6 are isotopes of the same element?

Give a reason for your answer.

Scientists have replaced old models of the atom with newer models.

The nuclear model of the atom has a nucleus at the centre.

Which model of the atom was replaced by the nuclear model?

Tick () one box.

What does the nuclear model state about the mass of an atom?

Tick () one box.

A teacher demonstrated how the pressure in a gas varies with temperature.

Figure 7 shows some of the apparatus used.

The teacher heated the conical flask.

The temperature of the gas in the flask increased.

How did heating the gas affect the average speed of the gas particles?

Tick () one box.

How did heating the gas affect the average kinetic energy of the gas particles?

Tick () one box.

As the temperature of the gas increased, the pressure of the gas inside the flask increased.

How did increasing the pressure affect the number of collisions each second between gas particles and the walls of the flask?

Tick () one box.

What happened to the force exerted on the walls of the flask by the gas particles when the pressure increased?

Tick () one box.

At different temperatures, nitrogen can be a gas, a liquid or a solid.

Draw one line from the state of matter to the arrangement of particles in each state.

The boiling point of nitrogen is –196 °C and the melting point of nitrogen is –210 °C.

What is the state of matter of nitrogen at a temperature of –200 °C?

Tick () one box.

What is the state of matter of nitrogen when the temperature is lower than the melting point of nitrogen?

Tick () one box.

As a substance melts, the temperature of the substance is constant.

What happens to the kinetic energy and the potential energy of the particles as the substance melts?

Tick () one box in each row.

Figure 8 shows an electric kettle used to boil water.

The kettle is connected to the mains electricity supply by a three-core cable and plug.

Figure 9 shows the inside of the plug.

What are the colours of the insulation around the earth, live and neutral wires inside a plug?

Choose answers from the box.

The plug in Figure 9 contains a fuse.

What is the circuit symbol for a fuse?

Tick () one box.

The electric kettle contains a heating element.

The power of the heating element is 2420 W.

The current in the heating element is 11.0 A.

Calculate the potential difference across the heating element.

Use the equation:

The power of the heating element is 2420 W.

The current in the heating element is 11.0 A.

Calculate the resistance of the heating element.

Use the equation:

Kettle A and kettle B have the same total power input.

Kettle A has a greater efficiency than kettle B.

Which two of the following describe heating water in kettle A compared with kettle B ?

Tick () two boxes.

Figure 10 shows a toy which is hung from a support.

When the handle is pulled down and then released, the toy bounces up and down.

When the handle is pulled down, the spring extends.

The extension of the spring is 0.35 m.

The spring constant of the spring is 5.6 N/m.

Calculate the elastic potential energy stored by the stretched spring.

Use the equation:

elastic potential energy = 0.5 × spring constant × (extension)²

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 06.2 and 06.3.

Which equation links gravitational field strength (g), gravitational potential energy (E_p), height (h) and mass (m)?

Tick () one box.

When the handle is released, the toy moves upwards through a height of 0.60 m.

The toy has 0.294 J of gravitational potential energy in its highest position.

gravitational field strength = 9.8 N/kg

Calculate the mass of the toy.

Figure 11 shows the toy in three different positions.

The toy is released from position A and moves upwards.

The toy is moving upwards in position B.

The toy is at maximum height in position C.

Between position A and position B, the extension of the spring decreases.

How does the elastic potential energy stored by the spring change as the extension decreases?

Tick () one box.

Between position B and position C, the toy slows down.

How does the kinetic energy of the toy change as the toy slows down?

Tick () one box.

How does the gravitational potential energy of the toy change as the toy moves from position B to position C ?

Tick () one box.

The toy moves up and down many times before eventually stopping.

Which two of the following are reasons why the toy eventually stops?

Tick () two boxes.

A student built a circuit to investigate how the efficiency of a motor varies with the speed of the motor.

Figure 12 shows the circuit.

The student used the motor to lift a mass through a height of 1.0 m.

The motor took 12 seconds to lift the mass.

The charge flow through the circuit was 6.0 C.

Calculate the current in the circuit.

Use the equation:

The potential difference across the motor was 8.0 V.

The charge flow through the motor was 6.0 C.

Calculate the energy transferred to the motor.

Use the equation:

energy transferred = charge flow × potential difference

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 07.3 and 07.4.

Which equation links efficiency, total input energy transfer and useful output energy transfer?

Tick () one box.

The efficiency of the motor was 0.70

The useful output energy transfer of the motor was 1.96 J.

Calculate the total input energy transfer to the motor.

The student adjusted the speed at which the mass was lifted.

For each speed, the student determined the efficiency of the motor.

Figure 13 shows the results.

Use Figure 13 to predict the efficiency of the motor when the speed is 0.6 m/s.

How does Figure 13 show that the efficiency of the motor is not directly proportional to the speed?

Tides and wind are two renewable energy resources.

Describe the difference between renewable energy resources and non-renewable energy resources.

Figure 14 shows a new design of tidal turbine to generate electricity using the tides.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 08.2 and 08.3.

Write down the equation which links density (ρ), mass (m) and volume (V).

The mass of seawater passing through the tidal turbine each second is 824 000 kg.

Calculate the volume of seawater passing through the tidal turbine each second.

The speed of the tide or the speed of the wind past a turbine is called the ‘flow speed’.

Figure 15 shows how the power output of a tidal turbine compares with a wind turbine for different flow speeds.

As flow speed increases, power output increases.

Give two other conclusions that can be made using information from Figure 15.

Figure 16 shows the turbines used to obtain the data for Figure 15.

Compare the environmental impacts of the wind turbine and the tidal turbine in Figure 16.

A student determined the specific heat capacity of water.

Figure 17 shows the apparatus used.

The joulemeter measures energy transfer.

Give one hazard in the investigation.

Describe how the student could determine the specific heat capacity of water using the apparatus in Figure 17.

One source of error in the experiment was energy loss to the surroundings.

Suggest one change to the apparatus to reduce energy loss to the surroundings.

The student’s value for the specific heat capacity of water was 4410 J/kg °C.

The actual value for the specific heat capacity of water is 4200 J/kg °C.

Calculate the percentage difference between the student’s value and the actual value.

A student investigated how the current in an LED varies with the potential difference across the LED.

Figure 18 shows the circuit used.

Figure 19 shows the results.

Give one way the student could have varied the potential difference across the LED.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 10.2 and 10.3.

Which of the following equations links current (I), potential difference (V) and resistance (R)?

Tick () one box.

Determine the resistance of the LED when the potential difference across the LED was 3.0 V.

Use Figure 19.

The student reversed the connections to the power supply and varied the potential difference across the LED.

Explain why the ammeter displayed a value of 0.0 A for all the values of potential difference the student used.