AQA GCSE Physics Paper 2 Foundation June 2025 question paper 8463/2F

Light waves and water waves can both be reflected.

A student used a ray box and a mirror to investigate the reflection of light.

Figure 1 shows some of the apparatus used.

The student measured angle A and angle B.

What equipment should the student have used to measure each angle?

The student moved the ray box and changed the direction of the ray of light.

The student recorded different pairs of values of angle A and angle B.

Table 1 shows the results.

Figure 2 shows an incomplete graph of the results.

Complete Figure 2.

You should:

• label the y-axis

• plot the remaining data from Table 1

• draw a line of best fit.

What is the relationship between angle A and angle B ?

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Figure 3 represents a water wave.

Which letter represents the amplitude of the water wave in Figure 3 ?

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Which letter represents the wavelength of the water wave in Figure 3 ?

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A water wave in a ripple tank has a wave speed of 0.125 m/s.

The wave has a frequency of 2.5 Hz.

Calculate the wavelength of the wave.

Use the equation:

Choose the unit from the box.

The wave has a frequency of 2.5 Hz.

Calculate the period of the wave.

Use the equation:

Very long trains can be pulled by more than one engine.

A train is made up of four engines pulling trucks filled with coal.

The coal in one truck has a mass of 75 000 kg.

gravitational field strength = 9.8 N/kg

Calculate the weight of the coal in one truck.

Use the equation:

weight = mass × gravitational field strength

One engine exerts a forward force of 850 000 N.

Calculate the work done by one engine when the train moves a distance of 80 m.

Use the equation:

work done = force × distance moved

Each of the four engines exerts a forward force of 850 000 N on the trucks.

Calculate the total forward force on the trucks.

The force exerted by the engines on the trucks is a contact force.

Which of the following is also a contact force?

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Which sketch graph represents the train moving at a constant speed?

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The train accelerates for 150 s.

The velocity of the train changes from 16 m/s to 25 m/s.

Calculate the acceleration of the train.

Use the equation:

Telescopes are used to observe distant objects.

Complete the sentences.

Choose answers from the box.

What is the name of our galaxy?

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The Sun is our nearest star.

What will happen to the Sun at the end of its life cycle?

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The James Webb Space Telescope is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space.

Very distant galaxies can be observed using the James Webb Space Telescope.

How does the speed of a very distant galaxy compare to the speed of a much nearer galaxy?

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There is an observed increase in the wavelength of light from most distant galaxies.

What name is given to this increase in the wavelength of light?

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Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope support the Big Bang theory.

Complete the sentence.

Choose the answer from the box.

The Big Bang theory suggests that the universe began from a region that

What does the Big Bang theory suggest is happening to the size of the universe?

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Car X and car Y have engines that produce the same maximum forward force.

The cars are the same shape, but car X has a greater mass than car Y.

How does the maximum acceleration of car X and car Y compare?

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Car Y has a mass of 900 kg.

Calculate the resultant force on car Y.

Use the equation:

resultant force = mass × acceleration

A car moves at a constant speed on a level road.

Figure 4 shows the horizontal forces on the car.

The driver makes the car accelerate until the car reaches its maximum speed.

Explain how the horizontal forces on the car change as the car accelerates to its maximum speed.

To pass a driving test, drivers need to understand the difference between thinking distance and braking distance.

Complete the sentence.

Choose the answer from the box.

Complete the sentence.

Choose the answer from the box.

The braking distance is the distance travelled by the car under the braking

Figure 5 shows how speed affects the thinking distance and braking distance of a car.

The car is moving at a speed of 100 km/h.

Calculate the stopping distance of the car.

Use Figure 5.

Which two of the following would increase the stopping distance of a car?

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Some people wear glasses when they are reading.

Figure 6 shows parallel rays of light passing through a convex lens from a pair of reading glasses.

What name is given to point X in Figure 6 ?

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Light changes direction as it enters the lens.

What is the name of this process?

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Which of the following is the shape of a convex lens?

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Figure 7 shows a lens forming a magnified image of an object.

Measure the image height and the object height in Figure 7.

Calculate the magnification produced by the lens.

Use your answers to Question 05.4 and the equation:

Why does magnification have no unit?

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Some reading glasses contain lenses made from blue glass.

The blue glass acts as a filter.

Describe what happens to white light incident on colourless glass and white light incident on blue glass.

Figure 8 shows iron nails being attracted to a magnet.

Iron is a magnetic material.

Which two of the following are also magnetic materials?

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The iron nails become magnets when they are attracted to the bar magnet.

Complete the sentence.

Choose the answer from the box.

The iron nails become.

Figure 9 shows two bar magnets next to each other.

Figure 9

Which arrow shows the direction of the magnetic field between the magnets?

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Figure 10 shows the direction of the current in a wire.

The current causes a magnetic field around the wire.

Which of the following shows the magnetic field pattern around the wire?

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What two changes would increase the strength of the magnetic field around the wire?

A ‘number balance’ is used to help children understand addition.

A number balance has a beam that can rotate around a pivot.

Small tags can be hung from the pegs on the beam.

Each tag has the same weight.

Figure 11 shows a number balance. The balance is in equilibrium.

The weight of each tag on the beam in Figure 11 causes a moment about the pivot.

What is meant by the ‘moment’ of a force?

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A student holds the beam in a horizontal position and adds a tag to position 7 to the right of the pivot.

Figure 12 shows the new arrangement.

The student lets go of the beam.

Which of the following describes the resultant moment on the beam?

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Explain where the student should add another tag to make the beam in Figure 12 balance.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 07.4 and 07.5.

Write down the equation which links distance (d), force (F) and moment of a force (M

One tag causes a moment about the pivot of 1.8 N cm.

The weight of the tag is 0.15 N.

Calculate the distance between the pivot and the tag.

Give your answer in cm.

In a thunderstorm, lightning produces visible light waves and sound waves.

Describe the similarities and differences between visible light waves and sound waves.

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

Which equation links distance (s), speed (v) and time (t)?

Tick (✓) one box.

Lightning strikes the ground 13 200 m from a student.

The speed of sound in air is 330 m/s.

Calculate the time taken for the sound created by the lightning strike to reach the student.

A student investigated how the force applied to a spring affects the length of the spring.

Figure 13 shows the apparatus used.

What is the independent variable in this investigation?

Describe one risk of harm in this investigation and a safety precaution to reduce the risk.

Safety precaution

The student measured the length of the spring using the arrangement shown in Figure 13.

Give two ways the student could have changed the arrangement to improve the accuracy of the measurement.

The student recorded accurate values for the length of the spring as the mass on the spring increased.

The student calculated the force applied to the spring by each mass.

Figure 14 shows the results.

Why does the line on the graph not pass through the origin?

Above 6.0 N the line on Figure 14 curves upwards.

Explain why.

Use the Physics Equations Sheet to answer questions 09.6 and 09.7.

Which equation links extension (e), force (F) and spring constant (k)?

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When the force on the spring is 4.0 N, the extension of the spring is 0.064 m.

Calculate the spring constant of the spring.

A student investigated the acceleration of a ball dropped from different heights.

Figure 15 shows a ‘gravity ball’ that the student used.

The button on the gravity ball starts the stopwatch.

When the gravity ball hits the floor, the stopwatch stops.

This is the method used.

1. Measure a vertical height above the floor.

2. Hold the gravity ball at the measured height.

3. Start the stopwatch on the gravity ball and drop the gravity ball.

4. Record the time shown on the stopwatch.

5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 using the same height.

6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 using different heights.

The student dropped the ball from the same height five times and recorded the following results.

0.49 s 0.51 s 0.58 s 0.56 s 0.61 s

Calculate the uncertainty in these measurements of time.

What type of error caused the variation in the measurements of time?

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Suggest one reason for the error that caused the variation in the measurements of time.

Figure 16 shows a graph of the height the ball was dropped from against the time squared.

The acceleration of the ball can be calculated using the equation:

acceleration = 2 × (gradient of the graph)

Determine the acceleration of the ball.