Radioactive substances are used in the generation of electricity.
State two other uses of radioactive substances.
(2)
Figure 1 is a diagram of a nuclear reactor, used in the generation of electricity.
P may be used to shut down the reactor when necessary. Q slows down neutrons to enable a chain reaction to take place.
State the name of the two parts labelled P and Q.
(2)
Explain how neutrons enable a nuclear chain reaction to take place.
(2)
A student lifts a toy car from a bench and places the toy car at the top of a slope as shown in Figure 2.
Describe an energy transfer that occurs when the student lifts the toy car from the bench and places the toy car at the top of the slope.
(2)
The student lets the toy car roll down the slope.
Describe how the student could find, by experiment, the speed of the toy car at the bottom of the slope.
(4)
The student needs to develop the experiment to determine the loss in potential energy and the gain in kinetic energy as the toy car is rolling down the slope.
State the other measurements the student must make.
(2)
When the toy car rolls down the slope, some energy is transferred to the surroundings as thermal energy.
State how the student could calculate the amount of energy transferred to the surroundings.
(1)
State the equation that relates acceleration to change in velocity and time taken.
(1)
A van accelerates from a velocity of 2 m / s to a velocity of 20 m / s in 12 s.
Calculate the acceleration of the van.
acceleration =........ m / s2
(2)
Figure 3 is a velocity / time graph for 15 s of a cyclist’s journey.
Calculate the distance the cyclist travels in the 15 s.
(3)
Another cyclist starts from rest, but his acceleration decreases as time increases.
Sketch the velocity / time graph for this cyclist on Figure 3.
(2)
The Sun has a mass of 2.0 × 1030kg. A white dwarf has a mass of 3.4 × 1029kg.
Calculate the value of
mass of this white dwarf
(2)
Figure 4 is a diagram giving some information about main sequence stars. Luminosity is a measure of how bright something is. An increase in luminosity means an increase in brightness.
State how the brightness of a main sequence star changes with its temperature.
(1)
State how the brightness of a main sequence star changes with its mass.
(1)
Nuclear fusion provides the energy source for stars including the Sun.
Describe what happens during nuclear fusion.
(3)
A nebula may evolve into a main sequence star, such as the Sun.
Explain how a nebula may evolve into a main sequence star.
(3)
A radio station transmits on 97.4 MHz.
To receive the waves an aerial needs a length equal to half the wavelength of the radio waves being transmitted.
Calculate the length of the aerial needed.
The speed of the radio waves is 3.00 × 108m / s.
length of aerial =........
(3)
To investigate refraction in a rectangular glass block a student uses the apparatus shown in Figure 5.
Describe how the student should measure the angle of refraction.
(2)
Figure 6 is a simplified diagram to show radio waves from a transmitter moving upwards, then meeting a boundary between lower and upper layers of the atmosphere.
Explain what happens to the radio waves after they meet the boundary between the lower and upper layers as shown in Figure 6.
Your explanation should refer to changes in direction and speed of the waves.
(4)
Four students and their teacher do an experiment to measure the speed of sound in air.
The teacher stands at a distance and fires a starting pistol into the air. The students see the flash when the pistol is fired. They measure the time from when they see the flash to when they hear the bang.
A student drew a diagram of the arrangement as shown in Figure 7.
The students obtained a value of 240 m/s for the speed of sound.
The accepted value, in a science data book, is 343 m/s.
Calculate the difference between the students’ value and the accepted value as a percentage of the accepted value.
percentage difference =........
(2)
When the distance was 100 m, the students measured the following times:
0.43 s 0.35 s 0.50 s 0.38 s
Explain why their times vary so much.
(2)
Explain one way the students might improve this experiment.
(2)
Figure 8 represents a sound wave coming from a loudspeaker and shows the effects on particles of the air at one instant in time.
Draw and label a distance of one wavelength in Figure 8.
(1)
Describe the motion of the particles as the wave travels through the air.
(2)
Which of these describes isotopes of an element?
(1)
Figure 9 represents a decay that can happen inside the nucleus of an atom.
Which decay is represented in Figure 9?
(1)
The half-life of cobalt-60 is 5 years.
A school cobalt source had an activity of 38.5 kBq in the year 2000.
Estimate the activity of this source in the year 2020.
(3)
Explain what can happen to the body if a person has a prolonged exposure to gamma rays.
(2)
A G-M tube is connected to a counter. A teacher places the G-M tube near to a radioactive source. A student starts the counter and clock at the same time and writes down the readings shown on the counter every 15 s.
The student plots the readings with a line of best fit, as shown in Figure 10.
Calculate the average count rate, in counts / s, from the graph.
Show your working on the graph.
average count rate =........ counts / s
(2)
The student says that the experiment must have been done carelessly because the data seemed quite scattered away from the best fit line.
The teacher claims such results should be expected in radioactivity experiments.
Justify the teacher’s claim.
(2)
A kettle is used to heat water.
Figure 11 shows a graph of temperature against time for the water in the kettle.
Calculate the rate of increase in temperature at a time of 150 s, by drawing a tangent to the curve in Figure 11 at a time of 150 s.
(3)
The kettle has an efficiency of 91% in supplying energy to the water. The thermal energy of the water increases by 3.3 × 105J in 200 s.
Calculate the total amount of energy supplied to the kettle in the 200 s.
Use the equation
total amount of energy supplied =........
(2)
*(c) The global demand for electricity is increasing.
There is a debate about whether nuclear power generation should or should not contribute to meeting this increasing demand.
Discuss the arguments for and against using nuclear power to meet the increasing global demand for electricity.
(6)
Figure 12 is a diagram showing a rocket that is sent into space to try and change the path of a small asteroid.
The rocket has a mass of 5.5
105kg and is travelling to the right at 14 km / s.
Which of these is a correct calculation of the momentum of the rocket in kg m / s?
Use the equation
(1)
The asteroid has a momentum of 7.5
1010kg m / s and a mass of 8.0 × 106kg.
Calculate the speed of the asteroid.
speed of the asteroid =........
(2)
*(b) A student investigates the effect of a crumple zone on the force exerted during a collision.
The student has one trolley with a spring at the front and another trolley without a spring.
trolley spring trolley
The student uses the arrangement in Figure 13.
After a trolley is released, it accelerates down a slope and bounces off a rigid wall.
The speed of a trolley can be measured just before a collision with the wall and just after a collision with the wall.
The silver foils are connected to a millisecond timer.
The silver foils make contact with each other during the collision, so the time they are in contact can be read from the millisecond timer.
Explain how the student could investigate the effect of a crumple zone on the average force exerted during the collision.
Your explanation should include:
• how to determine the force (you may wish to refer to an equation from the list of equations at the end of this paper)
• how the effect of crumple zones may be shown in the investigation
• precautions that may be necessary to achieve accurate results.
(6)
Newton’s third law, when applied to the collision of the rocket and the asteroid as shown in Figure 12, can be stated as follows:
The force exerted by the rocket on the asteroid is equal and opposite to the force exerted by the asteroid on the rocket.
Explain how this statement links to the conservation of momentum in the collision.
(4)
Figure 14 shows the hearing responses of a human, a mouse and a bird over a range of frequencies of sound.
.25.5 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128
Describe two differences between the hearing responses of the human and the mouse.
(2)
A farmer wants to use an alarm to scare away these birds.
State which frequency would be most effective. Give the appropriate units.
(1)
State the reason for your choice of frequency in (ii).
(1)
Describe the difference between ‘infrasound’ and ‘ultrasound’.
(2)
A transducer can transmit and detect ultrasonic waves.
Figure 15 shows ultrasonic waves transmitted by the transducer on the bottom of
The waves reflect off the sea floor and are received back at the transducer.
The waves travel at 1500 m / s.
The time between transmission and reception is 48 milliseconds.
Calculate the depth of water, D, shown in Figure 15.
depth of water, D =........
(2)
Explain how vibrations from earthquakes may be used to study the core of the Earth.
(4)
The paper as printed
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