OCR GCSE Physics B (21st Century) Paper 1 June 2023 question paper

The diagram shows a hydroelectric power station.

What is the useful energy store of the water in the reservoir?

Tick (✓) one box.

Many of the main energy resources use a turbine attached to a generator.

Complete the table to state what drives the turbine for each energy resource.

Tick (✓) one box in each row.

A Sankey diagram of the energy transferred in the hydroelectric power station during one hour is shown.

Calculate the total energy wasted every hour.

Suggest how to reduce the unwanted energy transfer due to friction as the turbine rotates.

Calculate the power output of the hydroelectric power station.

Use:

• the data in the Sankey diagram

• the information: 1 hour = 3600 seconds.

This question is about electromagnetic radiation.

Complete the sentence about the human eye.

The human eye can detect a wide / varied / narrow range of frequencies of

electromagnetic radiation.

Complete the description of light. Use words from the list.

charge detector energy source

When light is emitted by a........, it transfers........ and the eye absorbs it.

Every object emits electromagnetic radiation with different frequencies. Some examples are given in the table.

Put the frequencies in order of energy, from lowest to highest.

Lowest energy........

Highest energy........

What happens to the wavelength emitted from an object as its temperature increases?

Tick (✓) one box.

Earth emits infrared radiation with a typical wavelength of 10 m (10 micrometers).

State the number of micrometres in 1 metre.

How many times larger is 1 mm than 10 m?

Tick (✓) one box.

A student wants to construct a circuit that turns a lamp on when it gets dark.

A circuit can be a series or a parallel circuit.

Which statement is correct?

Tick (✓) one box.

The student builds the circuit in Fig. 3.1 using a cell, a lamp, a fixed resistor and an LDR.

Which circuit symbol in Fig. 3.1 represents the fixed resistor?

The resistance of the LDR increases in the dark.

What happens to the current in this circuit in the dark?

Tick (✓) one box.

The student builds a second circuit as shown in Fig. 3.2.

Which two statements together explain why the overall resistance between points X and less than 2 ?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

Finally, the student builds the circuit shown in Fig. 3.3.

The lamp lights up in darkness and does not shine in daylight.

Fig. 3.3

Daylight Darkness

Complete the sentences to explain why the lamp lights in darkness.

Use words from the list.

current potential difference power resistance

In darkness, the resistance of the LDR increases, and this means that the

........ across the LDR also increases.

The lamp has the same........ as the LDR, so the lamp is able to light.

The energy transferred by the lamp is 3.2 J when the potential difference is 4.0 V.

Calculate the charge flowing through the lamp.

State the unit.

Light interacts with different materials.

The images show clear plastic and black plastic shirt buttons.

Why do the clear buttons look clear when light is shone at them?

Why do the black buttons look black when light is shone at them?

Fig. 4.1 shows the path of some rays of light passing through two different types of glass lens.

State one similarity and one difference between these two glass lenses.

Similarity........

Difference........

White light is shone at a glass prism, as shown in Fig. 4.2.

Describe what happens to the light as it travels from the air, through the glass prism and back into the air.

A student investigates the relationship between the angle of incidence and angle of refraction for a ray of light passing through a glass block.

This is the student’s method:

• Put a glass block on some paper.

• Shine the light from a raybox into the glass block.

• Mark the path of the rays on the paper with a pen.

• Remove the glass block and the raybox.

• Sketch a line to show the path of the ray inside the glass block.

• Estimate the angle of incidence and angle of refraction.

• Repeat the experiment for one other angle of incidence.

Suggest how the student can improve their method to increase the quality of the data collected.

Sound travels through metal and air.

Passengers at a train station notice that they can hear a rumble in the metal rails for nearly a minute before they hear the sound of the train coming.

The speed of the sound wave in the metal rails is 3300 m / s.

Write down the distance the sound wave travels through the metal rails in 1 second.

The frequency of the sound wave in the metal rails is 110 Hz.

Calculate the wavelength of the sound wave in the metal rails.

Use the equation: wave speed = frequency × wavelength

The sound wave in the metal rails causes a sound wave in the air.

The speed of the sound wave in air is 10 times less than the speed of the sound wave in the metal rails. The frequency of the sound wave stays the same.

Calculate the speed of the sound wave in the air.

Speed =........ m / s

Complete the sentence about the wavelength of the sound wave in the air.

The sound wave in the air has a longer / a shorter / the same wavelength compared to the sound wave in the metal rails.

A rugby ball is kicked with an upwards velocity of 20 m / s. The ball has a mass of 0.6 kg.

Calculate the kinetic energy of the ball just after it has been kicked.

Use the Equation Sheet.

Convert 20 m / s into km / h.

1 km = 1000 m 1 hour = 3600 seconds

20 m / s =........ km / h

As the ball moves upwards through the air, some work is done to increase the thermal store of the surroundings.

State the name of the force doing this work.

State one other energy transfer as the ball moves upwards through the air.

Calculate the work done by a force of 3.5 N when the ball moves a distance of 5.2 m through the air in the direction of the force.

Give your answer to 2 significant figures.

Use the equation: work done = force distance

The ball’s velocity decreases as it goes upwards. It reaches a maximum height and then its velocity increases as it falls downwards.

State the velocity of the ball at the moment it reaches its maximum height.

Velocity =........ m / s

A mountaineer has an empty plastic bottle at the top of a mountain. The lid is off. The arrows on Fig. 7.1 show the air pressure acting on the inside of the bottle.

Draw three arrows on Fig. 7.1 to show the air pressure acting on the outside of the bottle.

Fig. 7.1

The mountaineer puts the lid on the bottle and climbs down the mountain.

At the bottom of the mountain, the bottle has a crushed shape, as shown in Fig. 7.2.

Suggest why the bottle has a crushed shape at the bottom of the mountain.

Explain why air pressure varies with height above the surface of the Earth.

A helium balloon is released and rises to the ceiling.

The balloon has a final speed of 2 m / s just before it reaches the ceiling. Initial speed = 0 m / s Acceleration = 0.5 m / s²

Select one equation from the Equation Sheet which can be used to find the distance the balloon travels, using the variables given.

How can you calculate the distance the balloon travels?

Complete the sentences about radioactive substances.

Atoms in radioactive substances have balanced / stable / unstable nuclei. This means

that they will absorb / emit / reflect particles or electromagnetic radiation.

The nuclear equation shows the radioactive decay of a sulfur nucleus to a chlorine nucleus.

Identify the radioactive decay in the nuclear equation.

Tick (✓) one box.

Which statement explains why sulfur and chlorine are different elements?

Tick (✓) one box.

A group of students were asked to suggest questions that science cannot answer.

Which two students are asking questions that scientific evidence can answer?

Which student is asking an ethical question?........

Evidence for the Big Bang is a topic that sparks religious and philosophical debate as well as scientific discussion.

One source of evidence for the Big Bang comes from the red shift of light from galaxies.

What causes red shift?

Tick (✓) one box.

The table and the graph show some of the data that first supported the ‘Big Bang’ theory.

Plot the results from the table on the graph. 3 points have already been plotted.

Include on your graph a line of best fit.

What is the relationship between distance and velocity shown by the graph?

Tick (✓) one box.

Identify two features of the graph that show this relationship.

Describe the ‘Big Bang’ model.

The picture shows a child on a slide. The child’s hair is standing on end due to static electricity.

Suggest what has happened to cause the child’s hair to stand on end.

Complete the sentence to explain static electricity.

Static electricity is the sharing / storing / transfer of electrons between insulators.

The diagram shows a positively charged balloon, hanging freely from a string.

There is an electric field around the balloon, as shown by the arrows.

Explain what the direction and spacing of the arrows mean about the electric field.

Direction of arrows........

Spacing of arrows........

A second balloon is brought close to this balloon and the two balloons repel one another.

State the type of charge on the second balloon.

A student sets up a ripple tank, as shown in the diagram. The dipper dips up and down and sends circular water waves outwards.

Which row gives the correct definitions of wavelength and frequency?

Tick (✓) one box.

The student takes a photograph of the wave pattern.

State one piece of equipment which needs to be included in the photograph to find the wavelength of the water waves.

The student then uses a smart phone to record a video of the movement of the water waves for a few seconds.

Describe how the student could use a video to find the frequency of the water waves.

How can the student now calculate the speed of the water waves?

Fig. 12.1 shows a trolley at the top of a ramp.

Fig. 12.1

The trolley is released and accelerates down the ramp. When the trolley passes through the light gate, the instantaneous speed of the trolley is displayed.

Describe how the acceleration of the trolley down the ramp can be calculated using one light gate and a stopclock.

A block of wood is placed on the ramp. It exerts a force of 3.2 N on the ramp, perpendicular to the surface of the ramp. This is shown as a vector on Fig. 12.2.

Draw one vector on Fig. 12.2 to show the force the ramp exerts on the block of wood, to complete the interaction pair.

Use a ruler.

Fig. 12.2

This question is about an inflatable boat.

Boats float because they are less dense than water.

Define density.

The boat is inflated in the morning and then left out in the sun. The temperature of the air inside the boat rises to 50 °C.

• The volume and mass of the air inside the inflated boat are constant.

• The table contains data about the average speed of air molecules at different

Explain why the boat feels firmer after being left out in the Sun.

Use the data in the table. You do not need to do any calculations.