Physics – IGCSE: General Physics

Name Grade
Date
Duration

1) Imagine that you live beside a busy road. One of your neighbors thinks that many of the
vehicles are travelling faster than the speed limit for the road.
You decide to check this measuring the speeds of some of the vehicles.
a. Which two quantities will you need to measure in order to find the speed of vehicle, and
which instruments would you use to measure them?
Quantity measured Instrument used

[4]
b. State the equation you would use to calculate the speed of the vehicle. If you use symbols,
state what your symbols mean

[1]
c. One lorry travels from your town to another town. The lorry reaches a top speed 90 km/h,
but its average speed between the towns is only 66 km/h.
(i) Why is the average speed less than the top speed?

[1]
(ii) The journey between the towns takes 20 minutes. Calculate the distance between
the towns.

Total distance = __________ [3]

Total mark: 9
2) In a training session, a racing cyclist’s journey is in three stages.
Stage 1 He accelerates uniformly from rest to 12 m/s in 20 s.
Stage 2 He cycles at 12 m/s for distance of 4800 m
Stage 3 He decelerates uniformly to rest.
The whole journey takes 500 s.
a. Calculate the time taken for stage 2

[2]
b. On a copy of the grid below, draw a speed/time graph of the cyclist’s ride

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Name: _____________________

[3]
c. Show that the total distance travelled by the cyclist is 5400 m

[4]
d. Calculate the average speed of the cyclist

[2]
Total mark: 11
3) The diagram below shows some of the forces acting on a car of mass 800 kg.

a. State the size of the total drag force when the car is travelling at constant speed

[1]
b. The driving force is increased to 3200 N
(i) Find the resultant force on the car at this instant

[1]
(ii) Write down, in words, the equation connecting mass, force, and acceleration

[2]

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Name: _____________________

(iii) Calculate the initial acceleration of the car

[2]
c. Explain why the car will eventually reach a new higher constant speed

[2]
Total mark: 7
p. 54
4) A student investigated the stretching of a spring by hanging various weights from it and
measuring the corresponding extensions. The results are shown in the table below.

a. On a copy of the grid, plot the points from these results. Do not draw a line through the
points yet
[2]

b. The student appears to have made an error in recording one of the results. Which result
is this?

[1]
c. Ignoring the incorrect result, draw the best straight line through the remaining points
[1]

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Name: _____________________

d. State and explain whether this spring is obeying Hooke’s law

[2]
e. Describe how the graph might be shaped if the student continued to add several more
weights to the spring

[1]
f. The student estimates that if he hangs a 45 N load on the spring, the extension will be 920
mm. Explain why this estimate may be unrealistic

[1]
Total mark: 8
blue
5) A girl wearing a parachute jumps from a helicopter. She does not open the parachute straight
away. The table shows her speed during the 9 seconds after she jumps.
Time in seconds 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Speed in m/s 0 10 30 40 25 17 12 10 10

a. Complete the table by writing down the speed at 2 seconds

[3]
b. Plot a graph of speed against time

[1]
c. How many seconds after she jumped did the girl open her parachute? How do the results
show this? How do the results show this?

d. What force pulls the girl down?

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Name: _____________________

[1]
e. What force acts upwards?

[1]
f. What is the force at:
(i) 3 seconds? ________
(ii) 6 seconds? ________
(iii) 9 seconds? ________
[3]
g. How will the graph continue after 9 seconds if she is still falling?

[1]
h. The girl makes a second jump with a larger area parachute. She falls through the air for
the same time before opening her new parachute. How will this affect the graph:
(i) During the first four seconds?

[1]
(ii) After this?

[1]
6) Figure below shows the speed-time graph for a vehicle accelerating from rest.

a. Calculate the acceleration of the vehicle at time = 30 s\

Acceleration = ____________ [2]

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Name: _____________________

b. Without further calculation, state how the acceleration at time = 100 s compares to the
acceleration at time = 10 s. Suggest, in terms of force, a reason why any change has taken
a place

[3]
c. Determine the distance travelled by the vehicle between time = 120 s and time = 160 s.

Distance = ____________________ [3]

Total mark: 8
Exam-mate.com
7) Figure below shows liquid in a cylinder

The depth of the liquid is 10 cm and the radius of the cylinder is 3.0 cm. The weight of the
liquid in the cylinder is 2.5 N.
a. Calculate the density of the liquid.

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Name: _____________________

Density = ______________ [3]

b. Figure below shows a device that measures the pressure of a gas supply.

(i) State the name of the device

[1]
(ii) The difference h between the two liquid levels is 2.0 cm. The density of the liquid
is 800 kg/m3. Calculate the difference between the pressure of the gas and
atmospheric pressure.

Pressure difference = _______________ [2]

(iii) A similar device with a tube of smaller cross-sectional area is connected to a gas
supply at the same pressure.
State and explain any effect on the value of h.

[2]
Total mark: 8
Exam-mate.com
8) The density of mercury is 1.4 × 104 kg/m3.
a. Figure below shows an instrument that is being used to determine the atmospheric
pressure.

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Name: _____________________

(i) State the name of the instrument

[1]
(ii) State what is in space A
[1]
(iii) Calculate the atmospheric pressure

Atmospheric pressure = ____________ [2]

b. Figure below shows mercury stored in a cylindrical glass jar of internal radius 4.0 cm. The
depth of mercury in the jar is 12 cm.

Calculate the weight of mercury in the jar

Weight = __________________ [3]

Total mark: 7
9) The velocity of an object of mass m increases from u to v
a. State, in terms of m, u, and v, the change of momentum of the object.
[1]
b. In a game of tennis, a player hits a stationary ball with his racquet.

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Name: _____________________

(i) The racquet is in contact with the ball for 6.0 ms. The average force on the ball
during this time is 400 N. Calculate the impulse on the tennis ball.

Impulse = _____________ [2]

(ii) The mass of the ball is 0.056 kg. calculate the speed with which the ball leaves the
racquet.

Speed = _________________ [2]

(iii) State the energy transfer that takes place:
1. As the ball changes shape during the contact between the racquet and the
ball

2. As the ball leaves the racquet.

[2]
Total mark: 7
10) The question below is about forces and energy
a. State what is meant by the principle of conservation of energy

[1]
b. The figure below shows a girl throwing a heavy ball

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Name: _____________________

(i) State the energy changes that take place from when the girl begins to exert a force
on the ball until the ball hits the ground and stops moving.

[2]
(ii) The mass of the ball is 4.0 kg. The girl exerts a force on the ball for 0.60 s. The
speed of the ball increases from 0 to 12 m/s before it leaves the girl’s hand.
Calculate:
1. The momentum of the ball on leaving the girl’s hand

Momentum = ___________________ [2]

2. The average resultant force exerted on the ball.

Average resultant force = _____________________ [2]

Total mark: 7
11) This question is about forces, motion, and energy
a) Complete the figure below by writing in the right-hand column the name of the quantity
given by the product in the left-hand column.

[2]
b) The figure below shows a man hitting a ball with a golf club.

The ball has a mass of 0.046 kg. The golf club is in contact with the ball for 5 × 10−4 s and
the ball leaves the golf club at a speed of 65 m/s.
(i) Calculate:

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Name: _____________________

1. The momentum of the ball as it leaves the golf club

Momentum = _____________ [2]

2. The average resultant force acting on the ball while it is in contact with the
golf club.

Average force = ______________________ [2]

(ii) While the golf club is in contact with the ball, the ball becomes compressed and
changes shape.
State the type of energy stored in the ball during its contact with the golf club.
[1]
Total mark: 7
12) The question below is about measurements and units, forces and pressure
a. Figure below shows liquid in a cylinder

Table below gives some data about the cylinder and the liquid.

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Name: _____________________

The cylinder containing liquid is placed on a digital balance that displays the mass in kg.
calculate the reading shown on the balance.

Reading = _______________ kg [4]

b. Figure below shows a device that measures the pressure of a gas.

(i) State the name of the device

[1]
(ii) The pressure of the gas is 400 Pa greater than atmospheric pressure
Calculate the density of the liquid

Density = __________________ [2]

(iii) With the gas supply connected, the top of the tube on the left of the device is
sealed securely with a rubber stopper. The gas pressure is then increased.
State and explain what happens to the liquid in the device.

[2]
Total mark: 9

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Name: _____________________

13) Figure below shows a uniform plank AB of length 2.0 m suspended from two ropes X and Y.

The weight W of the plank is 210 N. The force in rope X is P. The force in rope Y is Q.
a. State, in terms of P, the moment of force P about B.
[1]
b. Calculate:
(i) The moment of W about B

Moment = ______________ [1]

(ii) The force P

Force P = _______________ [2]

(iii) The force Q

Force Q = __________________ [2]

Total mark: 6
14) A rifle fires a bullet of mass 0.020 kg vertically upwards through the air. As it leaves the rifle,
the speed of the bullet is 350 m/s.
a. Calculate
(i) The kinetic energy of the bullet as it leaves the file

Kinetic energy = ________________ [3]

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Name: _____________________

(ii) The maximum possible height that the bullet can reach

Maximum height = _____________________ [2]

b. The actual height reached by the bullet is less than the value calculate in (a)(ii)
(i) Explain, in terms of the forces acting on the bullet, why this is so.

[2]
(ii) As the bullet rises through the air, its kinetic energy decreases.
State what happens to this energy

[2]
Total mark: 9
15) Figure below shows a fork-lift truck lifting a box.

The electric motor that drives the lifting mechanism is powered by batteries.
a. State the form of the energy stored in the batteries
[1]
b. The lifting mechanism raises a box of mass 32 kg through a vertical distance of 2.5 m in
5.4 s.
(i) Calculate the gravitational potential energy gained by the box.

Gravitational potential energy = _______________ [2]

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Name: _____________________

(ii) The efficiency of the lifting mechanism is 0.65 (65%).

Calculate the input power to the lifting mechanism.

Input power = _________________ [3]

c. The batteries are recharged from a mains voltage supply that is generated in an oil-fired
power station.
By comparison with a wind farm, state one advantage and one disadvantage of running a
power station using oil.
Advantage:

Disadvantage:

[2]
Total mark: 8

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