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ZIMSEC A Level · N2009

Physics Paper 1 November 2009

Questions
39 of 40
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60 min

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Questions
39
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Answer every question in the printed order, get marked at the end, then see the answers.

The questions

Question 1

units and measurement
Which is not a base unit?
  1. Ajoule
  2. Bmole
  3. Campere
  4. Dkelvin

Question 2

energy and units
Graphs below were obtained from four different experiments. Which shaded area does not have units of energy?
  1. Apower vs time
  2. Bforce of air resistance vs distance
  3. Cpotential difference vs charge
  4. Dgravitational field intensity vs time

Question 3

dynamics
Which definition is not correct?
  1. AAcceleration is the rate of change of displacement with time.
  2. BForce is the rate of change of momentum.
  3. CImpulse is the change in momentum.
  4. DLinear momentum is the product of mass and velocity.

Question 4

kinematics
A car uniformly decelerates from 30 ms⁻¹ to 15 ms⁻¹ over a distance of 75 m. What total distance is moved by the car before coming to rest?
  1. A25 m
  2. B75 m
  3. C100 m
  4. D175 m

Question 5

collisions
What happens to momentum and kinetic energy when two objects coalesce after a head on collision?
  1. AMomentum conserved, Kinetic Energy conserved
  2. BMomentum conserved, Kinetic Energy not conserved
  3. CMomentum not conserved, Kinetic Energy conserved
  4. DMomentum not conserved, Kinetic Energy not conserved

Question 6

Newton's laws
What is the rate of change of momentum when a force of 4 N acts on a mass of 2 kg for a time of 2 s?
  1. A1 kgms⁻²
  2. B2 kgms⁻²
  3. C4 kgms⁻²
  4. D8 kgms⁻²

Question 7

vectors
The components of a particle's velocity in two directions at right angles are 3 kms⁻¹ and 4 kms⁻¹. What is the actual velocity of the particle?
  1. A1 kms⁻¹
  2. B7\sqrt{7} kms⁻¹
  3. C5 kms⁻¹
  4. D7 kms⁻¹

Question 8

gravitation
A planet of mass M moves in a circular orbit of radius R round the Sun of mass S with period T. Which relationship is correct?
  1. AT∝M2T \propto M^2
  2. BT∝R3/2T \propto R^{3/2}
  3. CT∝S1/2T \propto S^{1/2}
  4. DT∝S2T \propto S^2

Question 9

simple harmonic motion
The diagram shows how the displacement of a particle describing simple harmonic motion varies with time. Which statement is not true?
  1. ARestoring force is zero at time T4\frac{T}{4}.
  2. BVelocity is maximum at time T2\frac{T}{2}.
  3. CAcceleration is maximum at time T.
  4. DKinetic energy is zero at time T2\frac{T}{2}.

Question 10

simple harmonic motion
The graph shows how displacement varies with time for a body performing simple harmonic motion. At which point is the body travelling and accelerating in the same direction?
  1. AA
  2. BB
  3. CC
  4. DD

Question 11

waves
The equation of a transverse wave moving along a string is given by y=6.0sin⁡(0.20x+4.0t)y = 6.0\sin(0.20x + 4.0t). The 4.0 in the equation represents
  1. Aamplitude.
  2. Bangular velocity.
  3. Cphase difference.
  4. Dfrequency.

Question 12

optics
Which statement about the size of the image formed in a plane mirror is not correct?
  1. AThe image can be taller than the object.
  2. BThe height of the image is the same as the height of the object.
  3. CThe width of the image is the same as the width of the object.
  4. DThe image height depends on the object height.

Question 13

waves
Which property is evidence that light is transverse rather than longitudinal?
  1. Adiffraction by a narrow slit
  2. Btwo coherent waves produce interference
  3. Crefraction by a glass prism
  4. Dpolarisation

Question 14

quantum physics
Which physical phenomenon cannot be fully described by the wave theory?
  1. Adiffraction
  2. Binterference
  3. Cphotoelectricity
  4. Dpolarisation

Question 15

interference
S₁ and S₂ are coherent water wave generators. At some point Q, the path difference S1Q−S2Q=λ2S_1Q - S_2Q = \frac{\lambda}{2}. The amplitude of S₁ waves is 3a while for those from S₂ is 2a. If both generators are switched on, which graph correctly represents the resultant?
  1. Adisplacement amplitude 3a to -3a
  2. Bdisplacement amplitude a to -a (offset)
  3. Cdisplacement amplitude 5a to -5a
  4. Dzero displacement line

Question 16

interference
What take(s) place during Young's double slit experiment?
  1. Ainterference only
  2. Bdiffraction only
  3. Crefraction and interference
  4. Dinterference and diffraction

Question 17

resistance
The resistance of a wire is R, its length is L and its cross sectional area is A. When its length is increased to 3L and its cross-sectional area to 2A, its resistance becomes
  1. A3R2\frac{3R}{2}
  2. B2R3\frac{2R}{3}
  3. CR2\frac{R}{2}
  4. DR3\frac{R}{3}

Question 18

electrical components
Which graph shows the I - V relationship of a thermistor?
  1. Aquarter circle concave curve
  2. Bupward concave increasing curve
  3. CS-shaped increasing curve
  4. Dcurve increasing then levelling off

Question 19

resistor networks
Five resistors are connected as shown below. What is the resistance between S and Q?
  1. A0.43 Ω
  2. B0.6 Ω
  3. C1.67 Ω
  4. D15 Ω

Question 20

current and charge
Three wires X, Y and Z meet at a junction as shown in the diagram below. What charge passes a given point in wire Z in 5 seconds?
  1. A2 C
  2. B4 C
  3. C10 C
  4. D20 C

Question 21

electrostatics
Which graph shows the variation of the force of repulsion, F, with separation, x, of two point charges?
  1. AF vs x2x^2 straight line through origin
  2. BF vs 1x2\frac{1}{x^2} straight line through origin
  3. CF vs 1x\frac{1}{x} straight line through origin
  4. DF vs x straight line through origin

Question 22

capacitance
Which shaded area represents energy stored in a capacitor?
  1. AOn a graph of V against Q: the shaded area above the line.
  2. BOn a graph of V against Q: the shaded area under the line.
  3. COn a graph of C against Q: the shaded area above the line.
  4. DOn a graph of C against Q: the shaded area under the line.

Question 23

magnetic force
A straight wire 2 m long lies at 30° to a uniform magnetic flux density 2×10−52\times10^{-5} T carries a current of 0.02 A. The magnitude of the force experienced by the wire is
  1. A2×10−72 \times 10^{-7} N.
  2. B4×10−74 \times 10^{-7} N.
  3. C6.9×10−76.9 \times 10^{-7} N.
  4. D8×10−78 \times 10^{-7} N.

Question 24

charged particles in fields
The path of an electron moving with uniform speed in a magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the field is a
  1. Astraight line parallel to the field.
  2. Bcircle in the plane perpendicular to the field.
  3. Ccircle in the plane parallel to the field.
  4. Da straight line perpendicular to the field.

Question 25

alternating current
An alternating current can be represented by the equation I=4sin⁡200λtI = 4\sin 200\lambda t. The peak value of the current is
  1. A24\frac{\sqrt{2}}{4} A
  2. B222\sqrt{2} A
  3. C4 A
  4. D424\sqrt{2} A

Question 26

operational amplifiers
Which combination is correct for an ideal opamp?
  1. Ainfinitely large input impedance — draws in very large currents
  2. Binfinitely small output impedance — delivers small currents
  3. Cinfinite bandwidth — amplifies all frequencies
  4. Dinfinite slew rate — too slow to respond

Question 27

operational amplifiers
An opamp has
  1. Aan ability to accept positive, negative or alternating inputs.
  2. Btwo identical inputs which give an output of the opposite sign.
  3. Ca low gain.
  4. Da high output impedance.

Question 28

logic gates
Which logic statement is correct for the truth table? (A,B → C: 0,0→0; 0,1→1; 1,0→1; 1,1→0)
  1. AOutput is 1 if and only if both A and B are 1.
  2. BOutput is 1 if and only if A ≠ B.
  3. COutput is 0 if and only if A ≠ B.
  4. DOutput is 0 if and only if A and B are 0.

Question 29

material properties
The diagram shows a force-extension graph of a metal specimen. Which is the fracture point of the metal?
  1. AA
  2. BB
  3. CC
  4. DD

Question 30

thermometry
A coil wire has resistance 2.0 Ω, 2.8 Ω and 3.0 Ω at the ice point, steam point and temperature t respectively. The temperature t on the scale defined by the resistor is
  1. A25°C
  2. B35.7°C
  3. C80°C
  4. D125°C

Question 31

thermodynamics
Internal energy of a system is the
  1. Amaximum amount of work that can be extracted from the system.
  2. Bsum of the kinetic and potential energies of the particles in the system.
  3. Ctotal amount of work which has been done on the system.
  4. Denergy needed to raise the temperature of the system by one Kelvin.

Question 32

kinetic theory
A mixture of two gases at constant temperature contains molecules of two kinds, mass m₁ and r.m.s. speed C₁, the second of mass m₂ and r.m.s speed C₂. The ratio C1C2\frac{C_1}{C_2} equals
  1. Am1m2\frac{m_1}{m_2}
  2. Bm2m1\frac{m_2}{m_1}
  3. C(m2m1)1/2\left(\frac{m_2}{m_1}\right)^{1/2}
  4. D1

Question 34

electric fields
The diagram shows a charged drop q held stationary between two metal plates. What would eventually cause the charged drop to move downwards?
  1. ALoss of negative charge from the drop.
  2. BA decrease in the separation d, of the plates.
  3. CAn increase in the magnitude of the voltage V.
  4. DExpansion of the drop due to temperature increase.

Question 35

photoelectric effect
The threshold wavelength λ₀ of a metal surface
  1. Ais given by hcW0\frac{hc}{W_0} (W₀ is work function).
  2. Bis given by hW0c\frac{hW_0}{c} (W₀ is work function).
  3. Cdecreases with the frequency of the light.
  4. Dincreases with the frequency of the light.

Question 36

radioactivity
Which property is true for both alpha-particles and gamma-rays?
  1. ABoth are stopped by few centimetres of paper.
  2. BBoth are deflected by magnetic fields.
  3. CBoth are deflected by electric fields.
  4. DBoth can ionise air molecules.

Question 37

atomic structure
Which diagram shows the path of particles in the α-particle scattering experiment?
  1. AThe path bends downwards after passing the nucleus.
  2. BThe path bends upwards after passing the nucleus.
  3. CThe path is turned back before reaching the nucleus, curving away from it.
  4. DThe path curves round beyond the nucleus and returns downwards.

Question 38

nuclear physics
A helium-3 nucleus is formed according to the equation 12H+12H→23He+01n+energy^2_1H + ^2_1H \rightarrow ^3_2He + ^1_0n + energy. The binding energies per nucleon are: for 12H^2_1H 1.09 MeV; for 23He^3_2He 2.54 MeV. How much energy is released in this reaction?
  1. A0.36 MeV
  2. B1.45 MeV
  3. C3.63 MeV
  4. D5.44 MeV

Question 39

radioactive decay
What is the decay constant for a radioactive source for which the average rate of decay of 96 nuclei is 16 s⁻¹?
  1. A0.043 s⁻¹
  2. B0.167 s⁻¹
  3. C6 s⁻¹
  4. D1 536 s⁻¹

Question 40

electric fields
The units of electric field strength are
  1. ACm⁻¹
  2. BVm⁻²
  3. CNm⁻¹
  4. DNC⁻¹

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