AS & A Level Physics - 9702 Paper 1 2009 Winter Zone 2

The drag force $F$ acting on a moving sphere obeys an equation of the form $F = kA v^2$, where $A$ represents the sphere's frontal area and $v$ represents its speed.
What are the base units of the constant $k$?

The graph shows two current-voltage calibration curves for a solar cell exposed to different light intensities.

At zero voltage, what is the ratio \( \frac{\text{current at } 1000 \, \text{Wm}^{-2}}{\text{current at } 100 \, \text{Wm}^{-2}} \)? 

The diagram shows an oscilloscope screen displaying two signals.

Signal X has a frequency of 50 Hz and peak voltage of 12 V.

What is the period and peak voltage of signal Y?

On a particular railway, a train driver applies the brake of the train at a yellow signal, a distance of 1.0 km from a red signal, where it stops.

The maximum deceleration of the train is $0.2 , {ms}^{-2}$.

Assuming uniform deceleration, what is the maximum safe speed of the train at the yellow signal?

A ball is released from rest above a horizontal surface and bounces several times. The graph shows how, for this ball, a quantity $y$ varies with time.

What is the quantity $y$? 

The diagram shows a velocity-time graph.

What is the displacement during the last 2 seconds of the motion? 

Which statement about a ball that strikes a tennis racket and rebounds is always correct?

The diagram shows two spherical masses approaching each other head-on at an equal speed $u$. One has mass $2m$ and the other has mass $m$.

Which diagram, showing the situation after the collision, shows the result of an elastic collision?

A supermarket trolley, total mass 30 kg, is moving at 3.0 m s⁻¹. A retarding force of 60 N is applied to the trolley for 0.50 s in the opposite direction to the trolley’s initial velocity.

What is the trolley’s new velocity after the application of the force?

What is the centre of gravity of an object?

The diagrams show two ways of hanging the same picture.

In both cases, a string is attached to the same points on the picture and looped symmetrically over a nail in a wall. The forces shown are those that act on the nail.

In diagram 1, the string loop is shorter than in diagram 2.

Which information about the magnitude of the forces is correct?

The diagram shows two pulley wheels connected by a belt.

Wheel Q is driven by a motor and rotates clockwise at a constant rate. Wheel Q puts tension in the top portion of the belt, which in turn drives the wheel P. The lower portion of the belt is slack and has no tension. The weight of the belt and frictional forces are negligible.

The diameter of P is 150 mm. The diameter of Q is 100 mm. The torque applied to Q is 3.0 Nm.

What is the tension in the belt and the torque on wheel P? 

A projectile is launched at 45° to the horizontal with initial kinetic energy $E$.

Assuming air resistance to be negligible, what will be the kinetic energy of the projectile when it reaches its highest point?

Two trolleys are placed together on a horizontal runway with a compressed spring between them.

When they are released, the 2 kg trolley moves to the left at 2 m s^-1.

How much energy was stored in the spring? 

An electric railway locomotive has a maximum mechanical output power of 4.0 MW. Electrical power is delivered at 25 kV from overhead wires. The overall efficiency of the locomotive in converting electrical power to mechanical power is 80%.

What is the current from the overhead wires when the locomotive is operating at its maximum power?

The diagram shows an ice cube floating in water.

Both the ice cube and the water are at 0°C.

Which statement correctly compares the molecular properties of the ice and those of the water? 

In the kinetic model of gases, what is pressure equal to?

A rectangular metal bar exerts a pressure of 15 200 Pa on the horizontal surface on which it rests.

If the height of the metal bar is 80 cm, what is the density of the metal?

Which is the  best defines elastic and plastic behaviour of a material?

The graph shows the non-linear force-extension curve for a wire made from a new composite material.

What could be the value of the strain energy stored in the wire when it is stretched to point P? 

A steel string on an electric guitar has the following properties:

diameter = $5.0 \times 10^{-4}\, \text{m}$

Young modulus = $2.0 \times 10^{11}\, \text{Pa}$

tension = $20\, \text{N}$

The string snaps, and contracts elastically.

By what percentage does a length $l$ of a piece of the string contract?

The order of magnitude of the frequency of the longest-wavelength ultraviolet waves can be expressed as $10^x$ Hz. What is the value of $x$?

The light from two lasers passes through a vacuum. One laser emits red light and the other emits green light.

Which property of the two laser beams must be different?

The diagram shows a standing wave on a string. The standing wave has three nodes $N_1$, $N_2$ and $N_3$.

Which statement is correct?

A parallel beam of light of wavelength 450 nm falls normally on a diffraction grating which has 300 lines/mm.

What is the total number of transmitted maxima?

A small charge $q$ is placed in the electric field of a large charge $Q$.

Both charges experience a force $F$.

What is the electric field strength of the charge Q at the position of the charge $q$?

The diagram shows two parallel horizontal metal plates held at a potential difference \( V \).

A small charged liquid drop, midway between the plates, is held in equilibrium by the combination of its weight and the electric force acting on it.

The acceleration of free fall is \( g \) and the electric field strength is \( E \).

What is the ratio of the charge to mass of the drop, and the polarity of the charge on the drop? 

The electric field at a certain distance from an isolated alpha particle is $3.0 \times 10^{7} \text{NC}^{-1}$.

What is the force on an electron when at that distance from the alpha particle?

A cell is connected to a resistor.
At any given moment, the potential difference across the cell is less than its electromotive force.

Which statement explains this?

Which values of current and resistance will produce a rate of energy transfer of 16 J\,s^{-1}?
[Table_1]

A cylindrical wire 4.0 m long has a resistance of 31 Ω and is made of metal of resistivity $1.0 \times 10^{-6} \, \Omega \mathrm{m}$.
What is the radius of cross-section of the wire?

Each of Kirchhoff's two laws presumes that some quantity is conserved.
Which row states Kirchhoff's first law and names the quantity that is conserved?

The diagram shows the symbol for a wire carrying a current $I$.
What does this current represent?

A potential divider consisting of resistors of resistance $R_1$ and $R_2$ is connected to an input potential difference of $V_0$ and gives an output p.d. of $V$.

What is the value of $V$?

A network of resistors consists of two 3.0\Omega resistors and three 6.0\Omega resistors.

What is the combined resistance of this network between points X and Y?

The gold nucleus $^{185}_{79}\text{Au}$ undergoes alpha decay.
What are the nucleon (mass) number and proton (atomic) number of the nucleus formed by this decay?
[Table_1]

The nuclei of the isotopes of an element all contain the same number of a certain particle. What is this particle?

Alpha, beta and gamma radiations
1. are absorbed to different extents in solids,
2. behave differently in an electric field,
3. behave differently in a magnetic field.
The diagrams illustrate these behaviours.

Which three labels on these diagrams refer to the same kind of radiation?

Two $\alpha$-particles with equal energies are fired towards the nucleus of a gold atom. Which diagram best represents their paths?

The table contains some quantities, together with their symbols and units.
[Table_1]
Which expression has the units of energy?