VCE Vault

VCE Physics past exams 2023–2025

Every question from the last three VCE Physics exams, matched to the lesson that teaches it, with class averages from the examiners' reports and worked solutions. VCE Physics (Year 12) lessons.

2025 Exam

  • MC 1 (1 mark, class average 60%): Tension in a tow rope pulling an accelerating water skier against resistance. Lesson: Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • MC 2 (1 mark, class average 78%): Direction of acceleration at the top and bottom of a vertical circle. Lesson: Circular Motion
  • MC 3 (1 mark, class average 27%): Speed of a puck after a head-on collision between identical pucks. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • MC 4 (1 mark, class average 78%): Energy changes of a mass on a spring moving from the bottom to the top. Lesson: Hooke's Law, Springs and Simple Harmonic Motion, Energy, Work and Power
  • MC 5 (1 mark, class average 68%): Field directions around a point mass and a negative point charge. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites, Electric Fields and Charges
  • MC 6 (1 mark, class average 57%): Forces on two sides of a current loop next to a long straight wire. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • MC 7 (1 mark, class average 81%): What makes a field static, and what makes it non-uniform. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges, Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • MC 8 (1 mark, class average 33%): Where the electric field is zero between charges +Q and +9Q. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • MC 9 (1 mark, class average 36%): Work done on a satellite in uniform circular orbit. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites, Energy, Work and Power
  • MC 10 (1 mark, class average 70%): Current from a generator feeding an ideal step-up transformer. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • MC 11 (1 mark, class average 30%): Comparing a globe on 6 V AC RMS with one on 6 V DC. Lesson: RMS Values and AC Power
  • MC 12 (1 mark, class average 65%): Which voltage trace suits a 240 V RMS, 50 Hz input. Lesson: RMS Values and AC Power
  • MC 13 (1 mark, class average 74%): Which change would not increase the torque of a simple motor. Lesson: DC Motors and the Motor Effect
  • MC 14 (1 mark, class average 60%): Which train passenger is not in an inertial frame of reference. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • MC 15 (1 mark, class average 91%): Why electrons and X-rays give the same diffraction pattern from a crystal. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie, Diffraction — Single Slit and Resolution
  • MC 16 (1 mark, class average 80%): Length of a beamline in the frame of protons with γ = 2.10. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • MC 17 (1 mark, class average 58%): Which observation can only be explained by quantisation. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra, Photoelectric Effect
  • MC 18 (1 mark, class average 78%): Classify four errors with an analogue ammeter as systematic or random. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • MC 19 (1 mark, class average 66%): Why an acceleration–force graph doesn't pass through the origin. Lesson: Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams, Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • MC 20 (1 mark, class average 44%): Which graph of speed and distance fallen is a straight line through the origin. Lesson: Kinematics — Motion in a Straight Line, Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q1a (1 mark, class average 84%): Show a ball dropped 1.80 m takes 0.606 s to fall. Lesson: Kinematics — Motion in a Straight Line
  • Q1b (2 marks, class average 80%): Speed of the ball just before it hits the floor. Lesson: Kinematics — Motion in a Straight Line
  • Q1c (1 mark, class average 68%): Why a bouncing ball won't reach its starting height. Lesson: Energy, Work and Power
  • Q1d (2 marks, class average 60%): Does a horizontal launch speed change the time to fall?. Lesson: Projectile Motion — 2D Kinematics
  • Q2a (1 mark, class average 94%): Impulse when a 5.0 kg dummy head stops from 12 m/s. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • Q2b (2 marks, class average 55%): Why airbags help, comparing forces with and without one. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • Q2c (3 marks, class average 17%): Maximum force from the area under a force–displacement graph. Lesson: Energy, Work and Power
  • Q3a (3 marks, class average 80%): Draw and label the forces on a snowboarder sliding down a slope at constant speed. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks, Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q3b (1 mark, class average 75%): Show the total resistance on the snowboarder is 183 N. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks
  • Q3c (2 marks, class average 50%): Stopping distance on the flat for a snowboarder at 10.0 m/s. Lesson: Energy, Work and Power
  • Q4a (2 marks, class average 90%): Sideways friction force on a car cornering on a flat track. Lesson: Circular Motion
  • Q4b (3 marks, class average 80%): Banking angle so a car needs no sideways friction. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks, Circular Motion
  • Q5a (1 mark, class average 67%): Show the field 5.00 cm from a 3.00 μC charge is 1.08 × 10⁷ N/C. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q5b (3 marks, class average 40%): Combined field at a corner of a square from two equal charges. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q6a (2 marks, class average 60%): Force on an electron between plates 50 mm apart at 250 V. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q6b (2 marks, class average 30%): Effect on the electron's kinetic energy of doubling the plate separation. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q7a (1 mark, class average 62%): Direction of the magnetic force on an electron entering a field into the page. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q7b (2 marks, class average 75%): Radius of an electron's circular path in a magnetic field. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q8a (2 marks, class average 65%): Show a satellite 1250 km up has a period of 6.62 × 10³ s. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • Q8b (2 marks, class average 45%): Gravitational force on a 2600 kg satellite in that orbit. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • Q8c (2 marks, class average 50%): Use Newton's laws to explain why an orbiting satellite accelerates towards Earth. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites, Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q9 (2 marks, class average 65%): The assumption in using W = mgΔh for a 250 km climb, and its effect. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites, Energy, Work and Power
  • Q10a (2 marks, class average 60%): Why a current flows when a magnet falls through a solenoid. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q10b (3 marks, class average 40%): Why the two EMF spikes have opposite signs and different sizes. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q11a (1 mark, class average 84%): Show the current in a 70 W lamp at 210 V is 0.33 A. Lesson: RMS Values and AC Power
  • Q11b (3 marks, class average 10%): Number of lamps in a shed fed through 6.0 Ω lines with 210 V at the shed. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q11c.i (1 mark, class average 81%): Step-up or step-down for the transformers at each end of the line. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q11c.ii (2 marks, class average 55%): Justify a step-up then step-down transformer for the line. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q12a (1 mark, class average 65%): Why the flux through a rotating coil changes. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q12b (1 mark, class average 74%): Show the change in flux for a quarter turn is 7.5 × 10⁻⁴ Wb. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q12c (3 marks, class average 63%): Average EMF for a quarter turn of a 20-turn coil spinning at 50 Hz. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q12d (2 marks, class average 55%): How to change the generator so it gives a DC output. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q13 (3 marks, class average 43%): Accelerating voltage for electrons with a de Broglie wavelength of 1.20 × 10⁻¹¹ m. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie
  • Q14 (3 marks, class average 50%): How Michelson and Morley's null result supports special relativity. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q15a (2 marks, class average 75%): Slit separation from fringe spacing in a double-slit experiment. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • Q15b (2 marks, class average 65%): Effect of lower-frequency light on a double-slit pattern. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • Q16a (2 marks, class average 55%): Planck's constant from the gradient of a maximum kinetic energy vs frequency graph. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16b (1 mark, class average 56%): Work function from the graph's intercept. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q17 (3 marks, class average 57%): Speed of a vehicle from proper time 1.000 s and dilated time 1.010 s. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q18a (2 marks, class average 70%): Wavelength of a 2.9 eV photon in nanometres. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra
  • Q18b (1 mark, class average 70%): Show the 2.9 eV emission on an energy level diagram. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra
  • Q19a (3 marks, class average 33%): Independent, dependent and controlled variables in a current balance experiment. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q19b (2 marks, class average 35%): Why sides PQ and RS of the loop feel no magnetic force. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q19c (2 marks, class average 40%): Why the balance beam must be pivoted at its centre. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q19d (1 mark, class average 37%): Why repeat each measurement. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q19e (5 marks, class average 80%): Plot current against magnetic force with uncertainty bars and a trend line. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q19f (2 marks, class average 45%): Gradient of the current vs force line. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q19g.i (3 marks, class average 30%): Field strength inside the solenoid from the gradient and the wire length. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents, Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q19g.ii (2 marks, class average 60%): Effect of a shorter wire QR on the magnetic force. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents

2024 Exam

  • MC 1 (1 mark, class average 54%): Force from a lift floor on a person moving up at constant speed. Lesson: Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • MC 2 (1 mark, class average 39%): Orbital radius after a satellite's mass doubles at the same orbital speed. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • MC 3 (1 mark, class average 51%): Forces on a ball swinging in a horizontal circle on a string. Lesson: Circular Motion, Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • MC 4 (1 mark, class average 63%): Launch speed of a ball from a spring, using a force–compression graph. Lesson: Hooke's Law, Springs and Simple Harmonic Motion, Energy, Work and Power
  • MC 5 (1 mark, class average 73%): Total energy of a falling rock with no air resistance. Lesson: Energy, Work and Power
  • MC 6 (1 mark, class average 79%): Magnetic field midway between two facing south poles. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • MC 7 (1 mark, class average 39%): Force and torque on a current loop before and after it rotates 90°. Lesson: DC Motors and the Motor Effect, Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • MC 8 (1 mark, class average 83%): Force on a 4.0 cm wire carrying 5.0 A in a 2.0 mT field. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • MC 9 (1 mark, class average 54%): New separation when the force between two charges becomes 6F. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • MC 10 (1 mark, class average 34%): Match a flux–time graph to an induced current graph. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • MC 11 (1 mark, class average 80%): Why electricity is sent over long distances at high voltage. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • MC 12 (1 mark, class average 42%): Direction of induced current in a coil moving away from a north pole. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • MC 13 (1 mark, class average 51%): Output of a generator fitted with a split-ring commutator. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • MC 14 (1 mark, class average 77%): How a passing rocket measures a round window on a space station. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • MC 15 (1 mark, class average 47%): Speed and energy of an electron as γ rises from 200 to 2000. Lesson: Mass–Energy Equivalence, Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • MC 16 (1 mark, class average 43%): Match five energy-level transitions to a spectrum. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra
  • MC 17 (1 mark, class average 59%): Shape of a 50 Hz standing wave half a period later. Lesson: Standing Waves, Resonance and Sound
  • MC 18 (1 mark, class average 63%): Fringe spacing when the screen distance doubles and the slit gap halves. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • MC 19 (1 mark, class average 69%): Which linear graph fits v = √(GM/r). Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites, Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • MC 20 (1 mark, class average 85%): What makes data precise. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q1a (1 mark, class average 56%): Show the acceleration of two towed boats is 6.0 × 10⁻² m s⁻². Lesson: Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q1b (2 marks, class average 45%): Tension in the rope between the two towed boats. Lesson: Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q2a (3 marks, class average 77%): Speed for no sideways friction on a track banked at 33° with radius 1.2 km. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks, Circular Motion
  • Q2b (1 mark, class average 35%): How the normal force on a banked track supplies the centripetal force. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks
  • Q3a (3 marks, class average 50%): Height of a cliff from a golf ball's launch speed, angle and flight time. Lesson: Projectile Motion — 2D Kinematics
  • Q3b (2 marks, class average 65%): Horizontal distance travelled by the golf ball. Lesson: Projectile Motion — 2D Kinematics
  • Q3c (2 marks, class average 70%): How air resistance changes a golf ball's flight path. Lesson: Projectile Motion — 2D Kinematics
  • Q4a (2 marks, class average 50%): Impulse from the area under a force–time graph. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • Q4b (2 marks, class average 70%): Sketch the force on a dummy when an airbag doubles the collision time. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • Q5a (2 marks, class average 60%): Change in momentum of a basketball that bounces off the floor. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • Q5b (2 marks, class average 75%): Is the basketball's bounce elastic or inelastic?. Lesson: Energy, Work and Power, Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • Q6 (3 marks, class average 57%): Can the ISS's gravity hold a supply craft in a 500 m orbit at 0.436 m/s?. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites, Circular Motion
  • Q7a (1 mark, class average 73%): Show an electron circling with radius 1.50 cm in 5.00 mT has speed 1.32 × 10⁷ m/s. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q7b (2 marks, class average 60%): Accelerating voltage to give an electron 1.32 × 10⁷ m/s. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q7c (3 marks, class average 47%): Path of a proton at the same speed in the same magnetic field. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q8a (2 marks, class average 85%): Draw field lines between a negatively charged cloud base and positive ground. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q8b (2 marks, class average 85%): Field strength between a cloud and the ground 850 m apart at 1.20 GV. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q8c (2 marks, class average 45%): Energy in a lightning bolt from voltage, current and duration. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges, DC Circuits — Series, Parallel and Kirchhoff's Laws
  • Q9a (2 marks, class average 45%): A coil position where the force on side FG is zero. Lesson: DC Motors and the Motor Effect
  • Q9b (2 marks, class average 45%): A starting position where the motor coil won't begin to turn. Lesson: DC Motors and the Motor Effect
  • Q9c (1 mark, class average 65%): Increase a motor's torque with the same coil and battery. Lesson: DC Motors and the Motor Effect
  • Q10a (2 marks, class average 60%): Purpose of the slip rings on a generator. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q10b (2 marks, class average 80%): Peak-to-peak voltage and frequency from an oscilloscope trace. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q10c (3 marks, class average 30%): Two ways to double a generator's peak voltage without changing its frequency. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission, Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q11a (1 mark, class average 85%): Secondary turns for a transformer from 230 V to 36 V with 460 primary turns. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q11b (2 marks, class average 65%): Input current to an ideal transformer delivering 0.80 A at 36 V. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission, RMS Values and AC Power
  • Q11c (2 marks, class average 50%): Why a transformer needs AC and won't work on steady DC. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q12a (1 mark, class average 74%): Total power of 50 solar panels rated at 600 W each. Lesson: DC Circuits — Series, Parallel and Kirchhoff's Laws
  • Q12b (3 marks, class average 67%): Voltage and current from one string of 10 panels in series. Lesson: DC Circuits — Series, Parallel and Kirchhoff's Laws
  • Q12c (1 mark, class average 41%): Voltage and current from five strings in parallel. Lesson: DC Circuits — Series, Parallel and Kirchhoff's Laws
  • Q12d (1 mark, class average 72%): Function of the inverter in a solar panel system. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q13a (1 mark, class average 69%): Show a muon at 0.985c takes 10.8 μs to reach the detector, classically. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q13b (2 marks, class average 70%): Classically, would muons reach the detector?. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q13c (2 marks, class average 75%): Lorentz factor at 0.985c. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q13d (1 mark): The muon's mean lifetime measured in the physicists' frame. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q13e (3 marks, class average 50%): How special relativity explains muons reaching the mountain-top detector. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q14a (2 marks, class average 40%): Energy released when an electron and positron annihilate at rest. Lesson: Mass–Energy Equivalence
  • Q14b (1 mark, class average 15%): Why the two gamma rays from annihilation travel in opposite directions. Lesson: Mass–Energy Equivalence, Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • Q15a (2 marks, class average 70%): Momentum of an electron with de Broglie wavelength 2.00 × 10⁻¹⁰ m. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie
  • Q15b (2 marks, class average 35%): Will electrons with a wavelength smaller than the atomic spacing diffract usefully?. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie, Diffraction — Single Slit and Resolution
  • Q15c (2 marks, class average 45%): How electrons and X-rays can give nearly identical diffraction patterns. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie
  • Q15d (2 marks, class average 65%): Energy of X-ray photons with wavelength 5.01 × 10⁻¹¹ m. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie, Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16a (3 marks, class average 67%): Controlled, dependent and independent variables in a photoelectric experiment. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs, Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16b (3 marks, class average 73%): Plot stopping voltage against frequency with uncertainty bars and a line of best fit. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q16c.i (2 marks, class average 50%): Planck's constant from the gradient of the stopping voltage graph. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect, Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q16c.ii (1 mark, class average 63%): Threshold frequency from the graph. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16c.iii (1 mark, class average 52%): Work function from the graph. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16d (2 marks, class average 25%): What the stopping voltage tells you about the photoelectrons. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16e (1 mark, class average 44%): Effect of a different metal on the stopping voltage graph. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16f (2 marks, class average 45%): Does point P move when green light is swapped for blue?. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16g (2 marks, class average 5%): Does the maximum photocurrent change with blue light of the same power?. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16h (3 marks, class average 47%): One photoelectric result that supports the particle model of light. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect

2023 Exam

  • MC 1 (1 mark, class average 65%): Poles of a loudspeaker magnet from the force on its coil. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • MC 2 (1 mark, class average 55%): Force between two charges when one charge and the distance are both halved. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • MC 3 (1 mark, class average 39%): Altitude where Earth's gravitational field is half its surface value. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • MC 4 (1 mark, class average 49%): Impulse on a tennis ball from a force–time graph. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions
  • MC 5 (1 mark, class average 59%): When a globe lights as a magnetic field through its coil is switched off. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • MC 6 (1 mark, class average 59%): Magnetic flux through a 100-turn coil of radius 5 cm in a 0.2 T field. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • MC 7 (1 mark, class average 55%): Peak-to-peak voltage and frequency from an oscilloscope trace. Lesson: RMS Values and AC Power
  • MC 8 (1 mark, class average 68%): Why two people of different masses dropping together land at the same time. Lesson: Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • MC 9 (1 mark, class average 84%): Banking angle for no sideways friction at 11 m/s on a 25 m bend. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks
  • MC 10 (1 mark, class average 71%): Spring constant of a car spring from a force–compression graph. Lesson: Hooke's Law, Springs and Simple Harmonic Motion
  • MC 11 (1 mark, class average 31%): Extra energy stored when a spring goes from 4.0 mm to 8.0 mm compression. Lesson: Hooke's Law, Springs and Simple Harmonic Motion
  • MC 12 (1 mark, class average 71%): Order of colours when a lens disperses white light
  • MC 13 (1 mark, class average 77%): Is sound or light a longitudinal or a transverse wave?. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • MC 14 (1 mark, class average 83%): What polarisation tells you about light. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • MC 15 (1 mark, class average 89%): Pitch of sirens moving towards and away from an observer
  • MC 16 (1 mark, class average 84%): Name the effect when water waves bend around a barrier. Lesson: Diffraction — Single Slit and Resolution
  • MC 17 (1 mark, class average 78%): Why X-ray and electron diffraction patterns can be compared. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie
  • MC 18 (1 mark, class average 67%): Coherence and wavelength range of light from different sources. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • MC 19 (1 mark, class average 70%): Frequency of a 655 nm hydrogen spectral line. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra, Wave Properties and Interference
  • MC 20 (1 mark, class average 72%): How the uncertainty principle explains single-slit electron diffraction. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie
  • Q1a (3 marks, class average 80%): Draw the three forces on each of two charged balls hanging from strings. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges, Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q1b (2 marks, class average 55%): Show the tension in each string is 4.5 × 10⁻² N. Lesson: Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q1c (2 marks, class average 40%): Size of the electrostatic force on each ball. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges, Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q2a (2 marks, class average 60%): Show Mars's field 6000 km above its surface is 0.48 N/kg. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • Q2b (3 marks, class average 53%): Orbital period of Phobos. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • Q2c (2 marks, class average 65%): Does the orbital period shrink, stay the same or grow as Phobos moves closer?. Lesson: Gravitational Fields and Satellites
  • Q3a (3 marks, class average 50%): Sketch the field around two parallel wires with opposite currents. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q3b (2 marks, class average 40%): Do wires with opposite currents attract or repel?. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q4a (1 mark, class average 80%): Turns ratio of a 240 V to 12 V transformer. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q4b (2 marks, class average 45%): Primary current for six 20 W globes on an ideal transformer. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q4c (2 marks, class average 45%): Why the transformer must be fed AC, not steady DC. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q5a (2 marks, class average 75%): Average EMF as a square loop moves fully into a magnetic field. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q5b (1 mark, class average 50%): Direction of the induced current as the loop enters the field. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law
  • Q6a (2 marks, class average 45%): Why magnets placed along the axis of rotation give no EMF. Lesson: Electromagnetic Induction — Faraday's Law, Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q6b (1 mark, class average 90%): Where to put the magnets so the generator works. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q7a (2 marks, class average 80%): Show transmission lines losing 20 MW at 700 A have a resistance of 41 Ω. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q7b (3 marks, class average 70%): Will a town at the end of the line get the 480 kV it needs?. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q7c (2 marks, class average 55%): What would happen if the power were sent at 50 kV instead of 500 kV. Lesson: Generators, Transformers and Transmission
  • Q8a (3 marks, class average 70%): Draw the forces on a skateboarder rolling down a slope at constant speed. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks, Newton's Laws and Free-Body Diagrams
  • Q8b (2 marks, class average 50%): Friction on a 65 kg skateboarder rolling down a 5° slope at constant speed. Lesson: Inclined Planes and Banked Tracks
  • Q8c (2 marks, class average 25%): Where the momentum and kinetic energy go when the skateboarder grabs a pole. Lesson: Momentum, Impulse and Collisions, Energy, Work and Power
  • Q9a (2 marks, class average 70%): Show a ball thrown up 1.8 m stays in the air for 1.2 s. Lesson: Kinematics — Motion in a Straight Line
  • Q9b (2 marks, class average 25%): Speed of a racquet moving a quarter circle while the ball rises. Lesson: Circular Motion
  • Q9c (3 marks, class average 47%): Height of a tennis ball above the net after a horizontal serve. Lesson: Projectile Motion — 2D Kinematics
  • Q10a (3 marks, class average 60%): Speed of a proton with γ = 2.00, to three significant figures. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q10b (1 mark, class average 80%): Length of a 4.80 km beamline in the proton's frame. Lesson: Special Relativity — Postulates and Dilation
  • Q10c (2 marks): Kinetic energy of a proton with γ = 2.00. Lesson: Mass–Energy Equivalence
  • Q11a (1 mark, class average 70%): Frequency of the fundamental on a 0.75 m guitar string. Lesson: Standing Waves, Resonance and Sound
  • Q11b (2 marks, class average 50%): How a standing wave forms on a string fixed at both ends. Lesson: Standing Waves, Resonance and Sound
  • Q12a (2 marks, class average 75%): Critical angle for glass of refractive index 1.52 in air
  • Q12b (2 marks, class average 45%): Will a ray hitting the prism face at 45° be totally internally reflected?
  • Q13a (2 marks, class average 45%): Path difference to the second bright band from the centre. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • Q13b (1 mark, class average 70%): Effect of switching from a green to a red laser on fringe spacing. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • Q13c (3 marks, class average 63%): How Young's double-slit experiment supports the wave model of light. Lesson: Wave Properties and Interference
  • Q14a (2 marks, class average 70%): Speed of neutrons with a de Broglie wavelength of 3.02 × 10⁻¹⁰ m. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie
  • Q14b (2 marks, class average 40%): Will neutrons diffract through a crystal with a slightly larger spacing?. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie, Diffraction — Single Slit and Resolution
  • Q14c (2 marks, class average 65%): Electron or neutron: which is faster at the same de Broglie wavelength?. Lesson: Wave-Particle Duality and de Broglie
  • Q15a (1 mark, class average 70%): Work function of calcium from a maximum kinetic energy graph. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q15b (2 marks, class average 50%): Longest wavelength that ejects electrons from calcium. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q15c (2 marks, class average 75%): Draw the photoelectric graph for copper with work function 4.70 eV. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q15d (3 marks, class average 57%): Will 380 nm light eject photoelectrons from copper?. Lesson: Photoelectric Effect
  • Q16a (2 marks, class average 70%): Energy of a 436.6 nm photon in eV. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra
  • Q16b (1 mark, class average 60%): Show the 436.6 nm emission on mercury's energy level diagram. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra
  • Q16c (3 marks, class average 60%): Photon energies a mercury atom can emit after absorbing 6.7 eV. Lesson: Light from Atoms — Energy States, Emission and Absorption Spectra
  • Q17a (1 mark, class average 60%): Speed of an electron accelerated through a voltage V₀. Lesson: Electric Fields and Charges
  • Q17b (2 marks, class average 35%): Why electrons follow a circular arc in a magnetic field. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q17c (1 mark, class average 70%): Relationship between mass, charge, speed, field and radius. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents
  • Q17d (2 marks, class average 85%): Variables in an experiment measuring e/m. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q17e (2 marks, class average 85%): Fill in r² values from measured radii. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q17f (7 marks, class average 73%): Plot V₀ against r² with uncertainty bars and a line of best fit. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q17g (2 marks, class average 60%): Gradient of the V₀ against r² line. Lesson: Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs
  • Q17h (3 marks, class average 30%): Find e/m from the gradient of the V₀ against r² graph. Lesson: Magnetic Fields and Forces on Currents, Physics Exam Technique, Uncertainties and Graphs