SECTION A

Answer ALL questions.

For questions 1-10, in Section A, select one answer from A to D and put a cross in the box
If you change your mind, put a line through the box
and then
mark your new answer with a cross .

Which of the following is a vector quantity?

A time
B velocity
C distance
D work
(Total for Question 1 = 1 mark)

A box with weight W, stationary on an inclined plane with slope , is also acted upon by the normal
contact force N and friction F as shown.

Which of the following expressions shows the correct relationship between W and N?
A N = W cos
B N = W sin
C N = W tan
D N=W
(Total for Question 2 = 1 mark)

Which of the following is not a direct consequence of Newtons Third Law?

A When a rocket releases exhaust gases downwards, it experiences an upwards force.
B When a cannonball is fired, the cannon experiences a recoil force backwards.
C When you sit in a chair, the normal contact force on you is equal to your weight.
D When you pull on a rope, you feel the rope pulling back on you.
(Total for Question 3 = 1 mark)

A cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 108km/h in three seconds. How far will it have travelled during
that time?
A 45 m
B 90 m
C 108 m
D 162 m
(Total for Question 4 = 1 mark)

A spring extends by 10cm under a force of 12N. The elastic strain energy stored in the spring is
A 11.8 J
B 6.0 J
C 3.0 J
D 0.6 J
(Total for Question 5 = 1 mark)

An eggshell is difficult to scratch or cut, but breaks under relatively little stress. Which of the
following pairs of adjectives accurately describe the eggshell?
A brittle

strong

B hard

strong

C hard

weak

D brittle

weak
(Total for Question 6 = 1 mark)

Two steel bars break under a tensile stress of 500MPa. Their fragments are shown below.

Steel bar A is less _________ than steel bar B.

A strong
B ductile
C hard
D stiff
(Total for Question 7 = 1 mark)

A diver is swimming in the ocean with his air tanks filled with air. Which of the following
statements about the forces acting on him is true?
A His drag can be accurately calculated using Stokes Law.
B His weight is equal to his density multiplied by his volume.
C His upthrust would be greatly reduced if his air tanks became filled with water.
D His upthrust is equal to the total weight of water he is displacing.
(Total for Question 8 = 1 mark)

The speed of light is 1.64 108 m/s in a flint glass. The critical angle at the glass-air interface is
A 21.0
B 34.4
C 43.2
D 55.6
(Total for Question 9 = 1 mark)

10 Which of the following conditions will not prevent two transverse waves from interfering
constructively?
A They have different wavelengths.
B They have different amplitudes.
C They have different polarizations.
D They have different frequencies.
(Total for Question 10 = 1 mark)

SECTION B
Answer ALL questions in the spaces provided.
11 A dog is chasing a ball its owner has thrown. The graph of its velocity against time is shown below,
where a positive velocity means the dog is running towards the ball.

(a) The dog catches the ball in 6 seconds. How far did it have to run to catch the ball?
(3)

(b) Describe the motion of the dog from 6 seconds to 7 seconds.

(3)

(c) After catching the ball, the dog is happy and runs around in circles at a constant speed. A
student says: Since the dog is moving at constant speed, by Newtons First Law, there is no
resultant force acting on the dog.
Correct the students statement.
(2)

(Total for Question 11 = 8 marks)

12 An archer prepares to shoot an arrow by drawing his bow. The bowstring makes an angle of 78 to
the archers arms, as shown below.

78

78

(a) The mans right hand exerts a horizontal force of 124 N on the bowstrings when the arrow is at
rest. Show that the tension in the string is about 300 N.
(3)

(b) If the strings have a spring constant of 450N/m, find the elastic strain energy stored in the
strings as the archer draws the bow, assuming that the strings do not exceed their elastic limit.
(3)

(c) If all the elastic strain energy is transferred from the strings to the arrow, which has mass 25 g,
find the speed of the arrow just as it is leaving the bow.
(2)

(d) Some strain energy is also stored in the deformation of the wood, which needs to be tough.
What does it mean for a material to be tough? Give another situation in which toughness is
desirable in a material.
(2)

(Total for Question 12 = 10 marks)

13 A fish is swimming forwards in the ocean at a constant depth with a constant speed. Its swimming
motion generates a forward thrust as shown.

thrust

(a) Add labeled arrows to the diagram to show the other three forces acting on the fish.
(2)
(b) State two equations that show the relationships between the forces acting on the fish.
(2)

(c) The fish has a total volume of 600 cm3, and the density of seawater is 1030 kg m-3. Show that
the weight of the fish is about 6 N.
(3)

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(d) Fish can adjust their buoyancy in water by increasing or decreasing the size of their swim
bladders, which changes the overall volume of their bodies. As the fish descends deeper into
the ocean, the density of the seawater around it increases.
Explain how the volume of the swim bladder must change if the fish is to maintain the same
upthrust as before.
(2)

(e) Fish are slimy because their skin is covered by mucus, which reduces turbulent flow around
fish as they swim.
Explain why it is desirable for turbulent flow to be reduced in this case, and describe another
physical adaptation that fish have to further reduce turbulence.
(2)

(Total for Question 13 = 11 marks)

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14 A soldier is 400 m north of a fort and marching towards it at a constant velocity v when a cannonball
is fired from the top of the fort at height h, with an initial velocity of 155 ms -1 at 40 above the
horizontal. 1.8 seconds later, the cannonball hits the soldier.

(a) Resolve the initial velocity of the cannonball into its horizontal and vertical components.
(3)

(b) Calculate the height of the fort, h.

(2)

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(c) Show that the soldiers velocity v was about 25 ms-1.

(4)

(d) Another cannonball is fired from the top of the fort towards the north on a day when there is a
strong east wind blowing. The wind can be considered to exert a constant eastwards force on
the cannonball.
A soldier notices that the trajectory of the cannonball forms a parabola when observed from
above. Explain why this happens.
(2)

(Total for Question 14 = 11 marks)

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15 A water-skier is towed across the water by a rope attached to a boat, as shown. The rope is held taut
at 16 above the horizontal, with a tension of 1300 N.

16

(a) If the water-skier is moving at a steady speed, find the horizontal resistive force acting on him
due to friction with the surface of the water.
(2)

(b) Calculate the power used by the boats engine to pull the man if his speed is 15 ms-1.
(2)

(c) Explain why using a longer rope would allow the boats engine to use the same amount of
power to pull that man at the same speed, while producing a lower tension in the rope.
(2)

(Total for Question 15 = 6 marks)

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16 An engineer is calculating the stress developed in an elevator cable under operating conditions to
determine how many people the elevator can safely carry.
The elevator cable has the following properties:
Material used
Cross-sectional area
Ultimate tensile strength
Young Modulus

High strength steel

210 mm2
760 MPa
200 GPa

It supports an elevator which has a mass of 5,460 kg when empty. The engineer considers a situation
where 24 people are inside the elevator, each having an average mass of 50kg, and the elevator is
descending at a constant speed.
(a) Show that the tension in the cable supporting the elevator is less than 70 kN.
(3)

(b) Calculate the tensile stress on the cable. Will the cable snap under these conditions?
(3)

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(c) Calculate the tensile strain shown by the cable, and state one assumption you have made during
the calculation.
(3)

(d) The engineer now considers the case when the elevator (which was descending at a constant
speed) has reached its destination floor, and thus has to come to a halt.
As the elevator is stopping, will the tension in the cable increase, or decrease? Explain why.
(3)

(Total for Question 15 = 12 marks)

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17 In 1943, the Hungarian engineer Zoltn Bay used pulses of ultra-high-frequency radio waves to
determine the distance to the moon and study its surface.
(a) The waves used have a frequency of 120 GHz. Calculate their wavelength.
(2)

(b) A pulse reflected from the Moon is detected on Earth 2.42 seconds after it was transmitted.
Calculate the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
(2)

(c) (i)

Explain why the radio waves are transmitted in pulses.

(1)

(ii) The pulses used have a duration of 1ms. What is the smallest change in the Earth-Moon
distance that can be measured by pulse-echo timing?
(3)

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(d) The distance between the Earth and the Moon gradually changes over the course of one orbit of
the Moon.
If a pulse reflects off the Moon as the Earth-Moon distance is increasing, what effect will this
have on the received pulse?
(2)

(e) The use of radio wave pulses to measure distance in this way is known as radar. Sonar uses
similar techniques with ultrasound pulses, and is most often used in the military to detect
submarines and other underwater features.
State two differences between radio waves and ultrasound waves.
(2)

(Total for Question 17 = 12 marks)

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TOTAL FOR SECTION B = 70 MARKS
TOTAL FOR PAPER = 80 MARKS

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