1. This question is about power output of an outboard motor.

A small boat is powered by an outboard motor of variable power P. The graph below shows the
variation with speed v of P when the boat is carrying different loads.

5.0

4.5 350 kg

4.0

3.5

3.0
300 kg
P / kW 2.5

2.0

1.5
250 kg
1.0
200 kg
0.5

0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
v / ms–1

The masses shown are the total mass of the boat plus passengers,

(a) For the boat having a steady speed of 2.0 m s–1 and with a total mass of 350 kg

(i) use the graph to determine the power of the engine.

...........................................................................................................................
(1)

(ii) calculate the frictional (resistive) force acting on the boat.

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................
(2)

Consider the case of the boat moving with a speed of 2.5 ms–1.

1
(b) (i) Use the axes below to construct a graph to show the variation of power P with the
total mass W.

200 250 300 350 400 450

W / kg
(6)

(ii) Use data from the graph that you have drawn to determine the power of the motor
for a total mass of 330 kg.

...........................................................................................................................
(1)

2
The relationship between power P and speed v is of the form

P = kvn

where n is an integer and k is a constant.

The graph below shows the variation of lg v (log10 v) with lg P (log10 P) for the situation when
the total mass is 350 kg. P is measured in kW and v is measured in m s–1.

1g (P / kW)
0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0 1g (v / ms –1)
–0.4 –0.3 –0.2 –0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
–0.1

–0.2

–0.3

–0.4

–0.5

–0.6

–0.7

–0.8

–0.9

–1.0

3
 (c) Use the graph to deduce the value of n and explain how you obtained your answer.

.....................................................................................................................................

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(3)
(Total 13 marks)

2. This question is about measuring the permittivity of free space ε0.

The diagram below shows two parallel conducting plates connected to a variable voltage
supply. The plates are of equal areas and are a distance d apart.

+
variable voltage supply
d V
–

The charge Q on one of the plates is measured for different values of the potential difference V
applied between the plates. The values obtained are shown in the table below. The uncertainty
in the value of V is not significant but the uncertainty in Q is 10%.

V/V Q / nC  10%

10.0 30

20.0 80

30.0 100

40.0 160

50.0 180

4
(a) Plot the data points opposite on a graph of V (x-axis) against Q (y-axis).

(4)

(b) By calculating the relevant uncertainty in Q, add error bars to the data points (10.0, 30)
and (50.0, 180).
(3)

(c) On the graph above, draw the line that best fits the data points and has the maximum
permissible gradient. Determine the gradient of the line that you have drawn.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(3)

(d) The gradient of the graph is a property of the two plates and is known as capacitance.
Deduce the units of capacitance.

.....................................................................................................................................
(1)

The relationship between Q and V for this arrangement is given by the expression

5
 ε0 A
Q= V
d

where A is the area of one of the plates.

In this particular experiment A = 0.20  0.05 m2 and d = 0.50  0.01 mm.

(e) Use your answer to (c) to determine the maximum value of ε0 that this experiment yields.

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(4)
(Total 15 marks)

6
3. This question is about the rise of water in a capillary tube.

A capillary tube is a tube that is open at both ends and has a very narrow bore. A capillary tube
is supported vertically with one end immersed in water. Water rises up the tube due to a
phenomenon called capillary action. The water in the bore of the tube forms a column of height
h as shown below.

narrow bore

glass wall glass wall

water

7
(a) The height h, for a particular capillary tube was measured for different temperatures of
the water. The variation with temperature  of the height h is shown below. Uncertainties
in the measurements are not shown.

17

16

15

14

13
h / cm
12

11

10

9.0

8.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
 C

(i) On the graph above, draw a best-fit line for the data points.
(1)

(ii) Determine the height h0 of the water column at temperature = 0C.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
(1)

8
(b) Explain why the results of this experiment suggest that the relationship between the
height h and temperature  is of the form

h = h0(1 − k)

where k is constant.

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................
(4)

(c) Deduce that the value of k is approximately 4.8  10−3 deg C−1.

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................
(3)

9
(d) The experiment is repeated using tubes with bores of different radii r but keeping the
1
water temperature constant. The graph below shows the variation with of the height h
r
for capillary tubes of different radii r for a water temperature of 20C.

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20
h/m
0.15

0.10

0.05

0
0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0
1
– / 10 3 m–1
r

It is suggested that capillary action is one of the means by which water moves from the
roots of a tree to the leaves. A particular tree has a height of 25 m.

Use the graph to estimate the radius of the bore of the tubes that would enable water to be
raised by capillary action from ground level to the top of the tree. Comment on your
answer.

Estimate: .................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................

Comment: .................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................
(4)
(Total 13 marks)

10
4. This question is about a spider’s web.

An experiment was carried out to measure the extension x of a thread of a spider’s web when a
load F is applied to it. The results of the experiment are shown plotted below. Uncertainties in
the measurements are not shown.

9.0 thread
breaks at
8.0 this point

7.0

6.0

5.0
–2
F / 10 N
4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0

x / 10 –2 m

(a) Draw a best-fit line for the data points.

(1)

(b) The relationship between F and x is of the form F = kxn.

State and explain the graph you would plot in order to determine the value n.

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................
(3)

11
(c) When a load is applied to a material, it is said to be under “stress”. The magnitude P of
the stress is given by

F
P=
A

where, A is the area of cross-section of the sample of the material.

Use the graph and the data below to deduce that the thread used in the experiment has a
greater breaking stress than steel.

Breaking stress of steel = 1.0  109 N m−2

Radius of spider web thread = 4.5  10−6 m

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...................................................................................................................................
(3)

(d) The uncertainty in the measurement of the radius of the thread is  0.1  10−6 m.
Determine the percentage uncertainty in the value of the area of the thread.

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................
(2)

12
(e) In a particular web, one thread has the same original length as the thread used in the
experiment. In the making of this web, the original length of the thread is extended by 2.4
 10−2 m.

(i) Use the graph to deduce that the amount of work required to further extend the
thread to the length at which it just breaks, is about 1.6  10−3 J. Explain your
working.

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.........................................................................................................................
(3)

(ii) If the thread is not to break due to the impact of a flying insect, then the thread
must be capable of absorbing all the kinetic energy of the insect as it is brought to
rest by the impact. Determine the impact speed that an insect of mass 0.15 g must
have in order that it just breaks the thread.

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(3)
(Total 15 marks)

13
5. This question is about data analysis.

Data for the refractive index n of a type of glass and wavelength λ of the light transmitted
through the glass are shown below.

Only the uncertainties in the values of n are significant and these uncertainties are shown by
error bars.

1.6065

1.6060

1.6055

1.6050

1.6045
n
1.6040

1.6035

1.6030

1.6025

1.6020

1.6015
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650
/nm

(a) State why the data do not support the hypothesis that there is a linear relationship between
refractive index and wavelength.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(1)

(b) Draw a best-fit line for the data points.

(2)

14
(c) The rate of change of refractive index D with wavelength is referred to as the dispersion.
At any particular value of wavelength, D is defined by

n
D =


Use the graph to determine the value of D at a wavelength of 380 nm.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(4)

(d) It is suggested that the relationship between n and  is of the form

n = kp

where k and p are constants.

State and explain the graph that you would plot in order to determine the value of p.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

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.....................................................................................................................................
(3)

15
(e) A second suggestion is that the relationship between n and  is of the form

B
n=A+
2

where A and B are constants.

1
To test this suggestion, values of n are plotted against values of . The resulting graph
2
with the line of best fit is shown below.

1.6065

1.6060

1.6055

1.6050

1.6045

n 1.6040

1.6035

1.6030

1.6025

1.6020

1.6015

1.6010
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

1
2 / 10 -15m-2

16
 (i) Use the graph to determine the value of the constant A.

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................
(3)

(ii) State the significance of the constant A.

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................
(1)
(Total 14 marks)

6. A hot object may be cooled by blowing air past it. This cooling process is known as forced
convection. In order to investigate forced convection, hot oil was placed in a metal can. The can
was placed on an insulating block and air was blown past the can, as shown below.

stirrer
thermometer

lid

hot oil
current of air
metal can

insulating block

17
The hot oil was stirred continuously and its temperature was taken every minute as it cooled.
The graph below shows the variation with time of the temperature of the cooling oil.

120

100

80
temperature /  C

60

40

20

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
time / minutes

It is thought that the rate R of decrease of temperature depends on the temperature difference
between the oil and its surroundings (the excess temperature E). The temperature of the
surroundings was 26C.

(a) On the graph above,

(i) draw a straight-line parallel to the time axis to represent the temperature of the
surroundings.
(1)

18
 (ii) by drawing a suitable tangent, calculate the rate of decrease of temperature, in C
s–1, for an excess temperature of 50 Celsius degrees (C).

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
(4)

(b) In order to investigate the variation with R of E, a graph of R against E is plotted. The
graph below shows four plotted data points. Uncertainties in the points are not included.

0.24

0.20

0.16

R /  C s–1 0.12

0.08

0.04

0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100

E / C

19
 (i) Using your answer to (a)(ii), plot the data point corresponding toE = 50C.
(1)

(ii) The uncertainty in the measurement of R at each excess temperature is 10. On

the graph, draw error bars to represent the uncertainties in R at excess temperatures
of 20C and 81C.
(2)

(c) (i) Explain why the graph in (b) supports the conclusion that the excess temperature
E is related to the rate of cooling R by the expression

R = k E,

where k is a constant.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
(3)

(ii) At high excess temperatures, the equation in (i) is thought to become invalid.
Discuss whether the graph in (b) provides any evidence for this suggestion.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
(2)

20
(d) In a second experiment, the data is analysed by plotting a graph of lgR against lgE. (lg is
the logarithm to the base 10.)

(i) On the axes below, draw a sketch graph to show the line that would be obtained.
(Note that this is a sketch graph. No data points or values on the axes are
required.)

1gR

1g E
(1)

(ii) Assuming the expression in (c)(i) is correct, state the gradient of the line of the
graph. Also, explain how the value of k is obtained.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
(2)
(Total 16 marks)

21
7. This question is about the electrical power available from a wind turbine.

The maximum electrical power generated by a wind turbine, Pout , was measured over a range of
incident wind speeds, vin.

The graph below shows the variation with vin of Pout. Uncertainties for the data are not shown.

(a) It is suggested that Pout is proportional to vin .

(i) Draw the line of best-fit for the data points.

(1)

(ii) State one reason why the line you have drawn does not support this hypothesis.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
(1)

(iii) The uncertainty in the power at 15 m s–1 is 5. Draw an error bar on the graph to
represent this uncertainty.
(2)

22
(b) The theoretical relationship between the available power in the wind, Pin, and incident
wind speed is shown in the graph below.

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000
Pm / kW

1500

1000

500

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Vm / ms–1

Using both graphs,

(i) determine the efficiency of the turbine for an incident wind speed of 14 m s–1.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

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(3)

23
 (ii) suggest, without calculation, how the efficiency of the turbine changes with
increasing wind speed.

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.........................................................................................................................

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.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
(3)

(c) Outline one advantage and one disadvantage of using wind turbines to generate electrical
energy.

Advantage: ...................................................................................................

...................................................................................................

...................................................................................................

...................................................................................................

Disadvantage: ...................................................................................................

...................................................................................................

...................................................................................................

...................................................................................................
(2)
(Total 12 marks)

24