Name : ______________________________( ) Class : ____________

DAMAI SECONDARY SCHOOL

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2009

Secondary Four Express and Five Normal Academic Level

SCIENCE (PHYSICS) PAPER 2

15th Sept 2009 8.00 – 9.15 a.m. 1 hour 15 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

Write your full name, register number and class in the spaces provided on the cover of this
question paper.

Section A
Answer all the questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided on the question paper.

Section B
Answer any two questions. Write your answers on the writing paper provided. Start each
question on a fresh page. At the end of the examination, tie your answers together with the
string provided.

Submit Section A and Section B separately.

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

The number of marks is given in the brackets [ ].

g = 10 N/kg
Marks Maximum
Section A 45
Section B 10
10
Total 65

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This question paper consists of 13 printed pages
[Turn over]

1
Section A: Short Structured Questions (45 marks)
Answer all the questions in this section. Write your answers in the spaces provided.

1. A picture frame is held by two supporting forces as shown. Draw a scale

vector diagram to determine the magnitude and direction of resultant force
exerted by the two ropes. [4]

18 N
12 N
50°
30°

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2. A uniform beam AC of weight 2 N and 3 m long is hinged freely at A. A string
attached to the spring balance supports the beam at C as shown.

A
C

Weight
a. Calculate the tension T in the rope at C. [2]

b. An additional 1 kg mass is now hung 0.3 m to the right of end A.

Calculate the new tension in the rope if the beam remains horizontal.
[2]

3. Azri and David are playing football on a wet and soggy field. Most of the time,
Azri manages to stay on his feet but David keeps slipping. A close inspection
reveals that both have different sets of shoes on and that both of them have
approximately the same weight.

Shoe X Shoe Y

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 a. Which pair of shoes most likely belongs to Azri? [1]

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b. Explain, using the term 'pressure' why Shoe Y is better than Shoe X
in a football match on a soggy field. [3]

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4. A girl of mass 40 kg runs up a flight of stairs to a floor at a height of 6 m in 10

s. Calculate
a. the work done against gravity. [2]

b. the average power developed by the girl. [2]

4
5.
a. The time required to bake large potatoes in an oven may be
significantly reduced if a long steel spike was placed through the
center of each potato before putting them in an oven. Explain why this
process reduces the cooking time. [2]

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b. Metals are good conductors of heat. Yet aluminium foil-coloured

blankets can be used to keep mountaineers warm. Explain this
statement. [2]

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6. Graph P shows the variation of the displacement of the medium particles
along the wave at a particular time.

Graph Q shows the variation of the displacement of the same wave with time
at a particular point along the wave.

0.6

16
− 0.6

Graph P

0.6

4.0
4.0
− 0.6
0.6

Graph Q

a. State values for

i. the wavelength for the wave [1]

______________________________

ii. the frequency of the wave [1]

________________________________

b. Calculate the speed of the wave. [2]

6
7. The diagram shows an object O and its image produced by a converging
lens. By drawing 2 rays, mark on the diagram
a. the position of the lens (label it L) [1]
b. the position of the principal focus of the lens (label it F) [2]

I
O

8. An experimenter at A found that the time taken by sound waves to travel to

travel to a wall and return to A was 4.3 s. On walking 136 m to B and
repeating the test, the experimenter found the corresponding time reduced to
3.5 s.

A B
136 m

Wall

a. Find the speed of sound in air from these observations. [2]

b. What is one characteristic of the wall for this experiment to be

accurate? [1]

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9. A charged light metal sphere is suspended between two parallel plates. The
plates are connected to a d.c. power supply as shown in the figure below.

a. What kind of charge is carried by the sphere? Explain your answer.[3]

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b. What happens to the deflection angle θ of the sphere from the vertical,
as the voltage increases? [1]

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10. The figure below shows the wiring of 2 sockets done by an unqualified
electrical technician.

E L N
a. Are the wrongly wired sockets wired in series or parallel? [1]

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8
 b. In the figure below, construct lines to show how the two sockets
should be connected such that two appliances plugged into them can
work at their desired voltage of 240 V each. [2]

E L N

11. Draw the magnetic field lines between the two magnetic North poles in the
space below. [2]

N N

12. The diagram below shows a door lock which can be opened from a flat in a
building. The steel bolt keeps the door locked.

9
 a. Explain how the door is unlocked when the switch is closed. [2]

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b. Why is the spring needed in the lock? [1]

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13. A small plotting compass is placed above a copper wire as shown below.
When there is no current in the wire, the plotting compass points in the
direction shown.

a. A large current is now passed through the wire, causing the needle to
deflect. Explain why the needle deflects and state the direction in
which the arrow will now point. [2]

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b. The compass is now placed below the wire. State any changes you
would expect to see in the needle’s deflection, if any. [1]

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10
Section B: Long Structured Questions (20 marks)
Answer any 2 the questions in this section. Write your answers in the writing paper
provided.

1. A car of mass 750 kg is accelerated from rest to 20 ms-1 in 5 sec on a dry

straight road. It then travels at constant speed for the next 10 s after which
the brakes are applied so that it comes to a stop in 2 s.

a. Calculate the deceleration of the car during the last 2 s. [2]

b. Calculate the resultant force acting on the car during the time when
the brakes were applied. [2]

c. “When the car is moving at constant speed, there are no forces acting
on the car.”
Do you agree with this statement? Why? [1]

d. Sketch the speed-time graph of the car’s motion for the entire
duration. Label your graph with all necessary values of speed and
time. [3]

e. Hence, calculate the total distance travelled by the car. [2]

11
2. The figure shows 3 rays of light UR, PQ and TR as they enter a semi-circular
glass block. Ray TR continues in the path TRS as shown.

30o

The speed of light in air is the same as the speed of light in a vacuum, which
is 3.0 × 10 8 m s–1. The refractive index of glass is 1.5.

a. Explain why there is no change in the direction of the ray as it enters

the block at Q. [1]

b. Light slows down when it enters an optically denser medium.

Calculate the speed of light between Q and R. [2]

c. Another ray passes along TR as shown. Calculate the angle, α, which

the emerging ray makes with the normal after emerging from the
glass. [2]

d. A light ray passing along UR does not emerge from the glass block
because its angle of incidence with the normal at R exceeds the
critical angle. State what is meant by critical angle. [2]

e. Sketch a diagram of the glass block and ray UR to show the path
taken by the ray UR immediately after point R. [1]

f. Calculate the critical angle of the glass block. [2]

12
3. The figure below shows a circuit in which all the switches S1, S2 and S3 are
open.

a. Calculate the effective resistance between points P and Q when S1,

S2 and S3 are closed. [2]

b. If the ammeter reading is 2.0 A, what is the resistance of the lamp

when S1, S2 and S3 are closed? [2]

c. What is the energy dissipated by the lamp in 1 minute when S1 is

open with S2, and S3 closed and the current in the circuit is 2A? [2]

d. With switches S1, S2 and S3 closed, the lamp lights up with a certain
brightness. If switch S1 is now open, explain how this will affect the
brightness of the lamp. [2]

e. Calculate the effective resistance between points P and Q when S1 is

now open, S2 and S3 are closed. [2]

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