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Edexcel GCSE Science
Physics topic P1b
Specimen multiple-choice paper
Foundation and Higher Tiers
DATE:
Time: 20 minutes

Materials required for examination Items included with question papers

Multiple Choice Answer Sheet None
HB pencil, eraser and calculator

Instructions to Candidates
FOUNDATION TIER CANDIDATES ANSWER QUESTIONS 1- 24
HIGHER TIER CANDIDATES START AT QUESTION 17. ANSWER QUESTIONS 17-40
Use an HB pencil. Do not open this booklet until you are told to do so.
Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet

Before the test begins:

Check that the answer sheet is for the correct test and that it contains your candidate details.

How to answer the test:

For each question, choose the right answer, A, B, C or D and
mark it in HB pencil on the answer sheet. A B D
For example, the answer C would be marked as shown.
Mark only one answer for each question. If you change your mind about an answer, rub out the
first mark carefully, then mark your new answer.
Do any necessary calculations and rough work in this booklet. You may use a calculator if you
wish.
You must not take this booklet or the answer sheet out of the examination room.

This publication may only be reproduced in accordance with Edexcel copyright policy
Printer’s Log No. © 2006 Edexcel

1 Turn over
 FOUNDATION TIER CANDIDATES ANSWER QUESTIONS 1- 24
HIGHER TIER CANDIDATES START AT QUESTION 17.

Santiago’s Sore Leg

Santiago hurts his leg in a tackle.

His coach sends him to the hospital to have his leg checked.

The hospital takes an X-ray photograph of Santiago’s leg.

1 The X-ray photograph shows whether Santiago

A has broken his leg

B has sprained a muscle
C has low blood pressure
D has a high heart rate

2 The X-ray photograph shows Santiago’s bones as light patches because bones

A reflect X-rays
B emit X-rays
C absorb X-rays
D transmit X-rays

3 The female nurse leaves the room while the X-ray photograph is being taken.
Why must she leave the room?

A to avoid being in the X-ray image

B to avoid the X-ray damaging her cells
C to avoid the X-rays melting her mobile phone
D to avoid the X-rays giving her a tan

4 What kind of waves are X-rays?

A longitudinal
B seismic
C electromagnetic
D ultrasonic

2 Turnover
 Tiffany’s pregnancy

Tiffany is at the hospital because she is pregnant. She is having a scan to produce an image of
her baby.

5 What is the name of this type of scan?

A X-ray
B optical
C ultrasound
D analogue

6 This scan is produced by collecting waves

A from the baby’s heart beat

B reflected from the baby’s soft tissues
C absorbed by the baby’s soft tissues
D from the mother’s heart beat

7 The scan uses high frequency waves.

Frequency means

A the length of the wave

B how fast the wave travels
C the height of the wave
D how many waves there are in a second

8 Information from the scan is converted into a digital signal.

The main advantage of this is that

A it lets the hospital technician improve the quality of the image

B it lets the hospital technician make lots of copies
C it is cheap to use
D the image produced is in black and white

3 Turn over
9 Tiffany’s scan and Santiago’s X- ray use different types of waves.
Which of these statements is correct?

A sound waves and X-rays travel at the same speed

B sound waves travel faster than X-rays
C sound waves and X-rays are both types of electromagnetic wave
D sound waves travel slower than X-rays

The War Of The Worlds

Roswanna and George have just watched the film ‘The War of the Worlds’.

“That was great, but I’m worried in

case aliens are coming to Earth
right now”

“Don’t be silly, there’s no such thing

as aliens”

10 Roswanna isn’t sure whether or not aliens exist.

Which of these statements is true?

A scientists have proved the existence of aliens

B scientists have disproved the existence of aliens
C scientists cannot at the moment prove or disprove the existence of aliens
D scientists will never prove the existence of aliens

4 Turnover
 “Even if aliens did exist, they could never
travel to Earth.”

11 It is easy for space-craft to travel in space because there is

A no atmosphere
B no temperature
C no light
D no heat

“But humans can travel through space

because we’ve sent men to the moon.
I’ve seen it on TV.”

12 Conditions in space between the Earth and the Moon are different to those on Earth.
The conditions that differ are

A gravity and temperature only

B atmosphere and gravity only
C atmosphere and temperature only
D atmosphere, gravity and temperature

13 The astronauts collected samples of moon rock.

They measured the mass and weight of the rock samples on the moon.
When they got back to Earth, they measured the mass and weight again and found that

A the mass of the rock had increased

B the mass of the rock had decreased
C the weight of the rock had increased
D the weight of the rock had decreased

14 As the astronauts’ rocket lifted off the moon, it burned fuel in its engine.
The rocket lifts off

A because of a reaction force as hot gases are pushed out

B because burning the fuel makes the rocket lighter
C because there is low gravity on the moon
D because the gases expand when their temperature rises

5 Turn over
15 Scientists working with the astronauts have made the following measurements.

sun moon Mars

closest distance
from Earth 150 000 384 76 800
(thousands of km)

Mars is 200 times further from Earth than the moon is.
It takes 1.28 seconds for a radio signal to reach Earth from the moon.

How long would it take for a radio signal to reach Earth from Mars?

A 1.28 ÷ 200 seconds

B 200 – 1.28 seconds
C 1.28 + 200 seconds
D 1.28 × 200 seconds

16 The diagram shows the Earth and Mars orbiting the Sun.

not
Sun to
Earth scale

Mars

How far is Mars from the Sun?

A 72 816 thousands of km
B 73 200 thousands of km
C 226 800 thousands of km
D 227 184 thousands of km

6 Turnover
 FOUNDATION TIER CANDIDATES ANSWER QUESTION 17-24
HIGHER TIER CANDIDATES START HERE.

Titan and Beyond

Titan! The New Ibiza?

Probes have sent back information from Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
Titan is more than 1400 million Km
km from the Sun, but may be the latest
seaside resort, because there is evidence of a coastline. Scientists think
that life may form here on Titan and are planning to send astronauts to
find out more!

17 Which of these is not a major problem to humans during long space flights?

A deterioration of bones
B strain on the heart
C exposure to radiation
D hearing difficulties

18 On the way to Titan the probe passed Saturn and took some photographs of Saturn’s rings.

Which of these can the probe not do?

A measure the size of the ring particles

B detect the chemical composition of the rings
C detect the effect of gravity on the rings
D find out why Saturn exists

19 When the probe lands on Titan it measures the gravity on the surface.
The unit of gravitational field strength is

A N/kg
B N kg
C N
D kg

7 Turn over
20 The probe measures the gravitational field strength on the surface of Titan as being one tenth
of that on Earth. The mass of the probe is 350 kg.

weight = mass × acceleration of free-fall

(the acceleration of free-fall on Earth is 10 m/s2)

Which row of the table below is correct?

weight on Earth (N) weight on Titan (N)

A 3500 350
B 3500 3500
C 350 3500
D 350 350

21 Gravity is very important for both Saturn and Titan.

Which of the following is not affected by gravity?

A the orbit of Titan around Saturn

B the movement of Saturn around the Sun
C the temperature of the probe as it approaches Titan
D the speed of the probe as it approaches Titan

22 The probe measures the temperature of the surface of Titan.

To do this it could use

A infra red waves emitted by the probe

B infrared waves emitted from the surface of Titan
C X-rays emitted by the probe
D X-rays emitted from the surface of Titan

23 The data signals from the probe were received by a base on Earth.
The signals were then transmitted to the scientists in charge of the mission many kilometres
away.
The signals were sent along optical fibres because

A the signals from the probe were received as light waves

B light travels faster than electrical signals
C light in optical fibres can transmit data over long distances
D optical fibres cannot be bent easily

8 Turnover
24 A microwave signal was sent from Titan to Earth at the same time as the radio signal.
Which of the following is true?

A the two signals arrive at the same time

B the radio signal arrives before the microwave signal
C the microwave signal arrives before the radio signal
D the radio signal slows down more than the microwave signal

FOUNDATION TIER CANDIDATES STOP HERE

HIGHER TIER CANDIDATES CONTINUE TO THE END.

TOTAL FOR FOUNDATION TIER PAPER: 24 MARKS

9 Turn over
 Rachael and Steve’s holiday

Rachael and Steve are going on holiday to Florida tomorrow. They have packed their bags
ready for the airport and are very excited.

“The only thing I’m not looking

forward to is when they use X-rays to
scan our bags at the security check.”

“There’s no need to worry, everything

is very safe.”

25 Why is Steve correct when he says that the passengers will be safe from X-rays at the security
check?

A hospitals use X-rays

B X-rays are a perfectly safe form of radiation
C the passengers are shielded from the X-rays
D X-rays do not damage the passengers’ healthy cells

Next day, when they reach the airport, Steve says:

“I have read that we now need

to have our eyes scanned when
we travel to USA, as a security
check’’

26 Eye-scanners can be used as a security check because

A light reflected from the iris gives a pattern unique to each person
B light reflected by the pupil gives a pattern unique to each person
C each person blinks at a different rate
D each person has eyes of a different size

10 Turnover
27 Rachael and Steve are flying on a modern jet aircraft. Optic fibre cables are used to send
digital signals to control the aircraft’s wing flaps and rudder.

Digital signals are preferred to analogue signals because

A digital signals can be sent and received more quickly

B digital signals are easier to read
C analogue signals cannot be amplified
D analogue signals are more likely to experience interference

28 The position of the aircraft is monitored by the airport control. They use radar (radio waves) to
detect how far the aircraft is from the airport. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves.

Compared with light waves, radio waves have

A a longer wavelength and lower frequency

B a shorter wavelength and lower frequency
C a longer wavelength and higher frequency
D a shorter wavelength and higher frequency

29 The radio waves travel at 300 000 000 (3 × 108) m/s.

The airport control measures 0.001 s (1.0 x 10- 3 s) for the radio wave to reach the aircraft and
reflect back to the airport control.

speed = distance / time

How far is the aircraft from the airport?

A 300 m
B 1 500 (1.5 × 103) m
C 150 000 (1.5 × 105) m
D 300 000 (3.0 × 105) m

30 Steve uses his mobile telephone. Rachael tells him that using his mobile telephone could be
bad for his health.

This is because

A mobile telephone calls are very expensive in the USA

B it is sensible to limit exposure to any microwaves
C mobile telephone signals have been proved to damage the brain
D the mobile telephone becomes very hot if used for a long time

11 Turn over
 31 While they are on holiday Steve and Rachael spend a lot of time in the sun.
Rachael tells Steve that he should wear a sun cream that will protect him from ultraviolet
radiation.
This is because

1 ultraviolet radiation has a higher frequency than visible light and is therefore more
dangerous.
2 sun burn is caused by ultraviolet radiation.

Which statements are correct?

A 1 only
B 2 only
C both 1 and 2
D neither

32 The wave machine in the swimming pool produces waves that travel at 3.0 m/s and have a
frequency of 0.5 Hz.

speed = frequency × wavelength

What is the wavelength of the waves?

A 0.5 m
B 1.5 m
C 3.0 m
D 6.0 m

12 Turnover
 Making a Deep Impact

Deep Impact was a NASA

mission in space which
probed underneath the
surface of a comet.

33 Astronomers are watching for any comets that might hit the Earth.

Which row of the table shows the chance of collision of a comet with the Earth and the
consequences of an impact?

chance of collision consequences of

impact
A low small
B low severe
C high small
D high severe

34 The Deep Impact mission was important because there is still a lot we do not know about
comets.
Here are two statements about comets.

1 Comets can have orbits that take more than 100 years to complete.
2 Comets have elliptical orbits.

Which of these statements do scientists know to be correct?

A 1 only
B 2 only
C both 1 and 2
D neither

13 Turn over
35 Many people argue that it will be more sensible to use further unmanned missions like Deep
Impact for exploring space, rather than overcome all the difficulties of sending people into
space.

Which of the following is not a correct statement?

A It is essential for long distance space flights to provide astronauts with protection from
high intensity radiation
B It is essential for long distance space flights to provide exercise for the astronauts so that
their muscles do not deteriorate
C It is essential for manned spacecraft to provide astronauts with a heating and cooling
system
D It is essential for manned spacecraft to provide astronauts with an artificial gravity

The Astronomical Club

36 At the astronomical club Alec and Louise discuss the possibility of intelligent life existing on
other planets.

Which of the following arguments supports the possibility of the existence of intelligent life
in our galaxy?

A the galaxy is expanding very quickly

B the Earth is over 4 billion years old
C the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has spent millions of hours analysing
signals from space
D there are so many stars in the galaxy

37 Their teacher tells them that more than 100 planets have been observed around other stars. She
adds that for life to exist the star must have a ‘habitable zone’.
Here are two statements about the ‘habitable zone’.

1 It must be close enough to its star for the planet to receive enough energy.
2 It must be close enough to its star that ice cannot exist on the planet’s surface.

Which statements are correct?

A 1 only
B 2 only
C both 1 and 2
D neither

38 A visiting speaker demonstrates red shift to them.

He says that red shift gives evidence that

A universes are moving further apart

B galaxies are moving further apart
C our Solar System is expanding
D our Sun is expanding

14 Turnover
39 Alec writes these four statements to attach to the time line of a display. They are about the life
cycle of a star similar to our Sun.

1 When it is hot enough hydrogen nuclei fuse together to make helium keeping the star
hot
2 The star forms from massive clouds of gas and dust in space which gravity pulls
together
3 The star becomes a white dwarf
4 The star expands to become a red giant

Which of these places the statements in the correct order?

A 1, 2, 3, 4
B 2, 1, 4, 3
C 2, 3, 4, 1
D 1, 3, 2, 4

40 Alec and Louise talked about ‘dark matter’.

“Scientists think that galaxies contain

dark matter because they seem to have
more mass than that of the stars we can
see. ”

Louise
“Scientists are not certain what dark
matter is made from.” Alec

Who is correct?

A Louise only
B Alec only
C Both Alec and Louise
D neither

TOTAL FOR HIGHER-TIER PAPER: 24 MARKS

End of paper

15 Turn over
 Answer sheet

Question Answer
1 A
2 C
3 B
4 C
5 C
6 B
7 D
8 A
9 D
10 C
11 A
12 D
13 C
14 A
15 D
16 C
17 D
18 D
19 A
20 A
21 C
22 B
23 C
24 A
25 C
26 A
27 D
28 A
29 C
30 B
31 C
32 D
33 B
34 C
35 D
36 D
37 A
38 B
39 B
40 C

16 Turnover