11 mark
The diagram shows white light passing through a prism.
Which of the following gives colours in the correct order from A to B?
Red, green, violet
Red, violet, green
Violet, red, green
Violet, green, red
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Light (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Physics)
Exam Questions
4 hours43 questions21 mark
A teacher has a clock mounted in such a way that students can only see its reflection in a plane mirror.
The diagram shows the reflection of the clock.
What time is shown on the clock?
05:40
07:40
07:20
06:20
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31 mark
An object is placed in front of a mirror. Where is the image formed, and is the image real or virtual?
| Image location | Image type |
A | X | real |
B | X | virtual |
C | Y | real |
D | Y | virtual |
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41 mark
When light passes from a denser material into a less dense material
light slows down and bends toward the normal
light slows down and bends away from the normal
light speeds up and bends toward the normal
light speeds up and bends away from the normal
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51 mark
Identify the correct definition of the critical angle.
The critical angle is the angle of incidence when the angle of refraction is exactly 90° and light is refracted along the boundary
The critical angle is the angle of refraction when the angle of incidence is exactly 90° and light is refracted along the boundary
The critical angle is the angle of incidence when the angle of reflection is exactly 90° and light is reflected along the boundary
The critical angle is the angle of incidence when the angle of refraction is exactly 90° and light is reflected along the boundary
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11 mark
Which of the diagrams below shows both the correct position of the image, and the correct path the light rays must have taken to the eye?
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21 mark
Which of the images correctly shows the focal length of the thin converging lens?
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31 mark
A physics teacher demonstrates dispersion for her class. She asks the students to draw a diagram of the dispersion.
The diagrams show four examples of what different students drew. One of them is correct. Which one?
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41 mark
Which diagram correctly shows the formation of a real image on a screen?
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51 mark
The diagram shows a ray of light inside a perspex rod.
Perspex has a critical angle of 42o.
Which row in the table correctly states whether there is any light reflected from the surface, and whether there is any light refracted out of the perspex rod?
| Light reflected? | Light refracted? |
A | yes | yes |
B | yes | no |
C | no | yes |
D | no | no |
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11 mark
The diagram shows light passing from air into glass. A number of angles have been labelled on the diagram.
Which of the equations could be used to correctly calculate the refractive index, n, of the glass?
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21 mark
Below is a ray diagram showing the image formed by a thin, converging lens.
Which of the following statements about the image is correct?
The image is virtual and can be seen by eye Y.
The image is inverted and can be seen by eye Y.
The image is real and can be seen by the eye at X.
The image is virtual and can be seen by eye X.
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31 mark
Light enters a flat water surface at an angle of 27 o.
The refractive index of water is 1.33.
At what angle does the light ray refract?
0.34 o
20.3 o
20.0 o
37.0 o
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41 mark
A ray of light is shone into a semi-circular glass block so that it makes an angle of 48° with the rear, flat edge of the block as shown.
Calculate the refractive index of the glass.
0.023
1.49
2.38
1.35
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51 mark
The diagram shows an object positioned close to a thin converging lens (inside the focal distance). Three light rays are shown leaving the object and passing through the lens.
Which row in the table correctly describes the properties of the image?
| location | size | real / virtual |
A | to the left of O | reduced | real |
B | to the right of O | enlarged | virtual |
C | to the left of O | enlarged | virtual |
D | at O | the same as O | real |
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61 mark
The diagram shows a ray of light being totally internally reflected at the boundary between substances A and B.
Which row in the table must be true?
| Angle of incidence | Substance A |
A | greater than critical angle | greater refractive index than B |
B | greater than critical angle | smaller refractive index than B |
C | less than critical angle | greater refractive index than B |
D | less than critical angle | smaller refractive index than B |
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71 mark
The image below shows white light being split into its constituent colours by a glass prism.
Why does a prism cause white light to be dispersed?
Light towards the red end of the spectrum slows down less than light towards the violet end of the spectrum as it moves through the glass
Light towards the red end of the spectrum slows down more than light towards the violet end of the spectrum as it moves through the glass
The frequency of the light towards the red end decreases more than the frequency of light towards the violet end of the spectrum
The frequency of the light towards the violet end decreases more than the frequency of light towards the red end of the spectrum
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