11 mark
Which of the planets listed is the gaseous planet which is closest to the Sun?
Jupiter
Mars
Saturn
Uranus
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Earth & The Solar System (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Physics)
Exam Questions
3 hours30 questions21 mark
Which of the following objects are described as orbiting the Sun?
Asteroids
Comets
Galaxies
Moons
1 and 2 only
1, 2 and 3
1, 2, and 4
1, 2, 3 and 4
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31 mark
What creates the periodic nature of the seasons?
The tilting of the Earth's axis
The orbiting of the Earth around the Sun
The combination of the orbiting of the Earth around the Sun and the Earth's tilting axis
The change in temperature of the Sun
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41 mark
Which of the following statements about the strength of a gravitational field is correct?
| At the surface of a planet it depends on | Around a planet it |
A | the diameter of the planet | decreases as the distance from the planet increases |
B | the diameter of the planet | increases as the distance from the planet decreases |
C | the mass of the planet | decreases as the distance from the planet increases |
D | the mass of the planet | increases as the distance from the planet increases |
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51 mark
Extended tier only
Which of the following statements about orbits is true?
All planets, minor planets and comets have elliptical orbits
The Sun is at the centre of an elliptical orbit
Only comets and minor planets have elliptical orbits
An object in an elliptical orbit has a constant orbital radius
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11 mark
Which line in the table best describes the angle of the Earth’s axis from the vertical, and the effect of this tilt?
| Angle of tilt | Effect of tilt |
A | 23.4° | Rising and setting of the Sun |
B | 23.4° | Changing of the seasons |
C | 66.6° | Rising and setting of the Sun |
D | 66.6° | Changing of the seasons |
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21 mark
Which line in the table correctly identifies the length of one year, one day and daylight hours during an equinox, all as experienced on Earth?
| One Earth year / days | One Earth day / hours | Daylight hours during an equinox / hours |
A. | 356 | 8 | 8 |
B. | 364 | 12 | 12 |
C. | 365 | 12 | 8 |
D. | 365 | 24 | 12 |
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31 mark
Extended tier only
The orbit of the Earth around the Sun can be thought of as following a circular path with a circumference of 942 × 106 km.
What is the approximate orbital speed of the Earth?
10 000 km /h
100 000 km /h
2.5 × 106 km /h
50 × 106 km /h
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41 mark
Extended tier only
Comets travel faster within the Solar System than they do when they are outside it.
Which of the following gives the correct reason for this?
A comet near to the Sun has more gravitational potential energy.
Comets closer to the Sun transfer gravitational potential energy to kinetic energy due to conservation of energy.
A comet which is outside the Solar System has less energy than one which is passing through it.
Comets closer to the Sun transfer kinetic energy to gravitational potential energy due to conservation of energy.
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51 mark
The radius of Jupiter's orbit is 778 × 106 km. What is the time taken for light from the Sun to reach the surface of Jupiter?
The speed of light is 3 × 108 m/s.
2600 ms
2600 s
0.39 s
3.9 × 10–4 s
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11 mark
Select the combination which best defines and describes an accretion disc.
Gases rotating around a star
Ring of rocky material
Leads to formation of orbiting planets
Explains the range of elements in rocky planets
Explains the range of elements in the parent star
1, 3 and 5
2, 3 and 5
1, 3 and 4
2, 3 and 4
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21 mark
The Earth and Moon are held together by a gravitational force acting between them.
Which row describes possible changes to the mass of the Earth and the distance between the Earth and the Moon that would cause the gravitational force to increase?
| Mass of Earth | Distance between the Earth and the Moon |
A | Double | Drop to one quarter |
B | Stay the same | Stay the same |
C | Halve | Stay the same |
D | Drop to one quarter | Double |
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31 mark
Extended tier only
The orbit of Venus around the Sun is treated as a circular path with an average radius of 108.2 million km. The orbital period of Venus is 225 days.
What is the orbital speed of Venus?
40 000 km / h
62 900 km / h
126 000 km / h
810 000 km / h
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41 mark
The diagram shows a phase of the Moon.
Which of the four options shows the Moon 7 days later?
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51 mark
Extended tier only
The table shows some planetary data for planets in our Solar System
Planet | Orbital distance / million km | Orbital duration / days or years | Density / kg/m3 | Surface Temperature/ °C | Uniform Surface Gravitational Field Strength/ N/kg |
Mercury | 57.9 | 88 days | 5427 | 350 | 3.7 |
Venus | 108.2 | 225 days | 5243 | 460 | 8.9 |
Earth | 149.6 | 365 days | 5514 | 20 | 9.8 |
Mars | 227.9 | 687 days | 3933 | –23 | 3.7 |
Jupiter | 778.6 | 11.9 years | 1326 | –120 | 23.1 |
Saturn | 1433.5 | 29.5 years | 687 | –180 | 9.0 |
Uranus | 2872.5 | 75 years | 1271 | –210 | 8.7 |
Neptune | 4495.1 | 165 years | 1638 | –220 | 11.0 |
What is the orbital speed of Mars?
8.68 × 104 m/hr
1.38 × 107 m/hr
8.68 × 107 m/hr
2.08 × 109 m/hr
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