Movement & Position (Edexcel IGCSE Physics)

An aeroplane takes two minutes to travel the short distance between airports on two islands.  

The graph shows how the speed of the aeroplane changes as it

• takes off
• flies across the sea
• lands on the other island

When it is flying across the sea, the aeroplane travels at a constant speed.

Use the graph to answer the following questions.

Each airport has a runway that is about 500 m long.

When it lands, the speed of the aeroplane is 40 m/s.

Explain why the airline should not use an aeroplane that has more mass and needs a higher speed for landing.

Graph 1 shows how the velocity of a car changes with time.

Calculate the distance the car travels in the first four seconds.

As the car travels further along the track its acceleration changes as shown in graph 2.

(1)

(2)

A student investigates the motion of a toy car as it moves freely down a slope.

The student wants to find the link between the starting height of the car and the speed of the car at the bottom of the slope.

(1)

(1)

Describe how the student should measure the starting height of the car.

The student describes how she will find the speed of the car at the bottom of the slope.

The student repeats the experiment using the same equipment and the same starting height.

She finds out that the time taken for the car to move down the slope is not exactly the same for each experiment.

Suggest three reasons why the student gets different results when she repeats the experiment.

The graph shows how the velocity of an aircraft changes as it accelerates along a runway.

Use the graph to find the average acceleration of the aircraft. 

acceleration = ............................................................. m/s²

Explain why the acceleration is not constant, even though the engines produce a constant force.

The Apollo 15 mission landed on the Moon in 1971.

The astronaut David Scott dropped a hammer and a feather.

They were released from rest at the same time and from the same height.

The hammer and the feather landed at the same time.

The graph shows how the velocity of the hammer changed with time.

Acceleration = .......... unit .................

(2)

Height = .................................... m

The gravitational field strength is smaller on the Moon than on the Earth.

Suggest why.

If the same experiment is carried out on Earth, air resistance affects both objects. 

The feather reaches the ground after the hammer, even though the force of air resistance is smaller on the feather than on the hammer. 

Explain why the feather reaches the ground after the hammer.

A student cycles to school.

The graph shows the stages A to G of the journey.  

Describe the motion of the student during stages B and D. 

State how the graph shows that the acceleration for stage E is greater than the acceleration for stage A.  

Calculate the distance that the student travels in the last 10 s of the journey.

The total distance travelled is 106.5 m.

Show that the average speed of the journey is about 4 m/s.

The diagram shows some people waiting in a queue at a supermarket.

The queue moves forward each time a person leaves the checkout.

Person X spends seven minutes in the queue before reaching the checkout.

The graph shows how distance changes with time for person X.  

(1)

initial length = .............................................................. m

(2)

(1)

 average speed = .............................................. unit .........................

Air comes out through a series of small holes in the air track.

A small glider floats on a cushion of air.

(2)

Two light gates connected to a data logger are placed above the air track so that the card will pass through them.

The glider moves at a constant speed to the right.

The length of the card is 8.3 cm.

The card takes 314 ms to pass through the first light gate.

average speed = ............................................. cm/s

A student makes this prediction. 

'The more weight a toy car has the faster it will roll down the slope.'

State two factors that the students should keep constant in his investigation.

Put ticks (✓) in the boxes to show which pieces of apparatus the student needs for his investigation.

One has been done for you.

Describe what the student should do to test his prediction that the more weight the toy car has, the faster it will roll down the slope. 

A racing cyclist practises by riding around a track.

A student wants to find the average speed of the cyclist.

Describe a method that the student could use to find the average speed.