Physical Quantities & Measurement Techniques (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (Double Award): Physics): Exam Questions

A student has a pile of A4 paper for his computer printer.

Fig. 1.1 shows the dimensions of the pile of paper.

The pile contains 500 sheets of paper.

Calculate the average thickness of one sheet of paper.

average thickness = .................................................... cm 

Show that the pile of paper has a volume of 3000 cm³. Use the information shown in Fig.1.1.

The student measures the total mass of the paper in the pile.

State the name of a device used to measure mass.

The mass of the paper in the pile is 2400 g.

Calculate the density of the paper.

density = .............................................. g/cm³

A teacher investigates the reaction time of five students. A 0.50 m ruler is held above the hand of a student before being allowed to fall. The arrangement is shown in Fig. 3.1.

As soon as the ruler falls the student closes their hand, catching the ruler. The further the ruler falls, the greater the reaction time of the student. The results obtained are shown in Fig. 3.2.

Using the results shown in Fig. 3.2, calculate the average distance that the ruler drops.

average distance = ................................................... cm 

List the students in order of their reaction times, with the shortest reaction time at the top of the table. One has been done for you.

In a similar investigation, a ruler drops a distance of 11.0 cm and has an average speed of 16 cm / s.

 Calculate the reaction time.

   reaction time = ...................................................... s 

Fig. 1.1 shows a large tank containing water. The tank leaks. Drops of water fall from the tank.

The drops hit the ground at a regular rate.

A student measures the time interval between two drops of water hitting the ground.

They use a stopwatch and repeat the procedure three times. Fig. 1.2 shows each stopwatch reading.

(i) On the line below each stopwatch, state the time readings shown, in seconds.

[1]  

(ii) Calculate the average time interval between two drops of water hitting the ground.    

average time = ....................................................... s [2]

Another student measures the average time taken for a drop of water to fall from the tank to the ground. The time taken is 1.6 s.

Calculate the average speed of this drop of water.

 average speed = ................................................... m/s 

A student has a piece of metal that has an irregular shape. The weight of the metal is 3.0 N.

Calculate the mass of the metal.

 mass = ..................................................... kg 

Fig. 2.1 shows the piece of metal, a measuring cylinder and a beaker containing water.

(i) Describe how to determine the volume of the metal, using the equipment in Fig. 2.1.

[4]  

(ii) Explain why the procedure in (b)(i) is not suitable for finding the volume of a piece of low-density wood that is of similar shape and size to the piece of metal in (a).

[1]  

(iii) The mass of another piece of metal is 405 g and its volume is 150 cm³.

Calculate the density of the metal. State the unit.    

density = .......................................................... [3]

A student uses a stopwatch in a timing experiment.

Fig. 1.1 shows the stopwatch readings.

Calculate the time interval between the two readings.

  time interval = ...................................................... s 

A device has a light-emitting diode (LED) that flashes briefly at regular intervals.

Describe how to determine accurately the average time for each interval, using a stopwatch.

A student places 8 similar coins in a pile, as shown in Fig. 1.1.

The height of the pile of coins is 2.4 cm.

Calculate the average thickness of one coin.

average thickness = .................................................. cm 

Fig. 1.2 shows the pile of coins, a measuring cylinder and a beaker containing some water.

Describe how the student can measure the volume of one of the coins using the set-up shown in Fig. 1.2.