The Solar System (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (Double Award): Physics): Exam Questions

1 hour14 questions
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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11 mark

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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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21 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

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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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21 mark

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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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