Exam practice
Exam questions
Write your answer. Then open the mark scheme and tick each point you made.
- Question 1 of 101 mark
State the speed of light in a vacuum. Give the unit.
Mark scheme
- 300 000 km/s (accept: 300 million m/s, or 300 000 000 m/s)
- Question 2 of 102 marks
Give two differences between light waves and sound waves.
Mark scheme
- Light can travel through a vacuum but sound cannot (accept: sound needs particles to carry it)
- Light travels much faster than sound
- Light is a transverse wave and sound is a longitudinal wave
- Question 3 of 102 marks
A ray of light from a ray box hits a flat mirror.(a) Name the dashed line X.
(b) State the size of the angle of reflection.Mark scheme
- (a) The normal
- (b) 35°
- Question 4 of 102 marks
A girl stands 1.5 m in front of a flat mirror.
(a) State how far behind the mirror her image seems to be.
(b) Give one other fact about her image.Mark scheme
- (a) 1.5 m
- (b) Any one: it is the same size as her, it is the right way up, its left and right look swapped (accept: laterally inverted, or writing reads backwards), or it is a virtual image
- Question 5 of 103 marks
A ray of light travels from air into a glass block.(a) Which path does the ray take: A, B or C?
(b) Name this change of direction.
(c) Explain why the ray changes direction.Mark scheme
- (a) A
- (b) Refraction
- (c) Light travels more slowly in glass than in air (accept: light slows down in glass, or glass is an optically denser medium than air)
- Question 6 of 102 marks
A swimming pool looks shallower than it really is. Explain why.
Mark scheme
- Light from the bottom of the pool is refracted as it leaves the water (accept: it changes direction, or it bends away from the normal)
- So the light seems to come from a point above the real bottom (accept: the brain assumes that the light has travelled in a straight line)
- Question 7 of 103 marks
Describe how the eye forms an image, and how the brain gets information about it.
Mark scheme
- The cornea and the lens focus the light (accept: they refract the light, or the lens focuses the light)
- The image forms on the retina
- The retina sends electrical signals along the optic nerve to the brain
- Question 8 of 102 marks
A ray of white light is shone through a glass prism.
(a) Describe what the prism does to the white light.
(b) Name the colour that is refracted the most.Mark scheme
- (a) It splits it into a spectrum (accept: into its colours, or it disperses it)
- (b) Violet
- Question 9 of 103 marks
A red book lies on a table.
(a) Explain why the book looks red in white light.
(b) The book is now lit only by blue light. State the colour it looks, and explain why.Mark scheme
- (a) It reflects red light and absorbs the other colours
- (b) It looks black
- (b) It absorbs the blue light (accept: there is no red light for it to reflect)
- Question 10 of 102 marks
You can see your face in a mirror, but not in a sheet of white paper. Both reflect light. Explain the difference.
Mark scheme
- The mirror is smooth, so it reflects the rays evenly (accept: all at the same angle, in a regular way, or specular reflection)
- The paper is rough, so it scatters the light in all directions (accept: diffuse scattering)