AQA GCSE Physics Paper 2 (2026/2027) |
Verified Questions & Answers | Revision
Pack | A+ Verified
• Why does atmospheric pressure decrease with an increase in height?
-✓✓- atmosphere is a thin layer of air around the earth
- atmosphere is usually most dense at the surface of the Earth, there is
a greater number of air molecules in a given volume
- atmosphere gets less dense as you increase with altitude
- pressure of atmosphere is caused by air molecules colliding with a
surface
- as surface increases height above ground level the number of air
molecules above the surface decreases
• Example of transverse waves -✓✓- Ripples on the surface of water
- A wave on a string
• Example of longitudinal waves -✓✓- Sound waves travelling in air
- Shock waves
• All waves transfer ? -✓✓All waves transfer
ENERGY
from one place to another
,• What do ripples transfer? -✓✓kinetic energy
• What do sound waves transfer? -✓✓sound energy
• Transverse wave ? -✓✓- wave where oscillations are perpendicular to
the direction of energy transfer
- not all transverse waves require a medium
• Longitudinal waves ? -✓✓- wave where the oscillations are parallel to
the direction of energy transfer
- they all require a medium to travel in
- has compression (regions where the air particles are close together)
- has rarefactions (regions where the air particles are spaced out)
• For both ripples on a water surface and sound waves in air, what is it
that moves and stays in the same place? -✓✓- the wave travels
- the water / the air stays in the same place
• Amplitude -✓✓- maximum displacement of a point on the wave from
its undisturbed position
,• Wavelength -✓✓- is the distance from point on one wave to the
equivalent point on the adjacent wave
- has the symbol lambda
• How to measure wavelength on a longitudinal wave -✓✓compression
to compression or rarefaction to rarefaction
• Frequency of a wave -✓✓- number of complete waves passing a
certain point each second
- Measured in hertz
- 1 Hz is 1 wave per second
• Period -✓✓- time (s) for one wave to pass a point
period = 1 / frequency
• Wave speed -✓✓- speed at which the wave moves through the
medium
WAVE SPEED measured in m/s
• How do you measure the speed of sound? -✓✓- have two people
separated by a distance of 500 metres
, - one person holds a pair of cymbals and the other holds a timer
- the person starts timing when they see the other person clash the
cymbals together
- the person stops timing when they hear the sound of the cymbals
clashing together
- calculate speed of sound waves by dividing the distance travelled by
the time taken
Problems :
- everyone has a different reaction time
-takes a fraction of a second between seeing the cymbals and starting
the timer
- takes a fraction of a second between hearing the sound and stopping
the timer
REDUCE THIS BY having a large number of observers with timers. Take
all of their results and discard any that are anomalous and then
calculate a mean value
- Time between seeing the cymbals clash and hearing the sound is very
short, making it difficult to press the timer at correct times
- Reduce this problem by increasing the distance between the two
people
• What happens when a wave hits a boundary with a different material
? -✓✓the wave could :
Verified Questions & Answers | Revision
Pack | A+ Verified
• Why does atmospheric pressure decrease with an increase in height?
-✓✓- atmosphere is a thin layer of air around the earth
- atmosphere is usually most dense at the surface of the Earth, there is
a greater number of air molecules in a given volume
- atmosphere gets less dense as you increase with altitude
- pressure of atmosphere is caused by air molecules colliding with a
surface
- as surface increases height above ground level the number of air
molecules above the surface decreases
• Example of transverse waves -✓✓- Ripples on the surface of water
- A wave on a string
• Example of longitudinal waves -✓✓- Sound waves travelling in air
- Shock waves
• All waves transfer ? -✓✓All waves transfer
ENERGY
from one place to another
,• What do ripples transfer? -✓✓kinetic energy
• What do sound waves transfer? -✓✓sound energy
• Transverse wave ? -✓✓- wave where oscillations are perpendicular to
the direction of energy transfer
- not all transverse waves require a medium
• Longitudinal waves ? -✓✓- wave where the oscillations are parallel to
the direction of energy transfer
- they all require a medium to travel in
- has compression (regions where the air particles are close together)
- has rarefactions (regions where the air particles are spaced out)
• For both ripples on a water surface and sound waves in air, what is it
that moves and stays in the same place? -✓✓- the wave travels
- the water / the air stays in the same place
• Amplitude -✓✓- maximum displacement of a point on the wave from
its undisturbed position
,• Wavelength -✓✓- is the distance from point on one wave to the
equivalent point on the adjacent wave
- has the symbol lambda
• How to measure wavelength on a longitudinal wave -✓✓compression
to compression or rarefaction to rarefaction
• Frequency of a wave -✓✓- number of complete waves passing a
certain point each second
- Measured in hertz
- 1 Hz is 1 wave per second
• Period -✓✓- time (s) for one wave to pass a point
period = 1 / frequency
• Wave speed -✓✓- speed at which the wave moves through the
medium
WAVE SPEED measured in m/s
• How do you measure the speed of sound? -✓✓- have two people
separated by a distance of 500 metres
, - one person holds a pair of cymbals and the other holds a timer
- the person starts timing when they see the other person clash the
cymbals together
- the person stops timing when they hear the sound of the cymbals
clashing together
- calculate speed of sound waves by dividing the distance travelled by
the time taken
Problems :
- everyone has a different reaction time
-takes a fraction of a second between seeing the cymbals and starting
the timer
- takes a fraction of a second between hearing the sound and stopping
the timer
REDUCE THIS BY having a large number of observers with timers. Take
all of their results and discard any that are anomalous and then
calculate a mean value
- Time between seeing the cymbals clash and hearing the sound is very
short, making it difficult to press the timer at correct times
- Reduce this problem by increasing the distance between the two
people
• What happens when a wave hits a boundary with a different material
? -✓✓the wave could :
