Physics A2 Paper 5 Notes
20/02/2020
Patapee Lohprasert ()
Mechanical Engineering Department, Imperial College London
,Introduction
The first thing that came to my mind after starting my A2 Physics was “why does the
practical paper looks so much harder than in AS?” If you have never done a single paper 5
then you’d likely be bombarded by cluelessness for question 1 and find it extremely hard. If
you have a lot of time then a great way to study for this paper is to keep practising, there is
only a certain amount of topics in A2 and there are so many past papers, by doing many of
them, you will be able to notice the trends for different topics asked.
However, if you don’t have much time or rather spend time on other things, this is
where this note excels at. The bread and butter of this note is the first part, you will be
guided through the different grading criteria and the amount marks for it. On top of that,
there will be a condensed list of crucial things to consider for different topics highlighted in
bold. The second part is a mark scheme question and answer for all the past papers (which
were sorted into topics) along with my personal insights highlighted in brown and an
example diagram I personally drew for every question.
Do note that the hardest part about this paper is the first question and this will be
where most of this note focuses on. Question 2 is very similar to the Paper 3 you did in AS
but rather than gathering the data and analysing, the data will be given to you and you just
need to analyse it. (There will still be a section on this.)
Brief Content
Question 1 Outline …………………………………………………………………………………………………………....... 1
Question 1 Categorised Questions & Mark schemes ………………………………….…………….......... 9
Question 2 Guidelines ……………………………………………………………………………................................... 86
, Question 1 Outline
1 Defining the problem [2 Marks]
● Independent Variable (what we change)
● Dependent Variable (the effect)
● Controlled Variable (what we do not change)
2 Methods of data collection [4 Marks]
This section may contain points from ‘additional details’ part
● Labelled Diagram (Always)
● Method to measure constants // variables (Always)
○ Distance in cm/m: Meter rule / Vernier calliper
○ Angle: Protractor, Trigonometry by measuring distance tan 𝜃𝜃 =
𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 ℎ
=
𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑙𝑙
○ Diameter/ Thickness: Micrometer
○ Time: Stopwatch, Light gate attached to a timer / Data-logger (to measure period
of rotation of turntable)
○ Velocity at a point: Light gates
○ Mass: Balance
○ Sound: Microphone, Sound meter, Sound detector.
○ Pressure: Bourdon gauge / Manometer or Pressure gauge
○ Temperature: Thermometer
○ Wavelength (Light): Diffraction grating (𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 = 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑)/Young’s slit (𝜆𝜆 = )
𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎
𝐷𝐷
○ Light Intensity: Light meter / Detector, LDR
○ Power: Ammeter, Voltmeter (𝑃𝑃 = 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼)
○ Force: Newton-meter, Extension of stretched elastic/spring
○ Magnetic Field Strength: Hall probe
• Other specific methods depending on the experiment:
Experiment that is related to generation of vibration:
Notes made by Patapee Lohprasert 1
, o Voltmeter/Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (c.r.o) connected in parallel with vibrator
in a workable circuit.
o Alternating current (AC) supply connected to vibrator
o Wait for vibrator to oscillate evenly (additional detail)
Experiment that involves oscillations:
o Use fiducial mark (mark a point to start counting +start timing, 1 oscillation when
it passes the mark; pendulum passes twice in 1 complete oscillation)
Or Light gates (place it perpendicular to the motion, 1 oscillation for each time
the circular motion cuts through the light gate)
Experiment that involves sound:
o Perform experiment in quiet room
o Method of ensuring that output from speaker is constant (Keep the frequency
constant).
o Method of reducing sound reflections from e.g. foam/speaker & microphone
close to glass.
o Window perpendicular to sound source.
o Intensity is proportional to the amplitude squared
Experiment that involves the use of wind:
o Method of producing wind e.g. Fan, wind tunnel
o Method to change wind speed e.g. Change settings // power // voltage
o Method to measure wind speed e.g. Wind indicator/detector , anemometer
o Keep windows shut // air conditioning switched off // use of wind tunnel to avoid
draughts.
Experiment that is related to resistivity:
o Method of determining resistance.
o Good contact between circuit and glass e.g. metal plates, foil, conducting putty.
o Metal plates/foil/conducting putty to cover all of the cross-sectional area in use.
o Method of securing good contact between circuit and glass, e.g. g clamps,
weights. Clean/dry the glass.
Notes made by Patapee Lohprasert 2
, 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 (𝜌𝜌)∙𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿ℎ (𝑙𝑙)
o 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 (𝑅𝑅) =
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 (𝐴𝐴)
Experiment that involves the use of light:
o Use high intensity lamp // collimated beam // laser
o View with the same eye.
o Perform experiment in a dark room/tube
o Direction of light is perpendicular to glass sheets/constant orientation.
o Method to check output of lamp is constant e.g. measure current through //p.d.
across lamp // regularly check V0 with no glass.
o Method of producing monochromatic light e.g. filter/coloured LED.
Experiment that involves circuits underwater:
o ensure that the electrical connections/wire to the LDR are waterproof
Experiment that involves circuits:
o Add variable resistor if you need to adjust the output power (e.g. to change the
frequency of motor)
Experiment that involve the use falling objects:
o Keep starting point constant/drop object from same position/ use of
electromagnet to drop object/ ensure mass is dropped from fixed point/ check
object falls vertically
Experiment that induces e.m.f in a coil:
o Two independent coils labelled X and Y.
o Alternating current in coil X
o Voltmeter in coil Y
o Use c.r.o. to determine period/frequency or read off signal generator.
o Keep coil Y and coil X in the same relative positions.
o Keep frequency of power supply constant.
o Avoid other alternating magnetic fields.
Notes made by Patapee Lohprasert 3
20/02/2020
Patapee Lohprasert ()
Mechanical Engineering Department, Imperial College London
,Introduction
The first thing that came to my mind after starting my A2 Physics was “why does the
practical paper looks so much harder than in AS?” If you have never done a single paper 5
then you’d likely be bombarded by cluelessness for question 1 and find it extremely hard. If
you have a lot of time then a great way to study for this paper is to keep practising, there is
only a certain amount of topics in A2 and there are so many past papers, by doing many of
them, you will be able to notice the trends for different topics asked.
However, if you don’t have much time or rather spend time on other things, this is
where this note excels at. The bread and butter of this note is the first part, you will be
guided through the different grading criteria and the amount marks for it. On top of that,
there will be a condensed list of crucial things to consider for different topics highlighted in
bold. The second part is a mark scheme question and answer for all the past papers (which
were sorted into topics) along with my personal insights highlighted in brown and an
example diagram I personally drew for every question.
Do note that the hardest part about this paper is the first question and this will be
where most of this note focuses on. Question 2 is very similar to the Paper 3 you did in AS
but rather than gathering the data and analysing, the data will be given to you and you just
need to analyse it. (There will still be a section on this.)
Brief Content
Question 1 Outline …………………………………………………………………………………………………………....... 1
Question 1 Categorised Questions & Mark schemes ………………………………….…………….......... 9
Question 2 Guidelines ……………………………………………………………………………................................... 86
, Question 1 Outline
1 Defining the problem [2 Marks]
● Independent Variable (what we change)
● Dependent Variable (the effect)
● Controlled Variable (what we do not change)
2 Methods of data collection [4 Marks]
This section may contain points from ‘additional details’ part
● Labelled Diagram (Always)
● Method to measure constants // variables (Always)
○ Distance in cm/m: Meter rule / Vernier calliper
○ Angle: Protractor, Trigonometry by measuring distance tan 𝜃𝜃 =
𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 ℎ
=
𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑙𝑙
○ Diameter/ Thickness: Micrometer
○ Time: Stopwatch, Light gate attached to a timer / Data-logger (to measure period
of rotation of turntable)
○ Velocity at a point: Light gates
○ Mass: Balance
○ Sound: Microphone, Sound meter, Sound detector.
○ Pressure: Bourdon gauge / Manometer or Pressure gauge
○ Temperature: Thermometer
○ Wavelength (Light): Diffraction grating (𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 = 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑)/Young’s slit (𝜆𝜆 = )
𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎
𝐷𝐷
○ Light Intensity: Light meter / Detector, LDR
○ Power: Ammeter, Voltmeter (𝑃𝑃 = 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼)
○ Force: Newton-meter, Extension of stretched elastic/spring
○ Magnetic Field Strength: Hall probe
• Other specific methods depending on the experiment:
Experiment that is related to generation of vibration:
Notes made by Patapee Lohprasert 1
, o Voltmeter/Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (c.r.o) connected in parallel with vibrator
in a workable circuit.
o Alternating current (AC) supply connected to vibrator
o Wait for vibrator to oscillate evenly (additional detail)
Experiment that involves oscillations:
o Use fiducial mark (mark a point to start counting +start timing, 1 oscillation when
it passes the mark; pendulum passes twice in 1 complete oscillation)
Or Light gates (place it perpendicular to the motion, 1 oscillation for each time
the circular motion cuts through the light gate)
Experiment that involves sound:
o Perform experiment in quiet room
o Method of ensuring that output from speaker is constant (Keep the frequency
constant).
o Method of reducing sound reflections from e.g. foam/speaker & microphone
close to glass.
o Window perpendicular to sound source.
o Intensity is proportional to the amplitude squared
Experiment that involves the use of wind:
o Method of producing wind e.g. Fan, wind tunnel
o Method to change wind speed e.g. Change settings // power // voltage
o Method to measure wind speed e.g. Wind indicator/detector , anemometer
o Keep windows shut // air conditioning switched off // use of wind tunnel to avoid
draughts.
Experiment that is related to resistivity:
o Method of determining resistance.
o Good contact between circuit and glass e.g. metal plates, foil, conducting putty.
o Metal plates/foil/conducting putty to cover all of the cross-sectional area in use.
o Method of securing good contact between circuit and glass, e.g. g clamps,
weights. Clean/dry the glass.
Notes made by Patapee Lohprasert 2
, 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 (𝜌𝜌)∙𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿ℎ (𝑙𝑙)
o 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 (𝑅𝑅) =
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 (𝐴𝐴)
Experiment that involves the use of light:
o Use high intensity lamp // collimated beam // laser
o View with the same eye.
o Perform experiment in a dark room/tube
o Direction of light is perpendicular to glass sheets/constant orientation.
o Method to check output of lamp is constant e.g. measure current through //p.d.
across lamp // regularly check V0 with no glass.
o Method of producing monochromatic light e.g. filter/coloured LED.
Experiment that involves circuits underwater:
o ensure that the electrical connections/wire to the LDR are waterproof
Experiment that involves circuits:
o Add variable resistor if you need to adjust the output power (e.g. to change the
frequency of motor)
Experiment that involve the use falling objects:
o Keep starting point constant/drop object from same position/ use of
electromagnet to drop object/ ensure mass is dropped from fixed point/ check
object falls vertically
Experiment that induces e.m.f in a coil:
o Two independent coils labelled X and Y.
o Alternating current in coil X
o Voltmeter in coil Y
o Use c.r.o. to determine period/frequency or read off signal generator.
o Keep coil Y and coil X in the same relative positions.
o Keep frequency of power supply constant.
o Avoid other alternating magnetic fields.
Notes made by Patapee Lohprasert 3
