Waves — IGCSE Physics (0972) questions by topic

A water wave has a speed of 2.0 m/s. 4.0 complete waves pass a point every 10 seconds. What is the wavelength of the wave? A 0.50 m B 0.80 m C 5.0 m D 8.0 m

Which row correctly describes the vibrations of a transverse wave and also gives a correct example of a transverse wave? description of vibrations example of a transverse wave ---…

The diagram shows a view from above of waves on the surface of a pond after the water has been disturbed at point P. Concentric circular ripples spread out from P. Label X points…

The diagram shows the image of a clock as seen by a person standing in front of a plane mirror. (The clock face is shown as a left-right reversed mirror image.) What is the actual…

The diagram shows a ray of light incident on the surface of a glass block. A dashed normal is drawn at the point of incidence. Angle 1 is between the incident ray and the normal;…

The amplitude and the frequency of a sound wave both increase. What happens to the loudness and what happens to the pitch of the sound? loudness pitch --- ---------- ------- A…

Which statements about sound and ultrasound are correct? sound ultrasound --- ------- ------------ A humans can hear frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 000 Hz the speed in air is…

Twelve crests of a water wave pass a boat anchored at sea in a time of 180 s. The distance between consecutive crests of the wave is 10 m. What is the speed of the wave? A 0.056 m…

The diagrams show examples of wave motion. Diagram 1 (waves on water): concentric circular ripples spreading out in a ripple tank. Diagram 2 (waves in air): a drum being struck,…

A ray of light passes through a glass block. The diagram shows a ray of light incident on the top surface of a rectangular glass block (air above, glass below), striking the…

The diagram shows a converging lens forming an image. An object stands upright a distance of 24 cm to the left of the lens. Rays from the top of the object pass through the…

Which type of radiation does a remote controller use to send its instructions to a television (TV)? A gamma rays B infrared radiation C ultraviolet radiation D X-rays

A person exposed to excessive radiation from certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum is likely to suffer cell damage. Which radiations cause cell damage? A gamma rays and…

The diagram shows the ranges of human hearing and of ultrasound waves. A horizontal logarithmic scale runs from 0 through 10^1, 10^2, 10^3, 10^4, 10^5 to 10^6. The 'range of human…

The diagram shows a cork with a weight attached so that the cork floats upright in water. Transverse waves travel across the water from X to Y. In which direction do the waves…

A thin converging lens is used as a magnifying glass. How does the image compare with the object? A real and inverted B real and upright C virtual and inverted D virtual and…

The diagram shows two plane mirrors at 90 deg to each other. A ray of light is incident on one of the mirrors. The ray reflects off both mirrors before reaching a screen. The…

The speed of light in a material is 50% of the speed of light in air. What is the refractive index of the material? A 0.5 B 2.0 C 6.0 x 10^8 D 1.5 x 10^8

A beam of white light is split into a spectrum of seven colours. Which name is given to this process? A diffraction B dispersion C reflection D refraction

Satellites are sometimes used to receive and re-transmit television signals. Which row shows the type of satellite and the electromagnetic waves used? type of satellite…

A sound wave travels through the air and strikes a solid block of steel. Some of the sound is reflected from the steel, and some is transmitted through the steel. How does the…

Which wave will diffract the most when passing through a gap that is 0.85 m wide? wave speed / (m/s) wave frequency / Hz --- -------------------- --------------------- A 300 280 B…

The diagram shows a transverse wave drawn as displacement against distance. Four labelled arrows are shown: A is a vertical double-headed arrow from a crest down to a trough (full…

Which row describes a seismic S-wave? type of wave direction of vibration --- -------------- ------------------------ A longitudinal parallel to the direction of travel of the…

The image of an object is formed by a plane mirror. Which row gives the correct properties of the image? real or virtual distance of the image from the mirror ---…

A ray of light, travelling in air, is incident on an air-glass boundary. The angles between the incident ray, the refracted ray and the boundary are shown. The incident ray (in…

A small object O is placed near a converging lens, as shown. The lens forms an image I. The ray diagram shows object O close to the lens (between the lens and its principal…

What is the approximate speed of light in air? A 300 m/s B 300 km/s C 3.0 x 10^8 m/s D 3.0 x 10^8 km/s

A ship sends an ultrasound pulse to the seabed to measure the depth of the sea. The speed of ultrasound waves in sea water is 1500 m/s. The pulse takes 4.6 seconds to travel to…

A dolphin has a range of audible frequencies of 150 Hz - 150 kHz. Which range of frequencies can be heard both by humans with good hearing and by dolphins? A 20 Hz - 150 Hz B 20…

Fig. 6.1 represents a ray of red light travelling into and through a glass block. The ray of red light enters the curved face of a semicircular glass block, travels to point P on…

A transverse wave passes through a medium. Fig. 7.1 shows the displacement of particles in the medium. The graph has displacement/cm on the vertical axis (from -1.0 to 1.0) and…

A teacher produces a water wave in a ripple tank. The wavelength of the water wave is 1.2 cm. The speed of the water wave is 18 cm/s. Calculate the frequency of the water wave.

Place ticks (✓) in Table 7.1 to show the properties of sound waves and of microwaves. Table 7.1 property sound waves microwaves --- --- --- longitudinal transverse electromagnetic…

A ray of light is incident on a soap film. Fig. 5.1 shows a magnified image of a small part of the soap film. The ray of light is refracted as it enters the soap film. The…

Fig. 6.1 is a full-size diagram of a converging lens and an image I of an object. The image I is drawn as an upward arrow standing on the principal axis to the left of the lens.…

In this experiment, you will investigate the position of the image in a plane mirror. Use the ray-trace sheet supplied, referring to Fig. 3.1 for guidance. - Draw a line 10.0 cm…

A student investigates reflections in a plane mirror. A ray-trace sheet is shown in Fig. 3.1. - Draw a normal to the line MR that passes through the centre of MR. Label the normal…

A student investigates the image formed by a converging lens. Refer to Fig. 3.1. The student: - switches on the lamp - places the screen a distance D = 80.0 cm from the…

The diagram represents a wave with distances x (horizontal, one full wavelength) and y (vertical, full peak-to-trough height) marked. Which row gives the wavelength and the…

Which row describes a seismic P-wave? A type: longitudinal; vibration: parallel to the direction of propagation B type: longitudinal; vibration: perpendicular to the direction of…

Which diagram shows waves diffracting? A, B, C, D show wavefronts interacting with barriers/gaps in different ways

The diagram shows a ray of light in glass incident on the surface between the glass and air. What happens if the angle of incidence is made larger than the critical angle for the…

Red light of frequency 430 × 10¹² Hz has a wavelength of 700 × 10⁻⁹ m. What is possible for blue light? (Blue light has higher frequency and shorter wavelength than red.) A a…

Infrared is a useful type of electromagnetic radiation. However, excessive exposure to infrared can cause harmful effects. Which row gives a use and a harmful effect for infrared?…

The table shows data for the hearing ranges of different animals. animal hearing range / Hz --- --- turtle 20–1000 mouse 1000–1 000 000 moth 20 000–300 000 elephant 16–12 000…

Which description of ultrasound is correct? A longitudinal waves with a frequency greater than 20 000 Hz B longitudinal waves with a frequency less than 20 Hz C transverse waves…

The radius of a circular pond is 3.0 m. Circular waves are made at the centre of the pond. There are 10 whole waves between the centre and the edge of the pond and it takes 5.0 s…

How does the direction of vibration of a longitudinal wave compare to its direction of propagation and which wave example is longitudinal? A vibration: at right angles; example:…

The diagram shows a ray of light reflecting from a mirror. Angle x is between the incident ray and the normal Z, angle y is between the reflected ray and the normal. Which row…

A converging lens forms an image of an object placed in front of it (beyond 2F). The diagram shows the object, the focal points F, and the image. What are the characteristics of…

White light can be split into different colours by passing it through a prism. What is the name of this process? A diffraction B dispersion C reflection D refraction

Excessive exposure to some regions of the electromagnetic spectrum can cause harmful effects to people. Which regions cause mutation of cells in the body, skin burns and internal…

A pulse of sound is produced at the bottom of a boat. The sound travels through the water and is reflected from a shoal of fish. The sound reaches the boat again 1.2 s after it is…

The frequency of a sound wave increases from 31 000 Hz to 32 000 Hz. What is the nature of the wave and how does it sound to a human with normal hearing? A It is a longitudinal…

Which statement about waves is correct? A Waves do not transfer either energy or matter. B Waves transfer both energy and matter. C Waves transfer energy without transferring…

The angle of incidence of a ray of light incident on a plane mirror is gradually increased. To the nearest degree, what is the maximum possible angle between the incident and…

Which conditions are necessary for light to be totally internally reflected? A incident light is in the less dense medium; angle of incidence less than the critical angle B…

The diagram shows a ray of light passing from air into a transparent substance. The angle of incidence in air is 40.0° and the angle of refraction in the substance is 30.0°. What…

The diagram shows a ray of light in an optical fibre. Which statement correctly explains the condition for the maximum transmission of light by the optical fibre? A The glass must…

Which region of the electromagnetic spectrum is used for detecting fake bank notes? A radio B microwaves C ultraviolet D X-rays

A sound wave travels at 330 m/s. The distance between the centre of a compression and the centre of the nearest rarefaction in the sound wave is 2.5 cm. What is the frequency of…

Which waves are used in the medical scanning of soft tissue? A gamma rays B infrared C microwaves D ultrasound

In which type of wave is the direction of vibration parallel to the direction of travel? A electromagnetic waves B seismic P-waves C seismic S-waves D water waves

Waves in a ripple tank are diffracted as they pass through a narrow gap. What can be done to make the spreading due to diffraction greater? A Decrease the frequency of the waves…

Diagram 1 shows the page of a book in front of a plane mirror, with an eye looking at the image of the page. Diagram 2 shows a large letter G on the page facing the mirror. What…

The diagram shows a ray of light passing from air into diamond. The angle between the incident ray and the surface is 60° (so 30° from the normal in air) and the refracted ray is…

The ray diagrams show the formation of an image by two different converging lenses (diagram 1 and diagram 2). Which row describes the images produced? A diagram 1: real; diagram…

White light enters a glass prism. The light leaving the other side of the prism is separated into colours (colour 1 and colour 2). Two possible paths are shown (diagram 1 and…

Thermal radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. What is the name of this region of the spectrum? A gamma rays B infrared C ultraviolet D visible light

A remote-controlled vehicle is travelling on the surface of a planet. The vehicle senses an obstacle ahead and sends a radio message to the control room, which is 2.4 × 10⁶ km…

Fig. 7.1 shows a ray of light striking a plane mirror. The ray is reflected as shown. The angle of incidence for the ray of light is 40°. Indicate the angle of reflection by…

A student studies different types of wave. She studies waves on the surface of water in a ripple tank. The frequency of the waves is 4.0 Hz. The wavelength of the waves is 5.0 cm.…

The lens in a magnifying glass is a converging lens. Fig. 4.1 shows the lens, its two focal points F1 and F2, and its principal axis. State what is meant by 'focal point'.

Describe how a longitudinal wave differs from a transverse wave.

Fig. 5.1 shows a ray of yellow light incident on a glass prism ABC. The ray enters the prism at face AB. [Diagram: triangular glass prism ABC with vertex B at top, A at…

A sound wave travels through air. Fig. 6.1 shows a pressure–time graph for the air at one place. [Diagram: pressure–time graph showing a sinusoidal wave oscillating about the…

In this experiment, you will investigate the image produced by a lens. Fig. 3.2 shows the illuminated object provided. [Diagram: illuminated object with a triangular arrow shape…

A student investigates the image produced by a lens. Fig. 3.2 shows the height h₀ of the illuminated object (a triangular arrow shape). On Fig. 3.2, measure h₀.

A student investigates the passage of light through a rectangular glass block ABCD. Fig. 3.1 shows the ray-trace sheet. A ray of light EF enters the glass block at point E on face…

Waves travel across the surface of water. What is meant by the amplitude of the wave? A the maximum distance of a water particle from its mean position B how far the wave travels…

Water waves change direction when they move from shallow water to deep water. The diagram shows the original wave direction and the new wave direction after the boundary. What is…

The ray diagram shows the formation of an image when light is reflected by a plane mirror. The diagram has lines labelled X (from image to mirror), Y (from object to mirror), and…

Which diagram shows how an image of an object is formed on a screen by a converging lens? Four diagrams A–D show different ray configurations with objects placed at different…

Which diagram shows the dispersion of white light by a glass prism? The diagrams show different arrangements of red and violet light exiting a prism. A white light enters, red…

Which regions of the electromagnetic spectrum are used for satellite television and for security marking? satellite television security marking --- --- --- A microwaves infrared B…

The horn on a ship makes a sound. The captain on the ship hears an echo from a cliff 4.0 s later. The speed of sound is 340 m/s. How far away is the cliff from the ship? A 170 m B…

Water waves are reflected at a plane surface. Which property of the waves is changed by the reflection? A direction of propagation B frequency C speed D wavelength

A light ray is passed through air, glass and water. At W (air–glass boundary) the angle in air is 45° and in glass is 28°. At X the ray exits the glass. At Y (glass–water…

Plane water waves approach a narrow gap in a barrier. Which diagram shows the diffraction pattern that would occur? A waves pass through as flat plane waves with slight bending at…

A ray of light enters a transparent plastic wedge from air and is incident on the lower surface at the critical angle. The angle of incidence is i, the angle of refraction is r,…

An object is placed 20 cm in front of a thin converging lens. A scale diagram shows the lens forms a real, inverted image. The scale indicates 5.0 cm between markings. Which row…

Radio waves are electromagnetic waves. What is the wavelength of a radio wave of frequency 2.0 × 10⁵ Hz? A 0.00067 m B 0.0015 m C 670 m D 1500 m

A candle flame is placed in front of a loudspeaker. The loudspeaker produces a sound wave that causes air particles to vibrate. The vibrating air particles make the candle flame…

Some students are on a beach near some rocky cliffs. They watch a firework display on a boat at sea. One of the fireworks bursts and makes a loud sound. The students hear a loud…

A student demonstrates three different processes that change the direction of water waves in a ripple tank. Fig. 7.1, Fig. 7.2 and Fig. 7.3 illustrate the three processes. State…

Fig. 8.1 shows a ray diagram for a thin converging lens. The lens forms an image of the object. The object is positioned 30 cm from the centre of the lens. The diagram shows the…

A loudspeaker produces a sound wave in air. The distance between the centre of a compression and the centre of a neighbouring rarefaction is 0.10 m. Calculate the wavelength of…

A student investigates the image produced by a lens. Fig. 3.2 shows the illuminated object (a triangle shape). On Fig. 3.2, measure the height hO of the illuminated object.

The diagrams show graphs of displacement against time for four waves. All the graphs are drawn to the same scale. Which wave has the largest amplitude and the highest frequency? A…

A student draws a diagram to show the directions of a light ray reflecting off a plane mirror. Three lines are labelled 1, 2 and 3 above the mirror. What are the correct terms for…

An object O is placed at point P near to a thin converging lens. The diagram shows three rays from the top of O passing through the lens. Each point F is one focal length from the…

Which diagram shows the dispersion of white light by a glass prism? The correct diagram shows white light entering a prism and emerging split into colours with red deviated least…

Which statement is correct? A A remote controller emits microwave radiation. B A remote controller emits infrared radiation. C A remote controller emits ultrasound. D A remote…

Student X fires a starting pistol which produces smoke and sound. Student Y is standing 100 m away and sees the smoke the instant it is produced. The speed of sound in air is 340…

The diagram shows a wave with various distances marked: 8 cm, 3 cm, 6 cm, 4 cm. What are the amplitude and the wavelength of this wave? A amplitude 3 cm, wavelength 4 cm B…

A light ray strikes a plane mirror and is reflected. Which angle is always equal in size to the angle of reflection? A the angle between the incident ray and the mirror B the…

The diagram shows two diverging rays of light passing through a thin lens and emerging parallel to each other. Distances A, B, C and D are marked. Which labelled distance is the…

A beam of light consists of yellow and blue light. The beam of light is incident on a glass prism. Which diagram is correct? (Blue is refracted more than yellow.) A yellow then…

The two devices shown use different types of electromagnetic waves: a medical scanning device and a remote controller. Which types of waves are used in these devices? A medical…

A boy shouts and hears the echo from a tall building 2.2 s later. The speed of sound in air is 330 m/s. How far away from the boy is the building? A 150 m B 300 m C 360 m D 730 m

The diagrams show graphs of displacement against time for four waves. All the graphs are drawn to the same scale. Which wave has the largest amplitude and the highest frequency? A…

The diagram shows a ray of light entering a glass block. The ray makes an angle of 50° with the air-glass surface and refracts to 25° from the normal in the glass. Which…

An object O is placed at point P near to a thin converging lens. The diagram shows three rays from the top of O passing through the lens. Each point F is one focal length from the…

Which diagram shows the dispersion of white light by a glass prism? (The correct one has white light split so that red is deviated least and violet most.) A, B, C, D show prisms…

Visible light has wavelengths in the range 4.0 × 10⁻⁷ m to 7.0 × 10⁻⁷ m. What is the range of the frequencies of visible light? A 0.12 Hz to 0.21 Hz B 120 Hz to 210 Hz C 4.3 ×…

Student X fires a starting pistol which produces smoke and sound. Student Y is standing 100 m away and sees the smoke the instant it is produced. The speed of sound in air is 340…

The diagram shows a wave with distances marked: 8 cm, 3 cm, 6 cm, 4 cm. What are the amplitude and the wavelength of this wave? A amplitude 3 cm, wavelength 4 cm B amplitude 3 cm,…

Optical fibres are used to transmit digital signals using infrared radiation. The average refractive index of the fibres is 1.50. Which row describes a digital signal and gives…

Which statement describes monochromatic light? A light of a single frequency B light transmitted by a transparent prism C visible light D white light

A beam of light consists of yellow and blue light. The beam of light is incident on a glass prism. Which diagram is correct? (Blue is refracted more than yellow.) A, B, C, D show…

A radio station broadcasts a signal with a frequency of 89 MHz. What is the wavelength of this signal? A 3.7 m B 3.4 m C 3.7 km D 3.4 Mm

A boy shouts and hears the echo from a tall building 2.2 s later. The speed of sound in air is 330 m/s. How far away from the boy is the building? A 150 m B 300 m C 360 m D 730 m

A student observes waves on the surface of water in a tank. The waves all have the same wavelength. The student measures the wavelength of the waves by measuring the distance…

Fig. 7.1 represents two rays of light striking a thin converging lens. The rays are both parallel to the principal axis. F2 and F1 are the focal points of the lens (F2 on the…

An observer stands at P and looks into a rock quarry. A small explosion takes place at X in the quarry. The observer first hears the sound from the explosion 1.8 s after the…

Fig. 6.1 shows light waves (wavefronts) passing from air into a glass block. State the name of the process shown in Fig. 6.1 as the wavefronts enter the glass block.

Fig. 5.1 shows a block ABCD made of glass that has a refractive index of 1.5. The block has one curved side AB and three straight sides BC, CD and DA, with right angles at C and…

A mobile phone (cell phone) network uses microwaves of frequency 1.9 × 10⁹ Hz to transmit and receive signals. The speed of microwaves in air is 3.0 × 10⁸ m/s. Calculate the…

Two types of seismic waves are P-waves and S-waves. State the types of wave that P-waves and S-waves can be modelled as.

Fig. 7.1 shows a container of oil. A ray of light shines on the surface of the oil. The refractive index of the oil is 1.47. On Fig. 7.1, draw the normal at the point where the…

A student investigates the refraction of light using a semicircular transparent block. Fig. 3.1 and Fig. 3.2 show his ray-trace sheet, with the block (straight side AB on line…

A student investigates the refraction of light using a semicircular transparent block. Fig. 3.1 shows her ray-trace sheet, with the block (straight side AB on line PQ), the eye…

Which statements about waves are correct? 1 Only longitudinal waves can undergo diffraction. 2 All waves can undergo refraction. 3 All waves can undergo reflection. A 1, 2 and 3 B…

Which quantities relating to a wave on the surface of water can both be measured in metres? A amplitude and frequency B amplitude and wavelength C amplitude and wave speed D…

Which diagram correctly shows the dispersion of white light through a glass prism? (Blue light is refracted more than red light.) A, B, C, D show prisms dispersing white light…

A ray of light is reflected by a plane mirror. Four angles P, Q, R, S are marked around the incident and reflected rays and the mirror. Which row shows the angle of incidence and…

A thin converging lens is used to produce a real image of an object. Which statement about the real image is always correct? A It is nearer to the lens than the object. B It is on…

Where do all types of electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed? A air B a vacuum C glass D water

Dogs can hear sounds in the range from 100 Hz to 45 kHz. Which statement is correct? A Any sound a dog can hear can also be heard by a human. B Any sound a human can hear can also…

Two men, P and Q, stand close to a gap in a wall, as shown. Man P cannot see man Q but man P can hear man Q speaking. Which statement explains this? A Light waves do not diffract…

Which quantities relating to a wave on the surface of water can both be measured in metres? A amplitude and frequency B amplitude and wavelength C amplitude and wave speed D…

The diagram shows part of a ray diagram that demonstrates the formation of a virtual image Y of object X by a converging lens. One ray of light from X is shown approaching the…

A ray of light is reflected by a plane mirror. Four angles P, Q, R, S are marked around the incident and reflected rays and the mirror. Which row shows the angle of incidence and…

A thin converging lens is used to produce a real image of an object. Which statement about the real image is always correct? A It is nearer to the lens than the object. B It is on…

A radio transmitter broadcasts at a frequency of 200 kHz. What is the wavelength of these radio waves? A 6.7 × 10⁻⁴ m B 1.5 m C 1.5 × 10³ m D 1.5 × 10⁶ m

The element mercury exists as a solid, a liquid or a gas. Which row gives a possible set of values of the speeds of sound through mercury? (Sound travels fastest in solids,…

Fig. 4.1 represents a wave on the surface of water (displacement/cm vs time/s), oscillating between +15 cm and −15 cm with a period of 2.0 s. Determine the amplitude of the wave…

Fig. 5.1 shows the main regions of the electromagnetic spectrum in order of increasing frequency: radio waves, ?, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, ?, gamma rays. Two of the…

Fig. 7.1 shows a ray diagram for an object positioned on the principal axis of a thin converging lens. F1 and F2 are the focal points and C is the centre of the lens. Each small…

A page of printed text is placed 18 cm from a converging lens of focal length 35 cm. Fig. 6.1 is a scale diagram with each principal focus labelled F. A length of 1.0 cm on the…

A student investigates the magnification of the image produced by a lens. Fig. 3.1 shows the set-up (illuminated object, lens at distance u, screen at distance v). Fig. 3.2 shows…