Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in Physics · 4PH1 · Free · no account needed
Electromagnets — exam questions
11 original Incandio exam-style questions on electromagnets, 29 marks, about 29 minutes of writing. Each one carries the command word, the tariff and the specification statement it assesses, exactly as a paper presents them. This is an original Incandio practice question, written to reflect the structure and demands of the qualification. It is not an official Pearson Edexcel past-paper question.
This is the practice set for Electromagnets — the lesson that teaches it. Read the lesson first if the idea is new; come here when you want to find out whether you can turn it into marks. Completely free, no account needed to read.
What these questions ask of you
9 command words run through this set, and on Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Physics each one means something precise. Answering the wrong command is the commonest way a candidate who understands the lesson still loses the mark.
- Which (1 mark)
- one option chosen from the set given
- Name (1 mark)
- the correct quantity, unit or component
- Give (1–2 marks)
- a short factual answer
- Describe (2–4 marks)
- developed, linked statements of what happens — including a named direction where one exists
- Explain (2–4 marks)
- the physics that causes it, set out as a line of reasoning Misread as: describing the change without giving the physical reason for it
- Compare (2–4 marks)
- explicit comparison naming both cases
- Suggest (1–3 marks)
- a plausible answer applying taught physics to an unfamiliar arrangement
- Identify (1–2 marks)
- the correct item selected from what is shown
- Design (4–6 marks)
- a workable method: variables, control, measurement, repeats
Assessed on Paper 1 (4PH1/1P) and Paper 2 (4PH1/2P), against AO1, AO2, AO3.
Where these sit in the specification
Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Physics (4PH1) — statements 6.10 · 6.9 · 6.8. Incandio is aligned to this specification; it is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's wording.
The 11 questions
Answer them on paper, then open the lesson's exam practice to have them marked. The mark scheme, the accepted and rejected answers and the annotated model answer are in Incandio and are not printed here — an answer beside its question is not practice.
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A student built a small electromagnet from a length of insulated wire wound round a nail, connected to a battery through a variable resistor. She measured how many steel pins it could pick up under different conditions, switching off between trials.
Table 1 — pins lifted by the student's electromagnet Turns of wire Current / A Core Pins lifted 20 0.5 iron nail 4 40 0.5 iron nail 9 40 1.0 iron nail 18 40 1.0 none (air) 2 (a)
(1)Identify
Identify the two trials in Table 1 that show the effect of the number of turns.
A student built a small electromagnet from a length of insulated wire wound round a nail, connected to a battery through a variable resistor. She measured how many steel pins it could pick up under different conditions, switching off between trials.
Table 1 — pins lifted by the student's electromagnet Turns of wire Current / A Core Pins lifted 20 0.5 iron nail 4 40 0.5 iron nail 9 40 1.0 iron nail 18 40 1.0 none (air) 2 (b)
(3)Describe
Describe what Table 1 shows about the three factors the student investigated.
A student built a small electromagnet from a length of insulated wire wound round a nail, connected to a battery through a variable resistor. She measured how many steel pins it could pick up under different conditions, switching off between trials.
Table 1 — pins lifted by the student's electromagnet Turns of wire Current / A Core Pins lifted 20 0.5 iron nail 4 40 0.5 iron nail 9 40 1.0 iron nail 18 40 1.0 none (air) 2 (c)
(3)Explain
Explain why the electromagnet still lifted two pins with no core at all.
A student built a small electromagnet from a length of insulated wire wound round a nail, connected to a battery through a variable resistor. She measured how many steel pins it could pick up under different conditions, switching off between trials.
Table 1 — pins lifted by the student's electromagnet Turns of wire Current / A Core Pins lifted 20 0.5 iron nail 4 40 0.5 iron nail 9 40 1.0 iron nail 18 40 1.0 none (air) 2 (Total for Question 1 = 7 marks)
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(1)Which
Which describes the magnetic field around a long straight current-carrying wire?
Field pattern A straight lines parallel to the wire B circles centred on the wire C straight lines pointing away from the wire D no field at all (Total for Question 2 = 1 mark)
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(1)Name
Name the material normally used for the core of an electromagnet.
(Total for Question 3 = 1 mark)
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(2)Give
Give two ways of increasing the strength of an electromagnet.
(Total for Question 4 = 2 marks)
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(3)Describe
Describe the magnetic field pattern of a solenoid carrying a current.
Figure 1 — the field of a solenoid (Total for Question 5 = 3 marks)
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(3)Explain
Explain why an electromagnet used in a scrapyard crane has a soft iron core rather than a steel one.
(Total for Question 6 = 3 marks)
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(3)Compare
Compare an electromagnet with a permanent magnet.
(Total for Question 7 = 3 marks)
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(3)Suggest
Suggest how the relay allows a small switch to control a large current safely.
A relay in a car — A car's headlamps draw 15 A. The switch on the dashboard carries only a small current to a coil wound on a soft iron core. When that coil is energised it attracts a hinged iron arm, and the far end of the arm presses two heavy contacts together. Those contacts are in the circuit that feeds the headlamps directly from the battery.
(Total for Question 8 = 3 marks)
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(6)Design
Design an experiment to find out how the number of turns on a coil affects the strength of the electromagnet it makes.
(Total for Question 9 = 6 marks)
Have them marked, then defend the answer
Practice tells you the mark; teaching it back tells you whether you understand it. On Incandio a topic counts as mastered only once you have taught it and defended it.
- Mark these questions — 11 questions, marked on Incandio against the authored scheme, with the mistake you actually made named.
- Teach it — explain electromagnets to Ember, an AI pupil who does not have it yet and asks the awkward question.
- Defend it — argue it against Hans Christian Ørsted over three rounds, marked against descriptors you can read first.
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Back to the lesson
- Electromagnets — The four pages of Latin that showed a current makes a field — and why that field goes round the wire rather than along it.
- All of Incandio Physics · Incandio Exam Practice