Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in Physics · 4PH1 · Free · no account needed
Sound Waves — exam questions
11 original Incandio exam-style questions on Sound Waves, 27 marks, about 27 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 Sound Waves — 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
8 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
- State what is meant by (1–2 marks)
- the definition
- Give a reason (1–2 marks)
- one reason
- Describe (2–4 marks)
- developed, linked statements of what happens — including a named direction where one exists
- Calculate (1–5 marks)
- select the equation, substitute, evaluate — and state the unit Misread as: giving a bare number with no equation and no unit
- 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
- Suggest (1–3 marks)
- a plausible answer applying taught physics to an unfamiliar arrangement
- Determine (1–4 marks)
- a value obtained by combining a reading or gradient with a relationship
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 3.24 · 3.23 · 3.25. 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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Two students measured the speed of sound in air. One stood 75 m from a large flat wall and banged two blocks of wood together; the other started a stopwatch on the bang and stopped it on the echo. They repeated the measurement five times.
Table 1 — the students' stopwatch readings Attempt Time from bang to echo / s 1 0.47 2 0.44 3 0.46 4 0.45 5 0.43 (a)
(2)Determine
Determine the mean time from bang to echo, using Table 1.
Two students measured the speed of sound in air. One stood 75 m from a large flat wall and banged two blocks of wood together; the other started a stopwatch on the bang and stopped it on the echo. They repeated the measurement five times.
Table 1 — the students' stopwatch readings Attempt Time from bang to echo / s 1 0.47 2 0.44 3 0.46 4 0.45 5 0.43 mean time = ............................ s
(b)
(3)Calculate
Calculate the speed of sound in air from the students' results.
Two students measured the speed of sound in air. One stood 75 m from a large flat wall and banged two blocks of wood together; the other started a stopwatch on the bang and stopped it on the echo. They repeated the measurement five times.
Table 1 — the students' stopwatch readings Attempt Time from bang to echo / s 1 0.47 2 0.44 3 0.46 4 0.45 5 0.43 speed of sound = ............................ m/s
(c)
(2)Suggest
Suggest two changes that would make the students' value for the speed of sound more reliable.
Two students measured the speed of sound in air. One stood 75 m from a large flat wall and banged two blocks of wood together; the other started a stopwatch on the bang and stopped it on the echo. They repeated the measurement five times.
Table 1 — the students' stopwatch readings Attempt Time from bang to echo / s 1 0.47 2 0.44 3 0.46 4 0.45 5 0.43 (Total for Question 1 = 7 marks)
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(1)Which
Which row gives the approximate range of frequencies a healthy young person can hear?
Range A 2 Hz to 2 000 Hz B 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz C 200 Hz to 200 000 Hz D 20 Hz to 2 000 Hz (Total for Question 2 = 1 mark)
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(1)State what is meant by
State what is meant by an echo.
(Total for Question 3 = 1 mark)
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(2)Give a reason
Give a reason why sound cannot travel through a vacuum.
(Total for Question 4 = 2 marks)
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(3)Describe
Describe how a vibrating loudspeaker cone produces a sound wave in the air in front of it.
Figure 1 — the two ways a wave can vibrate (Total for Question 5 = 3 marks)
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(3)Calculate
A ship sends a sound pulse straight down and detects its reflection from the seabed 0.40 s later. Sound travels at 1500 m/s in sea water. Calculate the depth of the water.
depth of the water = ............................ m
(Total for Question 6 = 3 marks)
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(3)Explain
On a still evening, sound from a distant road can be heard clearly even from behind a hill. Explain how the refraction of sound makes this possible.
Air temperature after sunset — On a clear still evening the ground cools quickly, so the air just above it becomes colder than the air a few hundred metres up. Sound travels more slowly in colder air than in warmer air.
(Total for Question 7 = 3 marks)
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(3)Suggest
Suggest why a bat hunting insects uses ultrasound rather than sound a human could hear.
Echolocation — A bat finds insects by emitting pulses of sound and listening for the reflections. A moth may be only a few millimetres across. A wave is reflected strongly by an object only if the object is larger than about one wavelength; smaller objects let the wave pass round them almost undisturbed.
(Total for Question 8 = 3 marks)
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(4)Explain
Explain why sound travels faster through a solid than through air, and why it cannot travel through a vacuum at all.
(Total for Question 9 = 4 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 Sound Waves to Ember, an AI pupil who does not have it yet and asks the awkward question.
- Defend it — argue it against Robert Boyle over three rounds, marked against descriptors you can read first.
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Back to the lesson
- Sound Waves — What is actually travelling when you hear something, what you can and cannot hear, and how to measure how fast it goes.
- All of Incandio Physics · Incandio Exam Practice