Head to www.savemyexams.

com for more awesome resources

4.1 Properties of Waves

Question Paper

Course Edexcel GCSE Physics

Section 4. Waves
Topic 4.1 Properties of Waves
Difficulty Hard

Time Allowed 40
Score /30
Percentage /100

Page 1 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Question 1a
Figure 1 shows part of a wave.

Figure 1
Use data from Figure 1 to calculate the wavelength of the wave.
[2]
wavelength = .............................................................. cm
[2 marks]

Page 2 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Question 1b
i) Figure 2 shows a student sitting on the shore of a lake watching ripples on the surface of the water moving past a toy
boat.

Figure 2
The student has a stopwatch.
Describe how the student could determine the frequency of the ripples on the lake.
[3]
ii) The speed of a water wave is 1.5 m/s.
The frequency of the wave is 0.70 Hz.
Calculate the wavelength of this wave.
Use the equation
v=f×λ
[2]
wavelength = .............................................................. m
iii) Water waves are transverse waves.
Describe the difference between transverse waves and longitudinal waves.

[2]
[7 marks]

Page 3 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Question 2a
On a beach popular with surfers, one is watching a buoy move up and down with the waves, in Figure 1.

Figure 1
She decides to plot a graph of how the height of the buoy varies with time - this is Figure 2.

Page 4 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Figure 2
Using a stopwatch, she measures the time from the buoy at its highest point to the peak of the 7th and smallest wave.
This takes 24.5 s.
Calculate the frequency of the waves.
Give your answer to 2 significant figures.
[3 marks]

Page 5 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Question 2b
The surfer knows the distance to the buoy from the shore.
Describe a method by which the surfer could determine the speed of the waves accurately.
[3 marks]

Question 2c
The surfer determines that the wave speed is a value between 3.5 m/s and 4.5 m/s.
Calculate the possible range of wavelengths of the waves.
Give your answers to 2 significant figures.

Wavelength is between .............................. m and .............................. m

[3 marks]

Question 2d
Suggest why the surfer could only give a range of values for wave speed.
[1 mark]

Page 6 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Question 3a
Higher Only
Figure 1 shows an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver being used to detect cracks in steel rails. The transmitted and
reflected pulses are shown on an oscilloscope's screen below.
The oscilloscope time base measures 10 microseconds per division on the horizontal axis.

Page 7 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Figure 1

Page 8 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Explain why there are two reflected pulses for transmitter B on the right.
[3 marks]

Question 3b
Higher Only
The speed of the ultrasound wave in steel is 6000 m/s.
Calculate the thickness of the steel in metres.
[5 marks]

Question 3c
Higher Only
Calculate the depth of the crack as a percentage of the thickness of the steel.
[3 marks]

Page 9 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Page 10 of 10

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers