MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

FIJI YEAR 12 CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION 2018

PHYSICS

Time Allowed: 3 hours

(An extra 10 minutes is allowed for reading this paper.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Write your Index Number on the front page and inside the back flap of the Answer
Booklet.

2. Write all your answers in the Answer Booklet provided.

3. If you use extra sheets of paper, be sure to show clearly the question number(s) being
answered and to tie each sheet in your Answer Booklet at the appropriate places.
Ensure that your Index Number is written on the extra sheets.

4. Answer all the questions with a blue or black ballpoint pen or ink pen. Do not use red
ink. You may use a pencil only for drawing.

5. You may use a calculator, provided it is silent, battery-operated and non-programmable.

6. There are two sections in this paper. Both sections are compulsory.

Note:
 Physics Formulae and Constants which may be useful during the examination are
given on page 2 of this Question Paper.
 Diagrams in this paper are not drawn to scale.

SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS

TOTAL SUGGESTED
SECTION GUIDELINES
MARK TIME
There are twenty multiple-choice questions.
A All the questions are compulsory. 20 36 minutes

There are eight questions.

B All the questions are compulsory. 80 144 minutes

TOTAL 100 180 minutes

COPYRIGHT: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FIJI, 2018.

 2.
Year 12 Physics Formulae & Constants
Mechanics Fluids and Statics Electromagnetism Current Electricity
d P1 V1 P2 V2 1. F  BI q
1. s  1.  1. I 
t T1 T2 2. V  Bv t

2. v f  v i  at 2. ρ 
m 3. F  Bvq 2. V 
W
q
V VP N P I S
3. v f2  v i2  2as F
4.  
3. R T series  R 1  R 2  R 3  ...
VS N S I P
1 2 3. P 
4. s  v i t  at A 1 1 1 1
2 4. P  ρgh Atomic Physics 4.     ...
R T parallel R1 R 2 R 3
5. τ  F x d 1. E k  hf   5. V  IR
6. p  mv Light and Wave
1. v  f λ 2.   h f0 6. P  VI  I 2 R 
V2
7. Impulse  F . Δt  m . Δv R
sin θ1 v1 λ1 n 2
8. F 
Gm1 m 2 2.   
r2 sin θ 2 v 2 λ 2 n 1
1 1 dx Constants
9. T  , f  3. pd  dsinθ   nλ Gravity, g = 10 ms-2
f T L
2πr Electronic charge, e = 1.6  10-19 C
10. v  Energy
t Electron mass, me = 9.1  10-31 kg
(a) W  Fd
mv 2
11. Fc  W Speed of light, c = 3.0  108 ms-1
r (b) P 
v2
t
12. a c  1 Mass of proton, mp = 1.67  10-27 kg
r (c) E K  mv 2
2 Coulomb’s Law constant, k = 9.0  109 Nm2C-2
Electrostatics (d) E P  mgh
kq 1q 2 Gravitational Constant, G = 6.67  10-11 Nm2kg-2
1. F  1
r2 (e) E p (elastic)  kx 2
2 Planck’s Constant = 6.63  10-34 Js
2. F  Eq
(f) Fs   kx
3. E 
V Rydberg Constant, R = 1.097  107 m-1
d (g) Q  mcT
4. W  Eqd  Vq (h) Q  mL

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 3.

SECTION A [20 marks]

The multiple-choice questions in this section are all compulsory. Each question is
worth one mark.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In your Answer Booklet, circle the letter which represents the best answer. If you
change your mind, put a line through your first choice and circle the letter of your next
choice.

For example: 8 A B C D

2. If you change your mind again and like your first answer better, put a line through
your second circle and tick () your first answer.

For example: 8 A B C D


3. No mark will be given if you circle more than one letter for a question.

Circle the letter of the best answer in the Answer Booklet.

1. Which of the following instruments is best used for measuring the diameter of a
marble?

A. Ruler
B. Micrometre
C. Vernier calliper
D. Measuring tape

2. Which one of the following Y versus X graphs depicts square root relationship?

Y Y
A. C.

X X

Y Y
B. D.

X X

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.
 4.

Refer to the diagram below to answer question 3 and 4.

The diagram below shows a 0.2 kg pendulum attached to a string. The pendulum is
pulled back to 30° from the vertical position to position B and released. It swings to the
maximum position point A and continues in this motion.

30°
A B

3. Which of the following is the magnitude for the change in velocity of the
pendulum as it goes from position B to A?

A. 0
B. 0.2v
C. 0.5v
D. 2v

4. Which of the following is the magnitude of the total sum of forces acting upwards
to the pendulum in equilibrium?

A. 2N
B. 20 N
C. 0.2 N
D. 0.02 N

5. A body in equilibrium

A. is never stationary.
B. could be accelerating.
C. could be decelerating.
D. may move with constant velocity.

6. Acceleration of objects in free fall depends on the

A. size of the object.

B. weight of the object.
C. surface of the object.
D. distance the object is from centre of Earth.

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 5.

7. In projectile motion the range is determined using horizontal velocity and time of
flight. The range of the projectile will be minimum when the angle of the
projectile is .

A. 0°
B. 30°
C. 60°
D. 75°

8. Which of the following is used to derive impulse formula?

A. Hooke’s Law
B. Newton’s First Law
C. Newton’s Second Law
D. Newton’s Third Law

9. A stone tied to a string is moved around in a circular motion. The direction of the
centripetal acceleration is

A. along the axis of rotation.

B. towards the centre of circle.
C. along the tangent of the circle.
D. away from the centre of circle.

10. Albedo is the fraction of the total incident solar radiation received on earth that
gets reflected into space. If Earth’s albedo is increased, then the global mean
surface temperature would probably

A. increase.
B. decrease.
C. become zero.
D. remain the same.

11. The diagram given below shows a schematic diagram of an atomiser.

Tiny fluid
particles

Source: https://www.atomizer_nozzle.com

The atomiser works based on

A. Pascal’s Principle.
B. Torricelli’s Principle.
C. Bernoulli’s Principle.
D. Archimedes’ Principle.

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.
 6.

12. A group of students were given 20 ml of an unknown gas in a closed container. The
pressure and temperature of the gas inside the container was 2 × 103 Pa and 25°C
respectively. Which of the following quantities should remain constant if the students
are trying to test Boyle’s Law?

A. Volume of gas
B. Pressure of gas
C. Temperature of gas
D. Speed of gas particles

13. Which of the following phenomena does the particle model of light satisfactorily
explain?

A. Law of refraction
B. Diffraction of light
C. Interference of light
D. Partial reflection and refraction of light

14. Which of the following electromagnetic waves is used to transfer cellular

telephone messages?

A. X-rays
B. UV rays
C. Microwaves
D. Gamma rays

15. Energy per unit positive charge is commonly known as

A. current.
B. voltage.
C. frequency.
D. resistance.

16. The electrical safety device commonly found in households shown in the diagram
given below is a

Source: http://technopow.com

A. fuse.
B. diode.
C. resistor.
D. circuit breaker.

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 7.

17. A charged particle, q, is moving through a uniform magnetic field in circular

motion as shown below.

If the charged particle moves with a faster velocity, the radius of the circular motion will

A. increase.
B. decrease.
C. become zero.
D. remain the same.

18. Which of the following devices prove that a current carrying coil placed in
a magnetic field will experience a force?

A. DC Motor
B. Transformer
C. DC generator
D. AC generator

19. During beta decay, an electron is emitted from the nucleus as a β-particle. Which
of the following can be used to stop beta particles from travelling in air?

A. Oil
B. Lead
C. Paper
D. Aluminium

20. The work function of iron is greater than that of titanium. If light of same
frequency is incident upon both the metal surface’s the kinetic energy of the
emitted photoelectrons will be

A. zero for both.

B. same for both.
C. higher for iron.
D. higher for titanium.

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 8.

SECTION B [80 marks]

There are eight questions in this section. All questions are compulsory and are worth
10 marks each.

QUESTION 1

(a) The length, L and the width, W of a piece of metal was measured to be
(12. 5  0.5) mm and (10  1) mm respectively.

L = (12.5 ± 0.5) mm

Metal W = (10 ± 1) mm

(i) State the percentage uncertainty of the length and width. (1 mark)

(ii) Determine the area of the piece of metal, expressing the answer with its
absolute uncertainty. (2 marks)

(b) Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitational Attraction states that two masses
separated by a distance attract each other with a force.

(i) State by what factor gravitational force, F, will change if the distance is
doubled between two given masses. (1 mark)

(ii) If the gravitational force between the two masses is 20 mN, calculate
the new value of the gravitational force between the two masses when the
distance is doubled between two given masses. (1 mark)

(c) A pilot wishes to fly a plane due North relative to the wind with an airspeed of
500 kmhr-1. The wind blows from West to East at a speed of 50 kmhr-1 as shown in
the diagram below.

50 kmhr-1

500 kmhr-1

Determine the magnitude of the velocity of the plane relative to the ground. (2 marks)

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 9.

(d) Two blocks weighing 5 kg and 10 kg respectively are connected by a light

inextensible string on a table surface. Both the masses are pulled together
with a force, F, causing an acceleration of 5 ms-2 as shown in the diagram below.

A
F 5 kg 10 kg

(i) Calculate the force, F, applied to pull the masses. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the tension in string A. (2 marks)

QUESTION 2

(a) The see-saw shown below balances block A of weight 54 N, block B of

weight 10 N and block C of weight 20 N.

X 2.6 m 2m

C B A
20 N 10 N 54 N

(i) State the principle that keeps the see-saw balanced. (1 mark)

(ii) Determine the distance, X, block C is placed to balance the see-saw. (2 marks)

(iii) Explain how the distance from the pivot will change if a 65 N weight is
used in place of 54 N weight keeping the system in equilibrium. Show
working to support your answer. (2 marks)

(b) A race car at the starting line of a race track accelerates and reaches a speed of
28 ms-1 in 2 seconds after it starts from rest. Calculate the distance the car travels
before it attains a speed of 28 ms-1. (2 marks)

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 10.

(c) A boy climbs a mango tree to pick a mango and drops it to his friend.
He drops the mango to his friend who catches it after 3 s at a height of 1.60 m
above the ground.

(i) Calculate the final velocity of the mango just before it is caught by the
friend. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the distance the mango would travel just before it reaches the
ground if his friend had not caught the mango. (2 marks)

QUESTION 3

(a) A rugby player kicks a rugby ball with an initial speed of 20 ms-1 at an angle of
37° from a point 18 m in front of the goal. The crossbar is 3 m high from the
ground as shown in the diagram below. Assume that the ball travels between
the two goal posts.

crossbar

3m
-1
20 ms
37°
18 m

(i) Calculate the horizontal component of the velocity. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the vertical component of the velocity. (1 mark)

(iii) Explain whether the rugby ball will clear the 3 m bar.
Show working to support your answer. (2 marks)

(b) In a game of lawn bowling, a bowling ball, A, of mass 2 kg traveling straight at

2 ms-1 hits a stationary bowling ball, B, of mass 1.5 kg. Ball B moves off at 1 ms-1
at an angle of 90o to the direction in which ball A moves as shown in the diagram
below. Assume that there is no external force acting on the system.

vA

2 ms-1
B A 60°
A
2 kg 1.5 kg B
30°
1 ms-1
(i) Determine the speed, vA, of ball A after collision. (2 marks)

(ii) Calculate the kinetic energy before and after collision of the system and
state whether this is an elastic or inelastic collision. (2 marks)
© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.
 11.

(c) The diagram given below shows the moon revolving in a clockwise circular motion
at a distance of 384 000 km from the centre of the earth. It moves with a tangential
speed of 1000 ms-1.
1000 ms-1

384 000 km
Moon
Earth

(i) Which force acting on the system provides the centripetal force to maintain
a circular motion of the moon around the earth? (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the period of the circular motion. (1 mark)

QUESTION 4

(a) A hydro-electric power station uses a water reservoir to generate electrical energy.
The mass of water flowing through the turbines every second is 5000 kgs-1. The
power output of the station is 1.6 MW at an efficiency of 80%.

Source: https://www.tva.gov/Energy/Our-Power-System/Hydroelectric

(i) State the form of energy at point A and B on the diagram. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the height above the turbine of the water level in the reservoir. (2 marks)

(b) Sera placed 200 g of dry ice in a bucket and left it near the window. She returned
after 5 days to find nothing was left in the bucket. Assuming that all ice had
melted and evaporated over the 5 days, determine how much energy was used
by the ice to completely evaporate.

Specific heat of water = 4200 Jkg-1°C-1

Latent heat of vaporisation of water = 2.3 × 106 Jkg-1
Latent heat of fusion of ice = 340 000 Jkg-1
(2 marks)

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.
 12.

(c) An unknown volume of oxygen gas in a closed container was heated from 20°C
to 100°C under constant pressure till its volume became 100 ml.

Calculate the original volume of oxygen in millilitres. (2 marks)

(d) Liquid viscosity can be viewed as kinematic viscosity and dynamic viscosity.

(i) Define dynamic viscosity. (1 mark)

(ii) State one unit that can be used for dynamic viscosity. (1 mark)

(e) A diver in the ocean measures gauge pressure to be 500 kPa. State two quantities
that determine the gauge pressure of a fluid. (1 mark)

QUESTION 5

(a) A ray of light from a laser torch is incident from the surface of a liquid in a
beaker into air under standard temperature conditions as shown in the diagram
below. The light ray makes an angle of incidence of 25° and angle of refraction
of 30°.

Air
30°

Liquid
25°

Laser torch

(i) Calculate the index of refraction of the liquid. (1 mark)

(ii) Determine the critical angle of the liquid. (2 marks)

(iii) State the ideal condition for total internal reflection to occur. (1 mark)
-3
(b) Two point sources of light waves, 0.8 × 10 m apart, form an interference pattern
on a screen 0.5 m away. The distance between two adjacent bright fringes is
-3
0.304 × 10 m as shown in the diagram below.

-3
0.304 × 10 m
-3
0.8 × 10 m n=0

Light 0.5 m
Source
Double Screen
slit
© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.
 13.

(i) Calculate the wavelength of the wave. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the distance between the fringes of central antinodal line and
the third nodal line. (2 marks)

(iii) Determine the path difference between the two interfering waves at
0.912 mm from the central line. (2 marks)

(iv) State what will happen to the separation distance of the fringes if the screen
is moved towards the light source. (1 mark)

QUESTION 6

(a) The nucleus of an atom consists of two alpha particles consisting of two protons
and two neutrons separated by a distance of 5 × 10-15 m as shown in the diagram
below. Each alpha particle has a charge of 3.2 × 10-19 C and mass of 6.67 × 10-27 kg.

Alpha particle 1 Alpha particle 2

P P
P P
5 × 10-15 m

3.2 × 10-19 C 3.2 × 10-19 C

(i) Determine the electrostatic force between the two alpha particles. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the magnitude of the net electric field strength at a point
2 × 10-15 m from alpha particle 1. (2 marks)

(b) In Millikan’s oil drop experiment a negatively charged droplet of oil of mass
3 × 10-5 kg is placed between two oppositely charged plates. The oil drop becomes
stationary between the plates when an electric field strength of 4.5 × 107 NC-1
is applied.

E = 4.5 × 107 NC-1 – Oil drop V

(i) Calculate the charge of the oil drop in this experiment. (1 mark)

(ii) State the conclusion of Millikan’s oil drop experiment. (1 mark)

Turn Over

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 14.

(c) Four resistors are connected to a 12 V battery, as shown in the diagram below.
12 V

4Ω

5Ω 3Ω

2Ω

(i) Determine the total resistance of the circuit. (2 marks)

(ii) Calculate the total current through the battery. (1 mark)

(iii) Calculate the voltage across the 5 Ω resistor. (2 marks)

QUESTION 7

(a) A conductor of length 50 cm is placed in a magnetic field of strength 2 × 10-2 T.

The current in the wire is 250 mA as shown in the diagram below.

B = 2 × 10-2 T
V
50 cm

250 mA

(i) State the direction of the magnetic force experienced by the wire. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the magnitude of the magnetic force experienced by the

conductor. (1 mark)

(iii) Determine the magnitude of the magnetic force if the length of the
conductor is doubled and the current flow through the wire is decreased to
one quarter of the original. (2 marks)

(b) The transformer for a child monitor has 72 turns in the primary coil and operates
from the mains supply of 240 V. It steps down the voltage in the secondary coil to
150 V. Assume the transformer is 100% efficient and produces a power output of
468 W.

(i) Calculate the current in the secondary coil. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the current in the primary coil. (1 mark)

(iii) Explain how energy conservation operates in an ideal transformer. (2 marks)

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.

 15.

(c) The diagram given below shows a bar magnet approaching a solenoid.

S N

(i) Draw how the current will flow in the solenoid on the diagram given
in the Answer Booklet. (1 mark)

(ii) Label on the same diagram given in part (i) in the Answer Booklet, what
poles will be induced on the ends of the solenoid. (1 mark)

QUESTION 8

(a) State one drawback of Rutherford’s atomic model. (1 mark)

(b) The graph given below shows the decay curve for a radioactive isotope of lead,
210
82 Pb , of initial mass 20 mg.

100

Percentage of
radioactive
isotope
50

0 Time (years)
11 22 33 44 55

(i) Use the graph above to determine the half-life of lead isotope. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the fraction of lead that has decayed after 66 years. (2 marks)

(iii) Calculate the amount of lead left after 66 years. (1 mark)

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FY12CE 2018: PHYSICS.
 16.

(c) To investigate photoelectric effect, blue light of frequency 6.6 × 1014 Hz is shone on
a metal surface. This causes the metal to emit particles. The kinetic energy of the
emitted particles versus frequency is given in the graph below. The metal has a
threshold frequency of 3 × 1014 Hz.

Kinetic energy
(× 10-19 J)
2

Frequency
0 3 6 9 (× 1014 Hz)

(i) Define the term threshold frequency. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the exact value of the work function in electron volts. (2 marks)

(iii) Determine the maximum kinetic energy of the ejected electrons. (2 marks)

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COPYRIGHT: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FIJI, 2018