Mayfield Myanmar Institute

Assignment 1
Measurement and Motion
Class IGCSE O Level
Subject Physics

1. A farmer takes a drive in his tractor. The graph below shows how his distance from the farm
varies with time. Distance OD = 270 m.
a. State how far the tractor travels in time
interval:
D
270
(i) OA______________________
270 m (1)
distance

(ii) AB______________________
0m (1)
(iii) BC______________________
270 m (1)
b. If BC = 3minutes, what is the speed of the
O A B C tractor over time interval BC?
Time Speed over time interval BC = ____________(2)
1.5m/s

[Total: 5]
2. A woman takes a walk to the local park. The graph below show her distance from home
varies with time.
Choose the correct answer from the box to the
question a, b, and c.
distance

zero constant decreasing increasing

Time
O A B C

a During the time interval OA,

(i) increasing
the distance of the woman from O is _____________________. [1]
(ii) her speed is ___________________________.
constant [1]
b During the time interval AB,
(i) the distance of the woman from O is _________________.
zero [1]
(ii) her speed is _____________________________.
zero [1]
c During the time interval BC,
(i) the distance of the woman from O is _________________.
increasing [1]
(ii) her speed is _____________________________.
constant [1]
d Over what time interval is her speed greater? ____________
OA [1]
[Total : 7]
1
 3. A man travels to work by car. He travels on local roads and on the motorway. The graph
shows how his speed varies with time during the journey.

D Choose the correct answer from the box to the

question a, b, and c.
speed

zero constant decreasing increasing

O A B C
Time
a During OA,
(i) increasing
the speed of the car is _____________________. [1]
(ii) the acceleration of the car is___________________.
constant [1]
b During AB,
constant
(i) the speed of the car is ________________________. [1]
(ii) zero
the acceleration of the car is______________________. [1]
c During BC,
(i) the speed of the car is _________________.
decreasing [1]
(ii) the acceleration of the car is _____________________________.
constant [1]
d If BC = 5 minutes and OD = 30 m/s, how far does the car travel in time interval BC?
Distance travelled = _______________________________
4500m [2]
OA
e Over what time interval is the average speed of the car highest?__________ [1]
[Total : 9]
5. a Using symbols, write down the equation for calculating speed.
v=s/t
[1]
b. i. Calculate the speed of a girl walking if she travels 100 m in 50 s.

speed = ___________________
2m/s [1]
ii. Calculate the average speed of a car that travels 2 km in 2 minutes.

11.111...m/s
speed =______________________ [2]
iii. An athlete moving at 4.5 m/s travels a distance of 0.9 km. How long does this take?

200 s
time=__________________ [2]
2
c. On a particular journey, a cyclist travels at a speed of 10 m/s for 35 minutes, rests for 5
minutes, and then travels at a speed of 8 m/s for 55 minutes.
i. What was the total time for his journey?

time = __________________
95 minutes [1]
ii. What distance did he travel?

47400 m
Distance = _______________________ [3]
d. Mercury takes 88 days to orbit the Sun at a distance of 58 million km. Assuming its orbit is
roughly circular, calculate the circumference of its orbit and use your value to find the speed
of Mercury in its orbit. [3]

c= 364.424

v=4.1412 km/d

[Total: 13]
6. a. Write down the equation for calculating acceleration. [1]
a=(v-u)/t

b. Calculate the acceleration of a cyclist, who increases her velocity from 5 m/s to 7 m/s
in 0.5 s.
a=(7-5)/0.5
=4 m/s^2

4 m/s^2
accelearion = _________________________ [3]
c. How long does it take for a train to increase its velocity from 10 m/s to 40 m/s if it
accelerate at 3 m/s?

10 s
time = _____________________ [3]
3
 d. A car, initially travelling at 6 m/s, accelerates at 4 m/s2 for 2.5 s. What is final velocity?

16 m/s^2
velocity = ________________ [3]
e. Astronauts in the International Space Station experience 0.89 times the acceleration due to
gravity than they experience on Earth. Explain why, although they are still accelerating
towards the center of Earth at approximately 90 % of ‘g’, they appear to be weightless.[2]

[Total: 12]
7. a. Use the data to plot a distance-time graph for a person’s journey.

distance

time

4
 [Total : 8 ]
8. Describe the journeys represented by the following distance-time graphs.

b. Sketch a distance-time graph for the following journey:

A girl sets off walking at a steady speed. She sees a friend and gradually increases her speed to
catch up with him. They stop and talk for a while and then continue together at a slightly slower
steady speed than the girl had originally. [3]

9. a. i. What physical quantity is given by the area under a velocity-time graph?

________________________________________________________________________[1]
ii. What is the difference between velocity and speed.

________________________________________________________________________[2]

5
b. For the following velocity-time graph:

i. Calculate the acceleration in sections A, B and C.

0.1 m/s^2 0.4 m/s^2-0.025m/s^2

Section A ………………………………[3] section B …………………….[2] section C………………………….[3]
ii. Find the distance travelled in each section.

500 m 1250 m -2000m

Section A ………………………………[3] section B …………………….[2] section C………………………….[3]
iii. Calculate the total distance travelled.

2750 m
Distance =………………………………………….[1]
[Total: 19]

6
10. a. Forces cause changes. Name three effects a force can have on an object.

[Total : 5]
11. Student A, student B, and student C are having a discussion about the effects of resultant
forces on the motion of objects.
Student A says: “If there is no resultant force on an object then the object will not move”.
Studet B says: “If there is no resultant force on an object, it will keep moving at a steady in a
straight line.”
Student C says: “All objects slow down eventually if there is no resultant force to keep them
moving”.
a. To what extent do you agree with three statements?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………[3]

[Total: 5]

7
12. A student investigates the motion of different falling masses by measuring the time taken
for a toy parachute to fall from a window.

This is the student’s method.

● measure the mass of the toy parachute
● drop the toy parachute from the window
● repeat the experiment with additional mass added to the toy parachute
● continue to add mass up to a maximum of six different masses
(a) Describe how the student should measure the time taken for the toy parachute to fall from
the window. [2]
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
(b) State the independent and dependent variables in this investigation. [2]
Independent variable……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Dependent variable ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
(c) State one factor that the student should keep constant in order to make his investigation
valid (a fair test). [1]
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................

8
d. The table shows the student’s result.
(i) Complete the table by calculating the average time for a mass of 120 g. [2]

0.88

(ii) On the grid, plot a graph of the average time taken for each mass. [4]

(iii) Draw the curve of best fit. [1]

9
(e) The student notices that the toy parachute accelerates and then falls at constant speed.
(i) The arrows in the diagrams show the size and direction of the forces acting on the toy
parachute at different points during its fall. Label the forces on the last diagram. [2]

(ii) Explain why the toy parachute accelerates and then falls at a constant speed. [3]

[Total : 17]
13. The photograph shows a toy train as it moves around a circular track.

A student wants to find the average speed of the toy train.

Describe a method that the student could use to find the average speed. [5]

10
14. (a) The diagram shows a coin being dropped from a height.

The graph shows how the velocity of the coin changes until it hits the ground.

(i) State the equation linking acceleration, change in velocity and time. [1]

(ii) The coin hits the ground in a time of 0.62 s with a velocity of 6.1 m/s. Calculate the
acceleration of the coin as it falls. Give the unit. [3]

9.84
Acceleration = ........................................ unit ............................................................
m/s^2

(iii) State the feature of the graph that shows this acceleration. [1]

gradient
.......................................................................................................................................................

(iv) Calculate the height from which the coin was dropped. Use the graph to help with your
calculation. [3]

height = ..............................................................
3.1 m

11
(b) A ball is dropped from a very large height.

The graph shows how the velocity of the ball changes until just before it hits the ground.

Explain why the velocity of the ball changes in this way. Refer to ideas about forces in your
answer. [5]

[Total : 13]
12