FORM FOUR SPECIAL EXAMINATION

SERIES TWO

031 PHYSICS-1
Time: 3:00 Hours April, 2025.

Instructions
1. This paper consists of sections A, B and C with a total of eleven (11) questions.
2. Answer all questions in sections A and B and two (2) questions from section C
3. Section A carries sixteen (16) marks, section B fifty four (54) marks and section C carries
thirty (30) marks.
4. All writings should be in blue or black pen, except for diagrams that must be drawn
in pencil.
5. All communication devices and any unauthorized materials are not allowed in
the examination room.
6. Write your Name on every page of your answer sheet.
7. Four figures tables or non-programmable calculators may be used.
8. Whenever necessary use the following constants;

 Density of water: 1g/cm3 or 1000kg/m3.

 Acceleration due to gravity, g = 10m/s2.
 Π=3.14
 Velocity of sound in air = 330m/s

This paper consists of five (05) printed pages

Page 1 of 5
 SECTION A (16 Marks)
Answer all questions from this section
1. For each of the items (i) – (x), choose the correct answer among the given alternatives and
write its letter beside the item number in the answer booklet provided.
(i) A boy studying at Mapangoni primary school was playing near a pond and
unfortunately, he dropped his 50 Tsh coin in water and it sank completely, why?
A. Density of coin is less than that of water
B. Density of coin is larger than that of water
C. Density of coin is equal to that of water.
D. Density of coin is less or equal to that of water.
E. Density of coin is very small than that of water
(ii) Why are magnets fitted to the doors of refrigerators?
A. To keep away heat B. To keep the inside environment warm
C. To keep the door tightly closed D. To keep iron away
E. To make it easy to open.
(iii) It is believed by Physicists that the interior structure of the earth is mainly
composed of three major zones. As a form four physics student where does
this research base amongst the following?
A. Magma, mantle and the core B. Lava, crust and magma
C. Hypocenter, crust and the mantle D. Crust, mantle and the core
E. The core, lava, and hypocenter
(iv) A horizontal electron beam passes between two parallel horizontal plates X
and Y with X above Y when a high-tension battery is connected with its
negative pole to X and positive pole to Y, the beam will be deflected:
A. Upwards B. Downwards at 45o to the horizontal
C. Upwards at 45 to the horizontal D. Downwards
o

E. Sideways
(v) Assume you observe a mango fruit falling from the tree. Which of the following is
true about the falling mango?
A. Its potential energy is equal to its kinetic energy
B. Its potential energy increases while kinetic energy decreases
C. Its potential energy decreases and kinetic anergy increases
D. Its potential energy is zero and kinetic energy is maximum
E. Its potential energy is maximum and kinetic energy is zero.
(vi) A magnetic needle, free to turn in a vertical plane is suspended first at the earth’s
south magnetic pole and then at a point on the magnetic equator. The respective
angles between the needle and horizontal are:
A. 0o and 0o B. 70o and 70o
C. 0o and 45o D. 0o and 90o
E. 90 and 0
o o

(vii) For each of the following pairs of materials being rubbed, identify the one that
could become negatively charged.
A. Comb and hair B. Fur and glass
C. Hair and hard rubber D. Plastic and hard rubber
E. Glass and silk

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 (viii) If you are caught outside during a severe thunderstorm, you should;
A. Take a shelter under the nearest tree
B. Stand under power lines
C. Move to higher ground
D. Hide in a ditch
E. Take shelter under umbrella
(ix) A house building constructor fitted a glass door in which someone cannot see
properly through but the room are full illuminated with light. These types of glass
door materials are said to be:
A. Dim B. Opaque
C. Translucent D. Optical less dense glass
E. Transparent
(x) Which of the following is a set of effects of forces exerted when you are
riding a bicycle?
A. Compression, viscosity and stretching
B. Torsional, attraction and couple
C. Gravity, electromagnetic, stretching
D. Frictional, couple and pulling
E. Attraction, friction and restoring.
2. Match the properties or functions of the instruments and behaviors in List A with the
corresponding instruments and behaviors in List B by writing the letter of response
beside the corresponding item number.
List A List B
(i) Helps to observe the behaviors of waves A. Resonance
(ii) Discriminates sound waves based on frequency, B. Guitar
amplitude and direction. C. Turning fork
(iii) Produces heat energy used to heat food. D. Microwave ovens
(iv) It is used to determine the resonance in an air column. E. The human ear
(v) Helps to study stationary waves. F. sonometer
(vi) Sound can be head around obstacles. G. Ripple tank
H. Radar
I. Interference of waves
J. Diffraction

SECTION B (54 marks)

Answer all questions from this section
3.
(a) It is believed and practically done that Air conditions are strategically placed at a high
point in the house and Room heaters on the other hand are placed on the floor of a
room. Give reasons for this.

(b) An engineer has one piece of metal of plate to be used in fixing a gap on a metal
bridge. If the steel plate has area of 0.8m2 at 25oC, by how much the engineer
should raise the temperature of the steel plate for it to fit a gap of 0.804m2 ?
[Use coefficient of linear expansion of steel as 0.000012oC-1]

Page 3 of 5
4.
(a) Astronomers are concerned with study of celestial objects. Explain any three
criteria that can be used to identify a celestial object as a planet.
(b)
(i) Explain briefly why sound produced in hall with many people is heard more clearly
than when the hall has few people?
(ii) Aisha who stand at distance X from the foot of a tall school building claps her hands
and hears an echo 0.588s later. Given that velocity of sound in air is 340m/s. Find
distance X
5.
(a) A 3 kg hammer is used to drive a nail into a piece of wood. If at the time of
impact, the hammer’s speed is 5 m/s and it drives the nail 1 cm into the wood,
find the impulse of the force on the nail.
(b) A byscle wheel has a radius of 45 cm while the rear sprocket has a radius of 4.5
cm. If an effort of 160 N is applied at the sprocket, calculate the maximum load
that can be carried out by the bicycle system with efficiency 0f 80%.
6.
(a) In our day-to-day life, why friction is friend and foe? Give two points each
(b) Assume you hear some people say there is no relationship between Physics and
biology subject. How will you refute this? Give possible explanation.
(c) Give the importance of having each of the following in a physics laboratory;
(i) Wide doors opening outward
(ii) A bucket of sand
(iii) First aid kit

7.
(a) A closed pipe which is opened at one end has a fundamental frequency of 400 HZ.
Draw its mode of vibration of air column at its fundamental mode and first
overtone
(b) A uranium nucleus 238U decays into a lead nucleus 206pb. Calculate the number of
alpha and beta particles emitted.
8.
(a) Racing cars are believed to be more stable than double decker buses. As a physics
student, state two reasons to support this argument.
(b) Figure I shows a uniform metre rule of weight 2 N which is pivoted at 40 cm
mark. If a force of 4 N acts at the end of the metre rule, calculate the value of force
X required to keep the rule in equilibrium.

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 SECTION C (30 Marks)
Answer two (2) questions from this section

9.
(a)
(i) Faraday’s law and Lenz’s law are precise laws dealing with induced e.m.f.
State these laws.
(ii) The results of the Faraday’s experiments were that the magnitude of the
induced e.m.f was related to which factors, mention three factors.
(b) An ideal transformer should have an efficiency of 100%. Yet in any practical
transformer there are power losses which do not allow 100% efficiency. Mention
three of those factors.
(c) A step-up transformer has 10,000 turns in the secondary coil and 100
turns in the primary coil. A current of 5.0A flows in the primary circuit
when connected to a 12.0Vsupply.

(i) Calculate the voltage across the secondary coil.

(ii) If the transformer has an efficiency of 90%, what is the current in the
secondary coil?

10.
(a) How could you distinguish cathode-rays when placed through the
magnetic field, electric field and small paddle wheel?
(b) Hard X rays are mostly applicable in industries while soft X rays are
commonly used in the medical field. Account for their differences
(c) You are given with the following electronic materials. A diode (D); a
resistor ®; a step-down transformer; and connecting wires. Draw a
rectifier circuit by showing also the input and output wave forms.
11.
(a) Explain the following;
(i) Vector quantity
(ii) Resolution of vector.
(b) A box is being pulled on the floor using a string. The string makes an angle of 300
with the box as shown in the figure below;

If the force being applied at the string is 200 N, find;

(i) The force which tends to lift the box.
(ii) The force which tends to pull the box forward

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