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Required Practical - Measuring the speed of water waves

• OCR 21st Century

Sample exam questions - radiation and waves - OCR 21st Century Practical questions

Understanding how to approach exam questions helps boost exam performance. Questions will include multiple choice, descriptions and explanations, using mathematical skills and extended writing.

Part of Physics (Single Science) Radiation and waves

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Practical questions

During the GCSE Physics course you will complete practical activities from eight Practical Activity Groups (PAGs).

The exams will include questions about the apparatus, methods, safety precautions, results, analysis and evaluation of some of these experiments. You may also be asked to apply your knowledge to unfamiliar practical contexts, which will draw on your practical knowledge and understanding.

Practical questions will appear throughout both exams papers (Breadth and Depth), and at both Foundation Tier and Higher Tier.

Remember to look at your lab book or your notes from the practical activities you have done when you're revising for the exams.

The practical questions also test your knowledge of 'Ideas about Science'.

There are four main aspects to 'Ideas about Science'. These are:

• Planning practical experiments and investigations (including writing hypotheses and predictions, selecting apparatus and describing methods, controlling factors, and working safely).
• Processing and analysing data (including doing calculations, presenting data graphically, identifying patterns and trends, evaluating results and experiments, and interpreting data to draw appropriate conclusions).
• Developing scientific explanations (including ideas about correlation and cause, peer review, and the use of models in science).
• The impacts of applications of science (including positive and negative impacts on people, other organisms and the environment, and ideas about risk and ethics).

Learn about practicals with Dr Alex Lathbridge

Listen to the full series on BBC Sounds.

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Dr Alex Lathbridge answers questions about practicals.

Sample question 1

A student is investigating refraction of light. They shine a light through a rectangular glass block at an angle. The diagram below shows the ray as it hits the glass block.

a) Complete the diagram to show the path of the ray and label the angle of incidence and angle of refraction. [2 marks]

b) Fill in the gaps using some of the words below: [2 marks]

The light is now passed through a more dense material. This means the angle of refraction is ______, therefore ______ the normal.

OCR 21st Century Science, GCE Physics, PAG, February 2017 .

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When drawing the refracted line, make sure you use a ruler. When the light passes into the glass, the speed decreases and therefore the ray will bend towards the normal. The angle of incidence is the angle between the ray going into the glass (the incident ray) and the normal. The angle of refraction is the angle between the refracted ray and the normal.

b) The light is now passed through a more dense material. This means the angle of refraction is smaller therefore closer to the normal.

As the density of an object increases, the speed the light will travel through it decreases, therefore bending the ray towards the normal. This means the angle will be smaller.

Sample question 2

A student is investigating waves using the equipment below:

She measures the length of ten waves on the viewing screen and calculates the average wavelength of one wave.

a) Why does this method only produce an 'estimated' wavelength? [2 marks]

b) Why is it more accurate to produce the ripples using a motor than by hand? [2 marks]

a) It is an estimate as you are measuring the image of the wave, rather than the wave itself.

When answering this question, read the context carefully and look at the equipment provided. You will see that you are using an image of the wave, rather than the wave itself to do the measurements. This makes them estimations.

b) Waves produced by the motor will all be the same and the time between each wave will stay constant. Human error is likely when producing waves by hand.

The key word in this question is accuracy, so, when answering the question, consider when the inaccuracies may lie when producing a wave by hand and how these are resolved by the motor.

More guides on this topic

• Electromagnetic waves - OCR 21st Century
• Climate change - OCR 21st Century
• Wave behaviour - OCR 21st Century
• Light and sound waves - OCR 21st Century

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• Physics: Exam-style questions
• Bitesize revision podcasts
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• Isaac Physics
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• Science Museum

GCSE Physics Required Practical: Investigating Mechanical Waves

• 1.1 Meaning
• 1.2.1 Method
• 1.2.2 Improving Accuracy
• 1.3.1 Method

Key Stage 4

Investigate the features of mechanical waves .

Experiment 1: Ripple Tank

• Count the number of waves that pass a given point over 10 seconds .
• Divide the number of waves by the 10 seconds to find the frequency of the waves .
• Measure the length of the ripple tank from paddle to end using a ruler .
• Use a stopwatch to time how long it takes for a wave to travel this displacement .
• Use the equation \(v=\frac{s}{t}\) to find the velocity of the wave .
• Use the equation \(v=f \lambda\) to find the wavelength of the wave .

Improving Accuracy

Experiment 2: waves on a string.

• Adjust the frequency of the oscillator until it produces a clear wave on the string.
• Record the frequency of the oscillator .
• Measure the wavelength of the wave using a ruler .
• Use the equation \(v=f \lambda\) to find the wavespeed of the wave .
• Repeat for different 5 frequencies of the wave .

Home » Physics » Waves

Waves are disturbances that transfer energy without transferring matter. They can be found in various forms, such as sound waves traveling through air and water waves on the surface of the ocean. Understanding waves helps explain sound, light, and seismic activity, essential for understanding the world around us.

Equations on this page: Wave speed

Practicals on this page: Waves in a ripple tank

Energy transfer in waves

Waves transfer energy in the direction they are travelling. Waves have an amplitude, wavelength and frequency. An easy way to remember what each does think of a roller coaster.

• Amplitude is the height of the roller coaster.
• Wavelength is the distance between two consecutive hills on the roller coaster.
• Frequency is how many times the roller coaster completes a full loop in one minute.

Hertz (Hz) is the measurement of frequency.

What are transverse and longitudinal waves?

Transverse waves have particle motion perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation (like shaking a rope), while longitudinal waves have particle motion parallel to the direction of wave propagation (like pushing and pulling a slinky). These refer to the type of oscillations or vibrations of the wave.

What are electromagnetic waves?

Electromagnetic waves are a type of wave that can travel through empty space ( a vacuum ) as well as through various materials, such as air, water, and solids.

Examples of electromagnetic waves include visible light, radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays. Each type of electromagnetic wave has different properties, such as wavelength and frequency, which determine its behaviour and how it interacts with matter.

What is refraction?

Refraction is the bending of a wave as it passes from one medium into another medium with a different density.

When a wave travels from one medium into another medium at an angle, its speed changes, causing it to bend. The amount of bending depends on the change in speed and the angle at which the wave enters the new medium. If the wave enters a denser medium (where the wave speed is slower), it bends towards the normal (an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface). If it enters a less dense medium (where the wave speed is faster), it bends away from the normal.

Refraction occurs with all types of waves, including light waves, sound waves, and water waves. Examples of refraction include the bending of light when it passes from air into water (which causes objects underwater to appear shifted) and the bending of sound waves in the Earth's atmosphere (which can create sound mirages).

Waves can be:

• Absorbed - this transfers energy to the material's energy stores.
• Transmitted - waves travel through the new material.
• Refraction -waves cross a boundary between materials, and the angle is changed.

Specular reflection - wave is reflected in a single direction.

Diffuse reflection - wave is reflected by a rough surface and scattered in different directions.

Sound waves - caused by vibrating objects.

Parts of the ear:

• Ear drum - vibrates as sound waves reach.
• Ossicles - receive the vibrations from the ear drum.
• Cochlea - turns vibrations to electrical signals which then get sent to your brain.

Ultrasound - sound with frequencies higher than 20,000Hz.

Echo sounding - used by boats and submarines, use high-frequency sound waves including ultrasound.

Seismic waves - produced by earthquakes which send out through the Earth.

Seismometers - detect seismic waves over the surface of the planet.

Seismologists - study seismic waves to work out the time it takes for the shock waves to reach each seismometer.

P-waves - longitudinal waves that travel through solids and liquids and speeds faster than S-waves.

S-waves - transverse waves that can't travel through liquids or gases.

Also see Electromagnetic Waves , Light ,

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EQUATION Wave speed

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PRACTICAL Waves in a ripple tank

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Links for Learning

BBC Bitesize: Properties of waves BBC Bitesize: Transverse and longitudinal waves BBC Bitesize: Reflection and refraction BBC Bitesize: Sound and ultrasound BBC Bitesize: Properties of waves test BBC Bitesize: Transverse and longitudinal waves test BBC Bitesize: Reflection and refraction test BBC Bitesize: Sound and ultrasound test