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AQA A level Physics Paper 1 Test Questions and Answers
Rated A
What is meant by work function (2) - -
Minimum energy required by an electron to
escape from (1) a metal surface (1)
What is meant by ionisation energy? (2) - -
Minimum energy required to remove an electron
from an atom (1) from the ground state (1)
Why do emitted electrons have a kinetic energy
that varies up to a maximum value? (4) - -
Energy of a photon is fixed/constant (1)
Energy is required for electrons to overcome
work function ø (1)
Electrons deeper into/below the surface of the
metal require more energy to overcome work
function and therefore have less KE(1)
Maximum KE = Energy of photon - work function
ø (1)
Explain how (bright ring) diagram is evidence of
the wave-particle duality of electrons? - -
Diffraction pattern maxima/minima (bright and
dark areas) (1)
Diffraction is a property of waves- proves wave-
behaviour of electrons (1)
What is meant by the ground state? - -The
lowest energy state of an atom
Explain the difference between excitation and
ionisation (2) - -An electron receives a
discrete amount of energy for BOTH (1)
Excitation promotes an electron to a higher
energy level
Ionisation is when an electron receives enough
energy to leave the atom
Explain why only photons of certain frequencies
cause excitation (4) - -discrete energy
levels (1)
Electrons need to absorb a DISCRETE amount
of energy to move to a higher energy level (1)
Photons need to have a certain frequency to
provide this energy, because E=hf (1)
interaction is a 1:1 reaction all of the photon's
energy is absorbed (1)
Explain how excitation takes place in a
fluorescent tube - -Electrons flow through
the tube to the applied PD causing a current to
flow (1)
Electrons collide with mercury atoms in the tube
(1)
This raises electrons in the mercury atom to a
higher energy level (1)
What is the purpose of coating in a fluorescent
tube? - -UV/ High energy photons emitted
from mercury atoms when the electrons in the
atom de-excite (1)
High energy photons absorbed by the coating (1)
Coating emits photons in the visible spectrum (1)
What happens when annihilation occurs? (2) -
-particle and an anti-particle collide and
cease to exist (1)
Their mass is released as energy in the form of a
pair of gamma photons (1)
How does the strong nuclear force between two
nucleons vary with the separation of the
nucleons? (3) - -repulsive at < 0.5 fm (1)
attractive from 0.5 to 3 fm (1)
above 3 fm, force 0 (1)
What is meant by monochromatic light - -
light of a single frequency
