Physics — AS

Progressive Waves — Multiple-Choice Questions (Cambridge International AS Physics): Exam Questions

Exam code:9702

20 questions · 20 marks · ≈ 20 min

Guided practice

11 markeasy

A wave has a frequency of 4 GHz.

What is the period of the wave?

Choose your answer

25 000 μs

250 ps

25 ns

2.5 ns

21 markeasy

A light with wavelength of 600 nm has an orange colour.

What is the frequency of this light?

Choose your answer

500 kHz

500 THz

180 GHz

180 Hz

31 markeasy

A sound wave has a frequency of 50 Hz and a speed of 330 m s^–1

If two waves have a phase difference of 60˚, what is the possible distance between two points on the wave?

Choose your answer

6.6 m

2.2 m

1.1 m

0.03 m

41 markeasy

A sound wave has a displacement y at a distance x from its source at time t.

Which graph shows correctly the amplitude a and the wavelength λ of the wave ?

cie-ial-physics-images-7-1-e-q4-answer

Choose your answer

51 markeasy

The following are statements about waves.

1	Longitudinal waves can be polarised.
2	The amplitude of a wave is directly proportional to the energy transferred by the wave.
3	All electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed in a vacuum.
4	The frequency of infra-red light is greater than the frequency of ultra-violet light.

Which ones are incorrect?

Choose your answer

1, 3 and 4

1, 2 and 4

1, 2 and 3

2, 3 and 4

61 markeasy

The vertical cross-section diagram shows a water wave moving from left to right.

cie-ial-images318png

Which points on the diagram show the water moving upwards with maximum speed?

Choose your answer

1 and 3

3 only

1 and 4

4 only

71 markeasy

The diagram below is a graph showing how the height of water at a point in a marina varies with time t as the waves pass the point.

cie-ial-images320png

What is the correct label for W and X?

	W	X
A B C D	amplitude displacement amplitude displacement	period wavelength wavelength period

Choose your answer

81 markmedium

The diagram shows a wave moving along a stretched rope in the direction shown.

cie-ial-images324png

Which of the following will be the correct graph to show the variation with time t of the displacement s of the particle Q in the rope ?

cie-ial-physics-images-7-1-m-q3-answer

Choose your answer

91 markmedium

A plane polarised light of amplitude A is passed through a polarising filter as show in the diagram. The emerging light has an amplitude of A cos $θ$

cie-ial-images330png

If the intensity of the beam is I, what is the intensity of the emerging light when θ is 60.0˚?

Choose your answer

0.250 I

0.500 I

0.750 I

0.866 I

101 markmedium

A sound wave with an amplitude *a *of 0.2 mm has an intensity of 2.5 W m^–2

If a wave with the same frequency has an amplitude of 2a what is the intensity of the wave?

Choose your answer

10.0 W m^–2

9.0 W m^–2

6.0 W m^–2

4.2 W m^–2

111 markmedium

A sound wave can be displayed on a cathode ray oscilloscope (C.R.O.). The time base is set to 5 μs mm^-1.

cie-ial-images332png

What is the frequency of the sound wave?

Choose your answer

5 Hz

100 Hz

5 kHz

100 kHz

121 markmedium

A source of sound power P is situated in an open space. The intensity I of sound at distance r from this source is given by

$I=\frac{P}{4\mathrm{πr}^{2}}$

How does the amplitude A of the vibrating air molecules vary with the distance r from the source ?

Choose your answer

$Aα\frac{1}{r}$

$Aα\frac{1}{r^{2}}$

$Aαr$

$Aαr^{2}$

131 markmedium

Radio waves are electromagnetic waves that travel at speed c in a vacuum with a frequency f and wavelength λ.

Which row in the table describes the wavelength and speed of radio waves with a frequency $3 f$ ?

	Speed in a vacuum	Wavelength
A	3c	3λ
B	c	$\frac{λ}{3}$
C	c	3λ
D	$\frac{c}{3}$	$\frac{λ}{3}$

Choose your answer

141 markhard

The equation below shows the speed of v waves in deep water

$v^{2}=\frac{gλ}{2π}$

Where *g *is the acceleration of free fall and λ is the wavelength of the waves. The wavelength λ and the frequency f of the wave were measured.

If the graph was to give a straight line through the origin which of the following graphs should be plotted?

Choose your answer

f against λ²

*f *² against λ

f against $\frac{1}{λ}$

*f *² against $\frac{1}{λ}$

151 markhard

A light wave is incident normally on a surface of area S with an amplitude A. The power per unit area reaching the surface is P.

If the light is focused on a smaller area of $\frac{1}{3}S$ , and the amplitude of wave is doubled to 2A what is the power per unit area?

Choose your answer

12P

18P

36P

161 markhard

All electromagnetic waves travel at speed c in a vacuum with a frequency f and wavelength λ.

Which row in the table describes the wavelength and speed of electromagnetic waves with a frequency $\frac{f}{2}$ ?

	Speed in a vacuum	Wavelength
A	2c	2λ
B	c	2λ
C	c	$\frac{λ}{2}$
D	$\frac{c}{2}$	$\frac{λ}{2}$

Choose your answer

171 markhard

Sound waves can be displayed on a cathode ray oscilloscope (C.R.O.). The graph below represents two waves seen on the screen. They are labelled P and Q as shown in the diagram

cie-ial-images340png

What is the ratio $\frac{intensityofsoundwaveP}{intensityofsoundwaveQ}$ ?

Choose your answer

$\frac{\sqrt{3}}{1}$

$\frac{9}{1}$

$\frac{1}{1}$

$\frac{3}{1}$

181 markhard

The intensity I of a sound at point Q is inversely proportional to the square of the distance x of Q from the source of the sound. This can be shown by the equation

$Iα\frac{1}{x^{2}}$

cie-ial-images341png

Molecules of air at Q are a distance r from S and oscillate with amplitude 8.0 μm.

Point T is a distance 2r from S.

What is the amplitude of oscillation of air molecules at T?

Choose your answer

4.0 μm

2.0 μm

2.8 μm

1.4 μm

191 markhard

The graph shows a sinusoidal wave in water travelling at a speed of 8.0 m s^–1.

The maximum speed of the particles in the wave is $2πaf$ , where a is the amplitude and f is the frequency.

cie-ial-images342png

An object Q is floating on the water it has a mass of 2.5 × 10^–3 kg.

What is the maximum kinetic energy of Q due to the wave? Assume the motion is vertical.

Choose your answer

4.1 mJ

5.1 mJ

39 mJ

64 mJ

201 markhard

A wave has a speed of 340 m s^–1 and a frequency of 500 Hz

If two points on a wave are 0.17 m apart, what is the phase difference?

Choose your answer

$\frac{π}{4}$ rad

$\frac{π}{2}$ rad

$\frac{3π}{4}$ rad

$π$ rad

Longitudinal waves can be polarised.

The amplitude of a wave is directly proportional to the energy transferred by the wave.

All electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed in a vacuum.

The frequency of infra-red light is greater than the frequency of ultra-violet light.

A

B

C

D

amplitude

displacement

amplitude

displacement

period

wavelength

wavelength

period

Speed in a vacuum

Wavelength

3λ

\frac{λ}{3}

3λ

\frac{c}{3}

\frac{λ}{3}

Speed in a vacuum

Wavelength

2λ

\frac{λ}{2}

\frac{c}{2}

\frac{λ}{2}