Year 11 Physics Half Yearly Revision Problems

1. A sound wave travelling at a speed of 340 m/s has a

wavelength of 2.25 m. What is the pitch of the wave?
2. Two torches, A and B, are shone on a person from different
directions. The torches are of the same design and are using the
same type of new batteries, so can be treated as the same light
source. If torch A is 5 times further away than torch B, how many
times brighter will the person measure torch B to be?
3. , and radiation travel between two parallel charged
plates. If the positive plate is at the top of the page and the
negative plate is at the bottom and the radiation enters from the
left, sketch the path of each type of radiation through the
electric field.

4. A vibrating string is fixed at two points.

a) Sketch the first (fundamental), second and third harmonics of
vibrating string and label the nodes and antinodes.

b) If the distance between the two fixed points is 90cm,

calculate the wavelength of the first, second and third
harmonics. Express your answers in the standard units for
distance.

c) What must be changed to produce different harmonics?

d) The tension is adjusted to produce a standing wave with a
pitch of Middle D (first harmonic = 294 Hz) in the above string.
Calculate the speed of the standing wave in the string.

e) Without further adjusting the tension, a standing wave of

pitch Middle A (first harmonic = 440 Hz) is produced in the
above string by pressing down hard on the string to shorten its
length. How far from the fixed end should the person place his
finger to produce Middle A?

5. A transverse wave has an amplitude of 5cm and a wavelength

of 3cm.
a) Sketch a labelled displacement-distance graph of the wave.
Include the labels for crest, trough, amplitude and wavelength.

b) If the wave is a light wave travelling through a vacuum,

calculate its frequency.

c) In which part of the electromagnetic spectrum would the

wave be?

d) Calculate the period of the wave.

e) How many cycles of the wave would pass by a fixed point is

12 seconds?

6. What does CRO stand for?

7. Which property of waves is responsible for producing echoes?
8. Describe the relationship between particle motion and the
direction of energy propagation in transverse and longitudinal
waves.

9. How can experiments be made more valid?

10. How can experiments be made more reliable?

11. What type of interference occurs in each of the following
situations?
a) At the nodes of standing waves
b) At the antinodes of standing waves
c) In headphones utilising active noise cancelation technology
d) Two waves in phase travelling from opposite directions meet
e) At the dark bands produced by the superposition of two light
sources

12. Sketch and label a longitudinal wave.