BlogPhysicsQCAA Practice Questions for Unit 3 & 4 Physics External Assessment

QCAA Practice Questions for Unit 3 & 4 Physics External Assessment

Finding practice questions to study with for the QCAA Physics External Assessment (EA) can be quite challenging! No need to worry though, because we’ve got exactly what you’re looking for.

We’ve created 25 practice questions to help you prepare for your final exam. We’ve also included the solutions to the questions, to see if there’s any room for improvement.

Keen to get started on answering some Physics EA practice questions? Let’s go!

QCAA Physics EA Practice Questions

Question 1

List the six types of quarks (1 mark)

Question 2

Why is it impossible for an object with mass to travel at the speed of light? (2 marks)

Question 3

Two farmers conduct an experiment with a ladder of 10m length and a barn of 15m length. One of the farmers runs at a speed of 0.6c towards the barn while holding the ladder. The other farmer stands in the centre of the barn, he operates a switch which closes all the doors of the barn. Will the ladder be able to fit inside the barn without touching the doors? (3 marks)

Question 4

The below image shows a moving charge of mass 3 x 10-8 moving through a magnetic field.

QCE Physics EA Practice Questions - Q4

Image sourced from QCAA

Calculate the acceleration experienced by the particle in the magnetic field and in what direction (5 marks)

Question 5

A spaceship travels to planet X, which is located 4 light years away from earth at a speed of 0.8c. How long will this journey take relative to an observer on earth? (4 marks)

Question 6

Let’s say that the astronaut from question 5 has a twin on earth, how would their ages compare after the astronauts trip and how can this paradox be explained? (2 marks)

The following graph shows the relationship between the gravitational force between the earth and some other planetary body of Mass X and the inverse square of the radius between the two bodies.

QCE Physics EA Practice Questions - Q6

Question 7

Identify the relationship between the Gravitational force and the inverse of the radius 1/r (2 marks)

Question 8

Using the relationship from the graph above, determine the mass X of the other body that is experiencing a gravitational force (3 marks)

Question 9

Using the result from Question 8, assume that the mass instead experiences a constant force of 2.18 x 1017 newtons starting from a radius of 100,000km, how long will it take for the mass to collide with the earth assuming that the earth does not move? You can also ignore the radius of earth for ease of calculation. (4 marks)

Question 10

Name an experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of light and an experiment that demonstrated the particle nature of light (2 marks)

Question 11

A planet takes 70 earth hours to orbit a star, if the radius of its orbit is quadrupled, what will its new orbital period be? (3 marks)

Question 12

Using the result from Question 11, quantify how the velocity of the planet has changed in its new orbit from its old orbit. Assume uniform circular motion applies. (2 marks)

Question 13

A photon takes 6 wavelengths to travel around a circle of radius 3 x 10-4 with no destructive interference. Using the below diagram, determine what type/colour of light is travelling around the circle. (2 marks)

QCE Physics EA Practice Questions - Q13

Image sourced from Radio2Space

Question 14

Using the same image from above, what colour of light is emitted when an electron drops from the 6th energy level to the 2nd energy level in a hydrogen atom? (3 marks)

Question 15

What is the net electric flux through the below cylinder? (3 marks)

QCE Physics EA Practice Questions - Q15

Image sourced from Chegg

Question 16

Calculate the permittivity constant ε0 (2 marks)

Question 17

A photon bounces off a white surface initially at rest, with momentum of h/λ. How much momentum does the white surface have 1) as the photon collides with the surface and 2) after the photon has been reflected? (2 marks)

Question 18

Calculate the flux threading through a circle of radius 20cm, at an angle of 20 degrees from the perpendicular to the magnetic field of magnitude 30T. (2 marks)

Question 19

A student spins a 50g ball on a string of length 0.6m. It has a centripetal acceleration of 3ms-2. How much centripetal force is the ball experiencing? (3 marks)

Question 20

In the same situation as Question 19, how much work is done on/by the ball assuming its path ends at the same place it started? (2 marks)

Question 21

How much force would a 70kg person experience if they were 50m away from the core of the earth? (3 marks)

Question 22

A billiard ball of mass 100g hits another 300g billiard ball at a speed of 15ms. The collision is perfectly inelastic. Calculate the momentum and velocity of the system both before and after the collision. (3 marks)

Question 23

A tennis ball of mass 400g is projected off of a 100m cliff at an angle of 50 degrees to the vertical axis. The ball has a constant horizontal velocity of 20ms. What is the maximum vertical displacement of the ball? (4 marks)

Question 24

In the same scenario as Question 23, what is the final horizontal position of the ball? (2 marks)

Question 25

How could the horizontal displacement of the ball be increased? You can change the situation in any way you wish. Give 3 suggestions. (4 marks)

Solutions to QCAA Physics EA Practice Questions

Click here to download the solutions to the 25 practice questions above!

On the hunt for other QCAA Physics resources?

We’ve got plenty more practice questions for you to use to revise previous content from throughout the year! Check them out:

You’ll also want to have a look at our nifty guides for working on your QCE Physics assessments below:

Are you looking for some extra help with the QCAA Unit 3 & 4 Physics External Assessment?

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​​William Bye is a Content Writer at Art of Smart and is currently studying a Bachelor of Advanced Science with Honours (majoring in Physics) at the University of Queensland. He was part of the very first cohort in Queensland to go through the ATAR system and wishes to help other students to make this journey as easy as possible. Will enjoys his time playing guitar in a band with his friends and hopes to continue balancing his science and music for many years to come.

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