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AQA GCSE Physics End of Topic P16

The document contains answers to questions related to space, including the formation of the solar system, the life history of a star, and the expanding universe. It discusses concepts such as the orbits of comets and asteroids, the characteristics of stars, and the evidence for the universe's expansion. Additionally, it addresses the origins of the universe and potential future scenarios like the Big Crunch.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
111 views7 pages

AQA GCSE Physics End of Topic P16

The document contains answers to questions related to space, including the formation of the solar system, the life history of a star, and the expanding universe. It discusses concepts such as the orbits of comets and asteroids, the characteristics of stars, and the evidence for the universe's expansion. Additionally, it addresses the origins of the universe and potential future scenarios like the Big Crunch.

Uploaded by

joe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Student Book answers P16 Space

P16.1 Formation of the Solar System


Question Answer Marks Guidance
number
1a comets follow elliptical orbits round Sun so distance from comet to Sun 1
varies,
when near Sun, solar radiation heats them so much they emit light and 1
become visible,
as they move away they absorb less solar radiation and stop emitting 1
light
1b similarity: both orbit Sun 1
difference: orbits of comets highly elliptical whereas orbits of asteroids 1
rounder
2ai Jupiter 1
2 a ii Mercury 1
2b planets nearer to Sun than Earth too hot for liquid water to exist on their 1
surface,
planets further than Earth too cold for liquid water to exist 1
3 Earth would be frozen if far from Sun 1
because it would receive much less energy from Sun, 1
if close to Sun, water on its surface would evaporate 1
and atmosphere would be lost as heated so much it its particles would 1
leave Earth and go into space

© Oxford University Press 2017 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 1
Student Book answers P16 Space

Question Answer Marks Guidance


number
4a particles in clouds of dust and gas pulled together by gravitational 1
attraction,
clouds became increasingly concentrated to form a protostar, 1
as protostar became denser its particles collided more and its 1
temperature increased
until it became hot enough for nuclei of hydrogen atoms to fuse 1
together,
forming helium nuclei and releasing enough energy to make protostar 1
emit light
4b star in which hydrogen nuclei in core fuse to form helium nuclei, 1
this is main stage in life of a star as it can maintain its energy output for 1
millions of years until no more hydrogen nuclei left to fuse together,
Sun is a main sequence star because most of its core consists of 1
hydrogen nuclei

© Oxford University Press 2017 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 2
Student Book answers P16 Space

P16.2 The life history of a star


Question Answer Marks Guidance
number
1a B, D, C, A 1
1bi D 1
1 b ii fade out, go cold and become black dwarf 1
2ai gravitational attraction acting on its mass 1
2 a ii radiation flowing to surface from core 1
2b white dwarf cools down, 1
when it no longer emits light it can no longer be seen → black dwarf 1
3ai hydrogen 1
3 a ii uranium 1
3 a iii helium, iron 1
3b any two from: 2
 red giant star much larger than neutron star,
 neutron star consists only of neutrons whereas red giant core
contains helium and other light elements,
 red giant star emits light and neutron star does not
4a Sun and Solar System formed from debris of a supernova, 1
most U-238 formed from the supernova still exists because U-238 has 1
half-life comparable with age of Earth
4b some Pu-239 was created in the supernova from which Sun and Solar 1
System formed,
about 5000 million years ago, which is many half-lives of plutonium-239 1
so Pu-239 created then has decayed into other elements

© Oxford University Press 2017 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 3
Student Book answers P16 Space

P16.3 Planets, satellites, and orbits

Question Answer Marks Guidance


number
1ai towards centre of the Earth 1
1 a ii towards centre of the circle 1
1b direction of satellite’s motion is changed by force of gravity on it so it 1
continues to circle Earth,
direction of its velocity always at right angles to direction of force of 1
gravity on it,
no work done on it so speed does not change 1
2a geostationary satellite orbits once every 24 hours, 1
GPS satellite orbits in half this time, 1
the larger the orbit, the longer it takes so GPS satellite in lower orbit 1
2b weather satellite takes less time to orbit than GPS satellite, 1
the larger the orbit, the longer it takes so weather satellite in lower orbit 1
than GPS satellite

© Oxford University Press 2017 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 4
Student Book answers P16 Space

Question Answer Marks Guidance


number
3a Jupiter is slowest, 1
it is about 5 times further from the Sun than Earth because light takes 5 1
times longer to reach it,
but takes about 11 times longer to go round its orbit so its speed must 1
be less than Earth,
Jupiter is about 13 times further than Mercury (as light from the Sun 1
takes about 13 times longer to reach it)
but Jupiter takes about 120 times as long to orbit the Sun as Mercury, 1
so must be slower than Mercury
(or for a circular orbit, speed of a satellite = circumference/time it takes
to go round once,
circumference of a circular orbit is proportional to its radius
so speed of a satellite proportional to orbit radius/time satellite takes to
go round once,
this ratio is equal to 1.6 for Mercury , 1 for Earth and 0.4 for Jupiter,
so Jupiter is slowest because it has the lowest ratio)
3b Mercury is fastest: takes ≈ 0.25 years to go round its orbit although its 1
orbit is 0.39 times size of Earth’s,
∴ Mercury is faster than Earth and Jupiter 1
(or Mercury has highest ratio in the analysis in a
so it is the fastest)
4 speed of satellite in circular orbit is proportional to orbit radius/time 1
satellite takes to go round once, this ratio is equal to 1.6 for Mercury
and 1.0 for Earth
so Mercury’s speed is about 1.6 times that of Earth, 1
Mercury’s speed is ∴ 1.6 x 30 km/s which gives 48 km/s 1

© Oxford University Press 2017 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 5
Student Book answers P16 Space

P16.4 The expanding universe


Question Answer Marks Guidance
number
1ai receding 1
1 a ii approaching 1
1b blue-shift means Andromeda must be moving towards us 1
2a Earth, Sun, Andromeda galaxy, universe 1
2bi they have red-shifts of same order of magnitude as distant galaxies 1
2 b ii as brightness of a quasar seen from Earth is same as brightness of 1
billions of stars in a distant galaxy even though a quasar is much
smaller than a galaxy,
power output of a quasar is about same as billions of stars/a galaxy 1
3a light from a light source (e.g. galaxy) moving away from us has 1
increased wavelength due to motion of source,
this increase in wavelength called red-shift 1
3bi Y 1
3 b ii X 1
4 any three from: 3
 these galaxies have different speeds because they have
different red- or blue-shifts,
 ones with red-shifts are moving away from us,
 ones with blue-shifts are moving towards us,
 some galaxies may be moving across but we can’t tell because
they are so far away

© Oxford University Press 2017 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 6
Student Book answers P16 Space

P16.5 The beginning and the future of the universe


Question Answer Marks Guidance
number
1a universe was created in a massive explosion about 13 billion years ago 1
1b no evidence for a massive explosion, 1
they could explain Hubble’s finding that universe is expanding by 1
assuming that universe has always existed and is expanding because
matter is entering it and pushing galaxies apart
1c it provided evidence that universe was created in a massive explosion 1
2 CDBA 1
3a distant galaxies are accelerating away from each other 1
3b universe would stop expanding 1
and go into reverse, ending in Big Crunch 1
4a 1
≈ × 106 light years
1
≈ 6.8 × 109
or 6800 million light years
4b ≈70 000 1

© Oxford University Press 2017 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 7

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