July 2026 Daily Physics questions
Free AS and A2 Daily MCQs from PhysicsUK. Questions appear here after a 7-day delay so pupils can practise with the answer and explanation available.
Circular motion (M5.2)
A washing machine increases its spin rate from 1000 rpm to 1200 rpm while the drum radius stays the same. For a 0.20 kg portion of wet clothes pressed against the drum wall, by what percentage does the centripetal...
Dynamics (AS): Newton’s laws; friction & drag; terminal velocity
A skydiver falls at terminal velocity before opening a parachute, then opens it and waits until a new steady descent is reached. Assume the skydiver’s weight is unchanged. Which statement must be true when comparing...
Mechanics & Materials (M3): Young modulus (required practical)
In a Young modulus practical, a steel wire of length 2.0 m and diameter 1.0 mm extends by 0.50 mm when an extra 10 N load is added. A second steel wire of the same length but diameter 0.50 mm is tested with the same...
Mechanics & Materials (M3)
A designer uses a 6.0 V potential divider to feed a microcontroller input. The upper leg is an LDR connected to +6.0 V; the lower leg is a fixed 4.0 kΩ resistor to 0 V. The output voltage is taken at their junction. In...
DC circuits: potential dividers
In a lab temperature probe, a 6.0 V supply feeds a fixed 4.0 kΩ resistor in series with an NTC thermistor. V_out is taken across the thermistor. At 20 °C the thermistor is 4.0 kΩ; when warmed its resistance halves....
Kinematics (M3)
A student throws a small ball straight up and it returns to her hand at the same height. Air resistance is negligible. At the highest point of its flight, which statement must be true?
Projectile motion (M3)
In a school lab, a launcher fires a small rubber stopper at a fixed angle of 40° to the horizontal. Air resistance is negligible. If the launch speed is doubled while keeping the angle the same, what happens to the...
Fields: Gravitational, Electric & Magnetic (M5/M6)
Which statement must be true when testing whether the gravitational field strength g around a spherical planet follows a 1/r² model? A probe finds g = 6.0 N kg^-1 at r = 2000 km from the planet’s centre. At r = 4000...
Capacitance & RC (M6)
In a lab setup, a 9.0 V battery with internal resistance 1.0 Ω charges a 2200 μF capacitor through a 4.0 Ω series resistor when a switch is closed. Neglect leakage. Estimate when the capacitor voltage first reaches 6.0...
Mechanics & Materials (M3)
A stadium t-shirt cannon fires two shirts at the same speed from pitch level: Shot 1 at 30° and Shot 2 at 60° above the horizontal. Ignore air resistance and assume both are caught back at pitch level. Which statement...
Nuclear physics (Module 6): mass–energy and binding energy; fission/fusion (qualitative)
In a simplified reactor model, a U-235 nucleus fissions into two medium-mass fragments. Before fission, the average binding energy per nucleon is about 7.6 MeV; for the fragments it is about 8.5 MeV. If the two...
Mechanics & Materials (M3)
In a required practical to estimate the density of a short cylindrical metal rod, a student measures mass m with a digital balance (±0.01 g), length L with a steel ruler (±0.5 mm), and diameter d with a micrometer...
Consolidation: DC circuits mixed reasoning (A2)
A student builds a 5.0 V potential divider using two identical 10 kΩ resistors. They measure the output by connecting a digital voltmeter (input resistance 100 kΩ) from the midpoint to ground (i.e. across the lower 10...
Kinematics — displacement–time graphs (Mechanics, Module 3)
In a lab, a motion sensor tracks a trolley moving along a straight track. Its displacement–time graph is piecewise linear: from t = 0 s to t = 12 s the displacement increases uniformly from 0 m to +24 m; from t = 12 s...
Gravitational fields & orbits (5.3)
An Earth-observation satellite is raised slowly from one stable circular orbit to another with twice the orbital radius, ending in a new stable circular orbit. Ignoring atmospheric drag and mass change, which statement...
Materials (Module 3.4)
In a lab tensile test, two uniform circular wires are hung vertically and loaded in their elastic regions until each extends by exactly 1.0 mm. Wire S (steel) is 1.0 m long with diameter 0.50 mm and requires a 20 N...
Dynamics (AS Module 3): drag and terminal velocity
A skydiver of fixed mass falls vertically. Before opening a parachute, they eventually reach a terminal speed v1. The parachute is then opened, increasing the effective frontal area by a factor of 3 while everything...
Wave optics I: refraction & Snell; TIR; refractive index; optical fibres (qual.)
In a lab test, a step-index optical fibre with core refractive index 1.50 and cladding 1.40 carries light by repeated internal reflections at the core boundary. A small chip in the cladding is covered by an...
Electricity (Module 4.1): energy, power and resistance; series/parallel
In a lab check of heating, two fixed resistors labelled R and 2R are tested with the same 9 V battery. Test 1: they are connected in series for one minute. Test 2: they are reconnected in parallel, each directly across...
Capacitance II (RC, time constant, qualitative)
In a lab dimming circuit for an LED, a charged capacitor is allowed to discharge through a resistor when the power is switched off. Two versions are tested, both starting from the same initial voltage: Setup 1 uses a...
Cross-topic problem solving (mechanics ↔ circuits energy)
An electric hoist is powered by a 9.0 V battery with internal resistance 3.0 Ω. While lifting a 20 N load vertically at steady speed, the current is 1.5 A. Only 60% of the electrical power delivered to the motor...
Energy & power in DC circuits
A car headlamp bulb is rated 12 V, 55 W at normal operating temperature. In a lab test it is connected to a regulated 9.0 V DC supply. The filament’s resistance increases strongly with temperature. Which statement must...
Quantum (Module 4): Photoelectric effect and stopping potential
A student measures the stopping potential for a clean metal photocathode using a vacuum photocell. With 405 nm violet light, the stopping potential is 1.0 V. With 650 nm red light, no photoelectrons are detected at any...
Quantum I (Module 4): photon model; intensity vs photon rate
In a dark lab, two monochromatic LED sources each emit 3.0 mW of light into identical beam areas. One is green at wavelength 500 nm, the other is red at 750 nm. A photon-counting detector with equal efficiency at both...
Electricity: DC circuits & sensors (M4)
A garden light uses an LDR in a potential divider to sense daylight. A 4.0 kΩ fixed resistor is connected from +6.0 V to the output node; the LDR is connected from the output node to 0 V. In shade the LDR is 8.0 kΩ....
DC Circuits (M4): Sensors with potential dividers
A student builds a light sensor using a potential divider: an LDR is connected to the +5 V supply and in series with a fixed resistor R to 0 V. The output voltage V_out is taken across R. The LDR’s resistance decreases...
Foundations of Physics (M2)
In a lab, a student estimates the density of a flat metal coin by measuring its mass and its diameter and thickness. The balance and thickness gauge are well calibrated, but the calipers used for the diameter have a...
Kinematics (displacement–time)
In a lab, a trolley moves along a straight track and its displacement x from a marker is plotted against time t. The x–t graph is three straight segments: from t = 0.0 s to 3.0 s, x increases uniformly from 0.00 m to...
Materials (M3): Practical methods
In a lab determination of Young modulus using a steel wire, you plot force against extension measured with a ruler that reads to 0.5 mm. The main limitation is that the extensions are small compared with this reading...
Simple harmonic motion (SHM): energy interchange
A low-friction glider on an air track is attached to a spring and oscillates with constant amplitude A in simple harmonic motion. At an instant the glider is at displacement x = A/2 from equilibrium. Which statement...
DC Circuits (M4)
A student builds a simple temperature probe using a 9.0 V supply and a potential divider: a 6.0 kΩ fixed resistor in series with an NTC thermistor. The output Vout is measured across the thermistor to ground. At 20 °C...