OCR B Advancing Physics (AS Level) G492 Pre-release

Hi all,
I received the pre-release article for section C of G492 today - looks to be not that bad. Has anyone else seen it and what do you think? Shout out anything that jumps in to your head as potential questions, and we can work on how we'd all respond to them!

(Sorry if there's a l ready a thread on this, search didn't turn anything up but I think discussion would be useful.)

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Amazing, thanks for setting this up! Do you know what date this exam is on?

Possible questions:

Article 1
Calculate the sensitivity, given Δθ=10oc.
Using the graph, find the response time of sensor A.
What is a thermistor? How does it work?
Which are the controlled variables in this experiment?
How might zero errors affect the results?
Explain the importance of the response time.
If the thermistor was being used as a heat detector in a fire alarm, which one would be best?
Given a Δθ of … find the resolution of sensor A.
The sensitivity of sensor X is …, find the temperature of the water.
Discuss potential applications for thermistors.
How could we improve the sensitivity using impurities?
How does a potential divider system work?
Draw a potential divider circuit.
Calculate the resistance of a thermistor given the current...
What factors could affect the response time?
What is the error on the thermometer? (Given a picture)
Given the uncertainty of the thermometer and the uncertainty of the voltmeter, find the percentage uncertainty of the sensitivity.
What type of error would we introduce if we used a stopwatch rather than a data logger?
In a potential divider circuit at which point would you attach the voltmeter?
Find the specific heat capacity of water.
Find the specific heat capacity of the semiconductor.
How would the specific heat capacity of the semiconductor affect the response time?
How would the cooling rate of the hot water affect results.
How would the size of the temperature difference affect the rate of energy transfer to the semiconductor?

Article 2
Explain what is meant by a kWh.
Calculate the average electricity usage.
Compare the averages of 1996 and 2000.
Draw a Sankey diagram for the appliance… with an efficiency of… (different appliances, anomalous results, input, output, wasted, useful, for which month)
Describe and explain the trends in electricity used for one of the tables by month.
Using the data from table X plot a graph.
What effect does this use of electricity have on oil prices/the oil industry/society/planet?
Compare how the average temperature collates with month X. Explain the discrepancies.

Article 3
Calculate the fringe spacing given a wavelength of 650nm.
How would the fringe spacing of red light (650nm) compare with that of blue light (350nm)?
What problems might Thomas Young have faced with his method?
Given variables x y z calculate the wavelength of the light.
Discuss the disadvantages and advantages of using a laser.
Discuss the inaccuracies of using a slip of card.
Compare the wavelength of light to the thickness of card.
Describe how the results would change with a different thickness of card.
Suggest one way in which measurement errors could be reduced.
Describe why scientists are sceptical of new ideas.
Fill in the following table.
Using this data plot a graph.
Find the gradient.
Compare for the three wavelengths of light in… how the fringe separation varies.
Find the area under the line.

Possible questions:

Article 1
Calculate the sensitivity, given Δθ=10oc.
Using the graph, find the response time of sensor A.
What is a thermistor? How does it work?
Which are the controlled variables in this experiment?
How might zero errors affect the results?
Explain the importance of the response time.
If the thermistor was being used as a heat detector in a fire alarm, which one would be best?
Given a Δθ of … find the resolution of sensor A.
The sensitivity of sensor X is …, find the temperature of the water.
Discuss potential applications for thermistors.
How could we improve the sensitivity using impurities?
How does a potential divider system work?
Draw a potential divider circuit.
Calculate the resistance of a thermistor given the current...
What factors could affect the response time?
What is the error on the thermometer? (Given a picture)
Given the uncertainty of the thermometer and the uncertainty of the voltmeter, find the percentage uncertainty of the sensitivity.
What type of error would we introduce if we used a stopwatch rather than a data logger?
In a potential divider circuit at which point would you attach the voltmeter?
Find the specific heat capacity of water.
Find the specific heat capacity of the semiconductor.
How would the specific heat capacity of the semiconductor affect the response time?
How would the cooling rate of the hot water affect results.
How would the size of the temperature difference affect the rate of energy transfer to the semiconductor?

Article 2
Explain what is meant by a kWh.
Calculate the average electricity usage.
Compare the averages of 1996 and 2000.
Draw a Sankey diagram for the appliance… with an efficiency of… (different appliances, anomalous results, input, output, wasted, useful, for which month)
Describe and explain the trends in electricity used for one of the tables by month.
Using the data from table X plot a graph.
What effect does this use of electricity have on oil prices/the oil industry/society/planet?
Compare how the average temperature collates with month X. Explain the discrepancies.

Article 3
Calculate the fringe spacing given a wavelength of 650nm.
How would the fringe spacing of red light (650nm) compare with that of blue light (350nm)?
What problems might Thomas Young have faced with his method?
Given variables x y z calculate the wavelength of the light.
Discuss the disadvantages and advantages of using a laser.
Discuss the inaccuracies of using a slip of card.
Compare the wavelength of light to the thickness of card.
Describe how the results would change with a different thickness of card.
Suggest one way in which measurement errors could be reduced.
Describe why scientists are sceptical of new ideas.
Fill in the following table.
Using this data plot a graph.
Find the gradient.
Compare for the three wavelengths of light in… how the fringe separation varies.
Find the area under the line.

if the exam board mean really mean that the output pd across the thermistor rises with increasing temperature then I reckon it must be a ptc (positive temperature coefficient) thermistor rather than the more usual type which have a decreasing resistance as the temperature rises. This is the type that are usually used in circuit breakers of as fuses and have a sudden change in resistance at a critical temperature, rather than the ntc type used in eg central heating controls and fire alarms. Do others agree?

There may be an issue with the thermistor section - the pre-release says 'a potential divider circuit is set up so that a rise in temperature gives an increase in output pd across the thermistor'. The only way to get this is to have a thermistor with a PTC positive temperature coefficient, i.e. as temp increases so does resistance. This is not the type of negative coefficient thermistor studied in the course where electrons are liberated from a semiconductor and cause resistance to decrease with temperature. I have contacted exam board for clarification.

There may be an issue with the thermistor section - the pre-release says 'a potential divider circuit is set up so that a rise in temperature gives an increase in output pd across the thermistor'. The only way to get this is to have a thermistor with a PTC positive temperature coefficient, i.e. as temp increases so does resistance. This is not the type of negative coefficient thermistor studied in the course where electrons are liberated from a semiconductor and cause resistance to decrease with temperature. I have contacted exam board for clarification.