AQA A-Level Physics Paper 1, June 2023: Question 7

1 mark · Medium difficulty · Multiple Choice

Identify which combination of speed and journey time results in a distance travelled of 1 mm.

Practise this question

Question

Multiple choice question 07 asking to identify which combination of speed and journey time gives a distance of 1 mm. A table presents four options (A, B, C, D) with various speeds and times involving SI prefixes: A gives 10 micrometres per second and 100 seconds; B gives 10 kilometres per second and 0.01 microseconds; C gives 1 nanometre per second and 1 gigasecond; D gives 0.1 megametres per second and 100 nanoseconds.
Question text

07 Which combination of an object’s speed and journey time gives a distance travelled

of 1 mm?

[1 mark]

Speed Journey time

A 10 μm s−1 100 s

B 10 km s−1 0.01 μs

C 1 nm s−1 1 Gs

D 0.1 Mm s−1 100 ns

Mark scheme

Show the mark scheme Mark scheme for question 07 indicating that the correct key is A, corresponding to a speed of 10 micrometres per second and a journey time of 100 seconds.

Question Key Answer

07 A 10 μm s−1 100 s

How to answer it

Analysing Speed, Time, and Standard SI Prefixes

What this question tests

This question assesses your fluency with fundamental kinematics (distance = speed × time) combined with your ability to recall and apply standard SI unit prefixes (e.g., milli, micro, nano, kilo, Mega, Giga) under timed exam conditions.

Question 07

Full Worked Solution & Breakdown

✅ Correct Answer

Option A is the correct choice ( 10 µm s⁻¹ and 100 s ).

Awarded 1 mark for selecting A.

💡 Key Knowledge

  • Kinematic Formula: distance = speed × time
  • Target Distance: 1 mm = 1×10⁻³ m
  • Key Prefixes: micro (µ) = 10⁻⁶, nano (n) = 10⁻⁹, milli (m) = 10⁻³

🧠 Exam Technique

Don't blindly guess! Systematically convert the values for each option into standard base SI units (metres and seconds) before multiplying them together to verify which option equals 1×10⁻³ m .

❌ Common Errors

Students frequently confuse positive and negative powers of ten for prefixes (mixing up micro 10⁻⁶ with mega 10⁶ ) or fail to convert millimetres into metres when setting up their target check.

📐 Step-by-Step Calculation (Verifying Option A)

  1. Identify the target: Distance = 1 mm = 1 × 10⁻³ m
  2. Extract Option A values: Speed = 10 µm s⁻¹ , Time = 100 s
  3. Convert speed to base units: 10 × 10⁻⁶ m s⁻¹
  4. Calculate distance: Distance = (10 × 10⁻⁶) × 100 = 10 × 10⁻⁴ = 1 × 10⁻³ m
  5. Conclusion: Matches the target value of 1 mm perfectly. Full marks secured!

Topics

Physics · 3.1 Measurements and their errors

Question and mark scheme from the AQA A-Level Physics examination, Paper 1, June 2023. QuestionVault is an independent revision resource; questions remain the copyright of the awarding body.