AQA GCSE Physics Physics Paper 2 (Foundation), June 2024: Question 6

✅ Correct Answer

Infrared camera (Also accepted: thermometer, thermal imaging camera, night vision goggles).

💡 Key Knowledge

Infrared (IR) radiation is emitted by all hot objects. Special electronic sensors and thermal imaging equipment can detect IR and convert it into visible thermal images.

🧠 Exam Technique

Keep your answer concise. Stick to standard laboratory or industrial equipment names explicitly listed in the specification.

❌ Common Errors

Students sometimes incorrectly write "light meter" or "photographic film", which are designed for the visible light spectrum rather than infrared.

✅ Correct Answer

690 nm (Tick the third box down).

💡 Key Knowledge

Visible light spans from approximately 400 nm (violet) to 700 nm (red). Red light sits at the higher wavelength end of the visible spectrum, just before infrared.

🧠 Exam Technique

Use the provided Figure 10 scale! Visible light is bounded between 400 nm and 700 nm. Look for a value that is high up in that range (close to 700 nm).

❌ Common Errors

Selecting 750 nm. Although it's close, 750 nm falls past 700 nm into the infrared region according to the chart provided.

✅ Correct Answer

• Bees cannot detect all the colours that humans can (specifically, bees cannot see red light).
• Bees can detect ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which humans cannot.

💡 Key Knowledge

Different organisms have different photoreceptor cells in their eyes. Bees have a visual range shifted towards shorter wavelengths (300 nm to 600 nm), meaning they miss red but gain UV.

🧠 Exam Technique

This is a "compare" question. Make sure your points explicitly mention differences relating to both organisms. Use the data given in the stem (300 nm to 600 nm) to guide your comparison against standard human vision (~400 nm to 700 nm).

❌ Common Errors

Vague statements like "bees see different things" or "bees see better". You must specify the exact regions of the spectrum or colours involved (red vs UV).

✅ Correct Answer

When sunlight shines on a red flower, the red light is reflected.

All other colours of light shining on the red flower are absorbed.

💡 Key Knowledge

An object appears a certain colour because it reflects wavelengths of that specific colour while absorbing all other wavelengths of the visible spectrum.

🧠 Exam Technique

Pay close attention to the requested order. The mark scheme specifies that answers must be in the correct sequence matching the sentence gaps.

❌ Common Errors

Mixing up reflection and absorption. Remember: the colour you see is what bounces off (reflects) into your eyes; everything else is trapped (absorbed).

✅ Correct Answer

Black (Tick the first box).

💡 Key Knowledge

A green filter only transmits green light and absorbs all other colours. A red flower only reflects red light. Since the red flower reflects no green light, and the green filter blocks all red light, no light reaches the observer's eye, making it look black.

🧠 Exam Technique

Trace the light step-by-step: Incident white light → Flower reflects ONLY red → Red light hits green filter → Green filter absorbs red light → 0 light transmitted → Appears black.

❌ Common Errors

Guessing "Green" because of the filter, or "Red" because the flower is red. Filters subtract or block light; they do not magically change the colour of an object.

✅ Correct Answer

Diffuse reflection (Diffuse scattering).

💡 Key Knowledge

Specular reflection happens on smooth, flat surfaces (like a mirror) where light reflects evenly in one direction. Diffuse reflection happens on rough surfaces where light is scattered in all directions due to the uneven normal angles across the surface.

🧠 Exam Technique

Link the surface description straight to the physics term: "rough surface" always leads to "diffuse" reflection.

❌ Common Errors

Writing "regular" reflection instead of specular, or confusing the terms entirely.