Paper 1 Required Practicals

Question 1

PRACTICAL 1: SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
- How can we determine the specific heat capacity of
a substance?

Answer 1

• 1) Measure the mass of the object/substance being
  investigated
  2) Place a thermometer and heater in the object
  3) Read the starting temperature
  4) Wrap in insulating material
  5) Connect heater to joulemeter and leave for 30
  mins
  6) Read total number of joules and final temperature

Question 2

PRACTICAL 2: THERMAL INSULATORS
- How can we investigate the effectiveness of thermal
insulators?

Answer 2

• 1) Place a small beaker in a larger beaker and boil
  water
  2) Add a set volume of the hot water into the small
  beaker
  3) Place lid on large beaker with a hole for the
  thermometer
  4) Record starting temperature and start stopwatch
  5) Record temperature of water every 3 mins for 15
  mins
  6) Repeat using same volume of water but with an
  insulating material between small and large
  beakers

Question 3

PRACTICAL 3: RESISTANCE
- How can we investigate the factors affecting
resistance?

Answer 3

• 1) Set up a circuit with an ammeter and a voltmeter
  measure the P.D. across a length of wire
  2) Turn on the circuit at a low voltage and with
  crocodile clips setting the length of wire at 0
  3) Measure the current and voltage and the turn off
  the circuit
  4) Move the second crocodile a further 10cm away
  and turn the circuit on again and measure the
  current and volts
  5) Repeat and plot a graph of resistance against wire length

Question 4

PRACTICAL 4: CURRENT/PD CHARACTERISTICS
- How can we investigate the current/voltage
characteristics of circuit components?

Answer 4

• 1) Create a circuit with a battery connected to wires
  which are connected to an ammeter and then a
  resistor with a voltmeter measuring its P.D. it
  should also be connected to a variable resistor
  2) Read P.D. across resistor and current through
  resistor
  3) Adjust variable resistor and record new readings
  4) Switch direction of battery, there should be
  negative values
  5) Plot graph of current against the potential
  difference
  6) Repeat with different circuit components in place
  of the resistor

Question 5

PRACTICAL 5: DENSITY
- How can we determine the density or regular and
irregular objects?

Answer 5

• 1) For a regular object, first use a balance to
  determine the mass
  2) Measure the side lengths and times width x height x depth to get volume
  3) density = mass ÷ volume
  4) For irregular objects, use a balance to determine
  the mass
  5) Place the object in a filled eureka can and
  measure the volume of water displaced in a
  measuring cylinder
  6) This volume is the same as the volume of the
  object