P4

Question 1

What is electricity ?

Answer 1

It is a flow of electrons

Question 2

How is static electricity crated give an example ?

Answer 2

Creating friction allows the transfer of electrons which causes static electricity for example if you rub a balloon on a jumper the jumper loses its negative electrons on to the ballon making the balloon negatively charged and the jumper positively charged so it will therefore stick to a wall as this would be neutral or positive the balloon would be attracted to it

Question 3

What are the dangers of static electricity ?

Answer 3

Touching something with a large static charge causes an electric shook which can cause burns and even stop your heart
It is also dangerous when there is a flammable gas around as it can cause a spark and an explosion

Question 4

When is static electricity a nuisance?

Answer 4

When dust and dirt are attracted to insulators such as TVs and get stuck to it .
Also clothes that have been in a tumble drier made of synthetic material cling together

Question 5

How can you reduce the dangers of static electricity ?

Answer 5

Connecting an object that may become charged to an earth wire .
In a factory machine operators stand on insulating mats or wear insulating shoes preventing charge flowing through them

Question 6

What is an electrostatic precipitator ?

Answer 6

They are fitted in factory chimneys to reduce smoke emissions .
It has a metal grid which is negatively charged and the smoke particles flow through this and pick up a negative charge this is charged by a high voltage the particles gain electrons .they are then attracted to positive collecting plates .

Question 7

What is electrostatic spray ?

Answer 7

A spray gun is given a charge (negative) so the paint atoms gain electrons and become negative , the particles of the paint Repel against each other and spread out to make a fine spray , the object being planted is given the opposite charge (positive ) and the paint is attracted to it , the object gets an even coat and less is wasted

Question 8

What is electrical resistance ?

Answer 8

An electric current flows when electrons move through a conductor ,such as wire the moving electrons can collide with metal ions making it more difficult for electrons to move through causing resistance

Question 9

Does a thin or thick wire cause more resistance and why ?

Answer 9

A thin wire has more resistance as it has fewer electrons to carry the current and there is less room causing more collisions with metal ions

Question 10

Does a long or short wire cause more resistance ?

Answer 10

Long wire has more resistance as the electrons have further to travel so have more chance of colliding with metal ions

Question 11

How do you calculate resistance ?

Answer 11

Voltage ➗current

Question 12

How does an alpha smoke detector work ?

Answer 12

Inside the smoke detector there is two charged plates and an alpha emitter (amercuim-241) the alpha particle pass through the two plates causing the air to ionise, ions are attracted to oppositely charged plates causing current to flow , the chamber has vents that allow smoke to enter , when it does enter the alpha particles are absorbed causing less ionisation and a smaller current to go through therefore the alarm is sounded

Question 13

What is most background radiation from ?

Answer 13

Radioactive substances in soil and cosmic rays from space also medical equipment

Question 14

How can a radioactive detector be used to find a crack one blockage in a pipe ?

Answer 14

Gamma rays are emitted into the pipe and a tracer picked up levels of the radiation, if there is a leak more radiation will be detected and if their is a blockage the radiation will stop flowing as much so won’t be detected as much

Question 15

What is carbon dating ?

Answer 15

Living materials contain a certain amount of carbon and when they die the carbon-14 begins to decay as they can no longer exchange gases , the carbon-14 in the atmosphere has remained unchanged for years therefore scientists can tell how old something is by the amount of carbon-14 is left in it

Question 16

What is half-life ?

Answer 16

Half-life is the time taken for half of the radioactive nuclei to decay
E.g. 1000units - 500units the time taken for this to happen is a half-life

Question 17

What happens to the radioactive particles when it decays (half-life) ?

Answer 17

Every half-life a radioactive substance loses half of its radioactive particle these are just replaced with another atom until there is no radioactivity left which can take millions of years

Question 18

What is the relative mass and charge of a proton , neutron and an electron ?

Answer 18

Proton - relative atomic mass of 1 and a positive charge
Neutron - relative atomic mass of 1 and a neutral charge
Electron - relative atomic mass of 0.0005 and a negative charge

Question 19

What is an isotope ?

Answer 19

An isotope is a different version of an element /atom it will have the same atomic number but a different atomic mass therefore it will have more protons or neutrons than the original for example carbon has an atomic mass of 12 and an atomic number of 6 , an isotope of carbon is carbon-14

Question 20

What is beta decay ?

Answer 20

Carbon-14 is radioactive if it undergoes beta decay it becomes
-6 Nitrogen -14
-7. As a neutron turns into a proton and an electron , the electron shoots out of the nucleus and becomes a beta particle
Carbon-14 ➡️ nitrogen-14 (7) ➕ e - / B -1

Question 21

What is alpha decay ?

Answer 21

The radioactive substance that undergoes alpha decay loses 2 protons and 2 neutrons for example :
U-238(92) ➡️Th-234(90) ➕He-4(2)/A

Question 22

What is a fuse and how does it work ?

Answer 22

It is a safety devise to prevent fire 🔥 it’s designed to break a circuit if a fault occurs
It is a short, thin wire with a low melting point

Question 23

How does the fuse work within the plug ?

Answer 23

Of a fault occurs inside an appliance , the live wire will make contact with the neutral wire , the current will be higher than the fuse due to the low resistance so the fuse wire will get hot and melt causing the circuit to break therefore the current is unable to flow so no danger of fire 🔥

Question 24

What does the live wire , the neural,and the earth wire do ?

Answer 24

The live wire - carries the high current to the appliance
The earth wire - it is a safety wire preventing the appliance becoming live
The neutral wire- completes the circuit and carries current away from device

Question 25

What is a re-settable fuse ?

Answer 25

They detect a leak in the circuit of electricity and trip the circuit preventing it from going live or setting on fire 🔥 when the problem is fixed the circuit can be reset

Question 26

What is an ultrasound and how does it work and what can it be used for ?

Answer 26

It can be used for checking babies , breaking down kidney stones and investigating heart and liver problems.
They are small amplitude waves with low energy , at each boundaries between organs some of the waves are reflected back and detected these are processed to produce a picture

Question 27

How do ultrasound waves break down kidney stones ?

Answer 27

The ultrasonic waves cause kidney stone to vibrate , the stones break up and can be dispersed and pass through the body as urine

Question 28

Why are ultrasounds safer than x-rays ?

Answer 28

They are non damaging to cells

And they can produce soft tissue images

Question 29

Briefly what is nuclear fusion ?

Answer 29

It is the joining of small atomic nuclei this requires high temperature and high pressure it doesn’t create nuclear waste

Question 30

What is nuclear fission ?

Answer 30

It splits up big nuclei , this takes place at lower temperature and pressure than fusion

Question 31

Give an example of nuclear fusion ?

Answer 31

Hydrogen -1 ➕hydrogen -2 ➡️helium -3(2)

This process releases a lot of energy ,it happens in stars ✨ and scientists want to uses it on earth for electricity

Question 32

What is cold fusion ?

Answer 32

Cold fusion was supposedly discovered by two scientists in 1989 they said they have completed an experiment of cold fusion(at room temperature ) but after 20 years of research no other scientists could repeat the proses successfully

Question 33

Explain the proses of nuclear fission in a reactor ?

Answer 33

Free neutrons in the fission reactor kick start the process.
Neutron collide with uranium causing them to split and the temperature to rise , control rods limit the rate of fission by absorbing some of the excess neutrons prevent the process from going out of control

Question 34

What is a star ‘powered’ by ?

Answer 34

A star is powered by fusion in its core it releases loads of heat energy

Question 35

What are the two metals that are used by calculating their ratio to tell the radioactive dating in rocks ?

Answer 35

Lead and uranium