plumiAtoms and nuclear radiation: AQA GCSE Physics questions
Every AQA GCSE Physics exam question on 4.4.2 Atoms and nuclear radiation, 2018–2025, with its mark scheme and examiner’s report.
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Calculations
Q07.2
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Q07.3
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Q07.4
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Q07.5
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Q03.1
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Q03.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2025 Paper 1 Foundation, question 03.2: What is the time taken for 50% of the atoms of this uranium isotope to decay? Use Figure 4. [1 mark] Time taken = days](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631f-jun25-03-2-qp.webp)
Q03.3
The whole paper ↗![June 2025 Paper 1 Foundation, question 03.3: What is the half-life of this uranium isotope? [1 mark] Half-life = days](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631f-jun25-03-3-qp.webp)
Q03.4
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Q02.4
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Q09.1
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 Paper 1 Higher, question 09.1: Explain how Figure 15 shows that Source A only emits alpha radiation. [3 marks]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631h-jun24-09-1-qp.webp)
Q09.2
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Q09.3
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 Paper 1 Higher, question 09.3: Suggest one safety precaution the teacher would have taken to reduce the radiation dose the teacher received. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631h-jun24-09-3-qp.webp)
Q09.4
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 Paper 1 Higher, question 09.4: Suggest one safety precaution that the teacher would have taken to avoid becoming contaminated. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631h-jun24-09-4-qp.webp)
Q09.5
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Q06.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 Paper 1 Foundation, question 06.2: Which radioactive rock emitted only alpha radiation? Give a reason for your answer. [2 marks] Tick () one box. Rock A Rock B Rock C Rock D Reason](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631f-jun24-06-2-qp.webp)
Q06.3
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 Paper 1 Foundation, question 06.3: Which radioactive rock emitted only beta radiation? Give a reason for your answer. [2 marks] Tick () one box. Rock A Rock B Rock C Rock D Reason](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631f-jun24-06-3-qp.webp)
Q06.4
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Q06.5
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 Paper 1 Foundation, question 06.5: What is the activity of each rock after one half-life? [1 mark] Tick () one box. The activity is a quarter of the original activity. The activity is half the o](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631f-jun24-06-5-qp.webp)
Q10.4
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Q05.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2023 Paper 1 Higher, question 05.2: Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5700 years. What does ‘a half-life of 5700 years’ mean? [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/84631h-jun23-05-2-qp.webp)
All 62 questions on Atoms and nuclear radiation, as a list
- June 2025, Paper 1 Higher, Q07.2 (2 marks): When radioactivity was discovered, the dangers of radiation were not known. Some scientists were irradiated and contaminated while working with the radioactive
- June 2025, Paper 1 Higher, Q07.3 (2 marks): Polonium-210 was one of the first radioactive elements to be discovered. Polonium-210 (Po) decays into lead (Pb). Complete the nuclear equation for polonium-210
- June 2025, Paper 1 Higher, Q07.4 (3 marks): Polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days. A sample of polonium contains 256 000 atoms. Calculate the time taken for the number of polonium-210 atoms to reach 16
- June 2025, Paper 1 Higher, Q07.5 (2 marks): A sample of polonium contains equal numbers of polonium-209 atoms and polonium-210 atoms. Polonium-209 has a half-life of 125 years. Polonium-210 has a half-lif
- June 2025, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.1 (1 mark): One isotope of uranium (U) decays into thorium (Th) by emitting an alpha particle (He). Which nuclear equation shows the decay of this isotope of uranium? [1 ma
- June 2025, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.2 (1 mark): What is the time taken for 50% of the atoms of this uranium isotope to decay? Use Figure 4. [1 mark] Time taken = days
- June 2025, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.3 (1 mark): What is the half-life of this uranium isotope? [1 mark] Half-life = days
- June 2025, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.4 (2 marks): Figure 5 shows how the percentage of uranium atoms varies with time for three different isotopes of uranium, A, B and C. Figure 5 Which isotope is the most unst
- June 2024, Paper 1 Higher, Q02.4 (1 mark): Radioactive waste produced by nuclear power stations has a long half-life. Suggest one precaution taken to reduce the hazard caused by radioactive waste from po
- June 2024, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.1 (3 marks): Explain how Figure 15 shows that Source A only emits alpha radiation. [3 marks]
- June 2024, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.2 (2 marks): Figure 15 can not be used to determine if Source B emits beta radiation or gamma radiation. Explain how an absorbing material could be used to show which type o
- June 2024, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.3 (1 mark): Suggest one safety precaution the teacher would have taken to reduce the radiation dose the teacher received. [1 mark]
- June 2024, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.4 (1 mark): Suggest one safety precaution that the teacher would have taken to avoid becoming contaminated. [1 mark]
- June 2024, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.5 (4 marks): Figure 16 shows how the number of atoms of a radioactive element in a sample varied with time. Figure 16 Activity is the rate at which a source of unstable nucl
- June 2024, Paper 1 Foundation, Q06.2 (2 marks): Which radioactive rock emitted only alpha radiation? Give a reason for your answer. [2 marks] Tick () one box. Rock A Rock B Rock C Rock D Reason
- June 2024, Paper 1 Foundation, Q06.3 (2 marks): Which radioactive rock emitted only beta radiation? Give a reason for your answer. [2 marks] Tick () one box. Rock A Rock B Rock C Rock D Reason
- June 2024, Paper 1 Foundation, Q06.4 (1 mark): The teacher took safety precautions during the experiment. Which precaution would prevent the teacher from becoming contaminated by the radioactive rocks? [1 ma
- June 2024, Paper 1 Foundation, Q06.5 (1 mark): What is the activity of each rock after one half-life? [1 mark] Tick () one box. The activity is a quarter of the original activity. The activity is half the o
- June 2024, Paper 1 Foundation, Q10.4 (1 mark): Radioactive waste produced by nuclear power stations has a long half-life. Suggest one precaution taken to reduce the hazard caused by radioactive waste from po
- June 2023, Paper 1 Higher, Q05.2 (1 mark): Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5700 years. What does ‘a half-life of 5700 years’ mean? [1 mark]
- June 2023, Paper 1 Higher, Q05.3 (2 marks): A sample of fluorine-17 has an activity that is one quarter of its original activity. Calculate the age of the sample of fluorine-17. [2 marks] Age = s
- June 2023, Paper 1 Higher, Q05.4 (3 marks): All of the isotopes in Table 1 emit beta radiation. Explain which isotope would cause the biggest risk to a person’s health based only on the half-life of each
- June 2023, Paper 1 Higher, Q05.5 (2 marks): People who work in the nuclear power industry need to be aware of irradiation and contamination. Describe the difference between irradiation and contamination.
- June 2023, Paper 1 Higher, Q05.7 (2 marks): Workers in nuclear power stations are monitored to check the radiation they emit. A worker stands 1 cm away from a radiation detector. The amount of radiation t
- June 2023, Paper 1 Foundation, Q02.3 (1 mark): Alpha particles are deflected by the gold nucleus. What are the charges on an alpha particle and a gold nucleus? [1 mark] Tick () one box. An alpha particle an
- June 2023, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.2 (1 mark): Different radioactive isotopes have different half-lives. What does ‘half-life’ mean? [1 mark] Tick () one box. Half the time taken for all of the nuclei in a
- June 2023, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.3 (1 mark): Table 2 shows the half-life of some different isotopes of carbon. Table 2 Isotope Half-life in seconds Carbon-15 2.45 Carbon-16 0.75 Carbon-17 0.19 Carbon-18 0.
- June 2023, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.4 (2 marks): Workers in nuclear power stations must be aware of nuclear irradiation and radioactive contamination. Draw one line from each term to an example of the term. [2
- June 2023, Paper 1 Foundation, Q03.5 (1 mark): Why are workers required to walk across a sticky floor before leaving the nuclear power station? [1 mark] Tick () one box. To remove alpha particles from their
- June 2022, Paper 1 Higher, Q07.1 (1 mark): What does an alpha particle consist of? [1 mark]
- June 2022, Paper 1 Higher, Q07.2 (2 marks): A krypton (Kr) nucleus decays into a rubidium (Rb) nucleus by emitting a beta particle. Complete the nuclear equation for this decay by writing the missing numb
- June 2022, Paper 1 Higher, Q07.3 (5 marks): Internal contamination of the human body means radioactive material is inside the human body. Explain how the risk from internal contamination is different to t
- June 2022, Paper 1 Foundation, Q04.1 (1 mark): What does an alpha particle consist of? [1 mark] Tick () one box. 2 protons and 2 electrons 2 protons and 2 neutrons 4 protons 4 neutrons
- June 2022, Paper 1 Foundation, Q04.2 (1 mark): What is a beta particle? [1 mark] Tick () one box. An electron A neutron Electromagnetic radiation
- June 2022, Paper 1 Foundation, Q04.3 (1 mark): A krypton (Kr) nucleus decays into a rubidium (Rb) nucleus by emitting a beta particle. What is the correct equation for this decay? [1 mark] Tick () one box.
- June 2022, Paper 1 Foundation, Q04.4 (3 marks): Figure 5 shows an experiment to demonstrate how alpha, beta and gamma radiation penetrate different materials. The experiment takes place in a vacuum. Figure 5
- June 2022, Paper 1 Foundation, Q04.5 (3 marks): Alpha, beta and gamma radiation have different ionising powers. Draw one line from each radiation type to the correct ionising power. [3 marks]
- November 2021, Paper 1 Higher, Q06.3 (2 marks): Nucleus B decays by emitting an alpha particle. Draw an arrow on Figure 7 to represent the alpha decay. [2 marks] Figure 7
- November 2021, Paper 1 Higher, Q06.4 (1 mark): What is meant by the ‘random nature of radioactive decay’? [1 mark]
- November 2021, Paper 1 Higher, Q06.5 (3 marks): A polonium (Po) nucleus decays by emitting an alpha particle and forming a lead (Pb) nucleus. Po → Pb + α The lead (Pb) nucleus then decays by emitting a beta p
- November 2021, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.3 (1 mark): A nucleus emits radiation. Figure 7 shows how the mass number and the atomic number change. The nucleus is labelled D. Figure 7 Which type of radiation is emitt
- November 2021, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.4 (1 mark): Nucleus E also emits radiation. Figure 8 shows how the mass number and the atomic number change for nucleus E. Figure 8 Which type of radiation is emitted when
- November 2021, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.5 (2 marks): Complete the sentences. Choose answers from the box. Each answer can be used once, more than once or not at all. decrease stay the same increase The thickness o
- November 2021, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.6 (1 mark): All radioactive elements have a half-life. What is meant by ‘half-life’? [1 mark] Tick () one box. The time it takes for all the nuclei in a radioactive sample
- November 2021, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.7 (1 mark): Why should the radiation source used in Figure 9 have a long half-life? [1 mark] Tick () one box. So the activity of the source is approximately constant. So t
- November 2020, Paper 1 Higher, Q05.5 (2 marks): Nuclear fusion power stations will produce radioactive waste. This waste will have a much shorter half-life than the radioactive waste from a nuclear fission po
- November 2020, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.3 (1 mark): Plutonium-239 is one type of radioactive waste from nuclear power stations. The following nuclear equation represents the decay of plutonium-239 (Pu-239). Pu 94
- November 2020, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.4 (1 mark): How much time will it take for the activity of the sample of plutonium-239 to fall to half of its initial activity? [1 mark] Time = years
- November 2020, Paper 1 Foundation, Q05.5 (1 mark): What is the half-life of plutonium-239? [1 mark] Half-life = years
- June 2019, Paper 1 Foundation, Q02.1 (1 mark): Which is the correct decay equation for polonium-210? [1 mark] Tick () one box. Po 84 210 → X + He 2 4 86 214 Po 84 210 → X + He 2 4 86 206 Po 84 210 → X + He
- June 2019, Paper 1 Foundation, Q02.2 (1 mark): Why is alpha radiation dangerous inside the human body? [1 mark] Tick () one box. Alpha radiation is electromagnetic radiation. Alpha radiation is highly ionis
- June 2019, Paper 1 Foundation, Q02.3 (2 marks): Determine the change in mass of the sample of polonium-210 between 50 and 150 days. [2 marks] Change in mass = mg
- June 2019, Paper 1 Foundation, Q02.4 (1 mark): Estimate the mass of polonium-210 remaining after 300 days. [1 mark] Mass = mg
- Specimen, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.1 (2 marks): Give two reasons why this is a good model for the random nature of radioactive decay. [2 mark 1 2
- Specimen, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.2 (2 marks): Use Figure 11 to determine the half-life for these dice using this model. Show on Figure 11 how you work out your answer. [2 marks] Half-life = rolls
- Specimen, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.3: Determine the atomic number of thorium (Th) 234. [1 mar Atomic number = When protactinium decays, a new element is formed and radiation is emitted. The decay ca
- Specimen, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.5 (2 marks): Determine the type of radiation emitted as protactinium decays into a new element. Give a reason for your answer. [2 marks]
- Specimen, Paper 1 Higher, Q09.6 (2 marks): The teacher wears polythene gloves as a safety precaution when handling radioactive materials. The polythene gloves do not stop the teacher’s hands from being i
- Specimen, Paper 1 Foundation, Q07.1 (3 marks): Draw one line from each type of radiation to what the radiation consists of. [3 mark Type of radiation What radiation consists of Electron from the nucleus Alph
- Specimen, Paper 1 Foundation, Q07.2 (2 marks): Complete Figure 10 by writing the name of the correct radiation in each box. [2 mark
- Specimen, Paper 1 Foundation, Q07.3 (2 marks): Give two safety precautions the teacher should have taken in the demonstration. [2 marks] 1 2
- Specimen, Paper 1 Foundation, Q07.4 (2 marks): Use Table 1 to calculate the count rate after 200 seconds. [2 marks]
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