plumiThe Earth’s atmosphere: Edexcel GCSE Chemistry questions
Every Edexcel GCSE Chemistry exam question on The Earth’s atmosphere (specification points 8.18–8.23), 2018–2025, with its mark scheme and examiner’s report.
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Q5(a)
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Q5(b)(i)
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Q5(b)(ii)
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Q5(c)(i)
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Q5(c)(ii)
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Q5(d)(ii)
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Q3(a)
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Q6(a)(i)
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Q6(a)(ii)
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Q9(a)
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Q9(d)
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Q5(a)
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Q4(a)
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Q4(b)(i)
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Q4(b)(ii)
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Q4(c)(i)
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Q4(c)(ii)
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Q7(a)
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Q7(d)(i)
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Q7(d)(ii)
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All 45 questions on The Earth’s atmosphere, as a list
- June 2025, Paper 2 Foundation, Q5(a) (1 mark): Which gas made up the greatest proportion of the Earth’s early atmosphere? (1) A oxygen B nitrogen C carbon dioxide D argon
- June 2025, Paper 2 Foundation, Q5(b)(i) (1 mark): Give the name of the gas in Earth’s atmosphere today that makes up the largest proportion. (1)
- June 2025, Paper 2 Foundation, Q5(b)(ii) (1 mark): Using the information in Figure 6, calculate the percentage of argon and other gases in the Earth’s atmosphere today. (1) percentage of argon and other gases =
- June 2025, Paper 2 Foundation, Q5(c)(i) (2 marks): Explain one change that would be seen during the reaction. (2)
- June 2025, Paper 2 Foundation, Q5(c)(ii) (1 mark): Name the product formed when the zinc reacts with oxygen in this experiment. (1)
- June 2025, Paper 2 Foundation, Q5(d)(ii) (2 marks): Argon makes up 0.93% of the Earth’s atmosphere today. % gas = volume of a gas present in air × 100 total volume of air Calculate the volume of argon, in cm3, in
- June 2024, Paper 2 Higher, Q3(a) (2 marks): Describe the test to show that a gas is oxygen. (2)
- June 2024, Paper 2 Higher, Q6(a)(i) (1 mark): The initial volume of air in the measuring cylinder was 18.0 cm3 . The student left the apparatus overnight. The volume of gas in the measuring cylinder the nex
- June 2024, Paper 2 Higher, Q6(a)(ii) (2 marks): Describe one improvement the student could make to this method to ensure that all of the oxygen in the measuring cylinder has reacted. (2)
- June 2024, Paper 2 Foundation, Q9(a) (2 marks): Describe the test to show that a gas is oxygen. (2)
- June 2024, Paper 2 Foundation, Q9(d) (6 marks): Figure 16 shows how plant life and the atmosphere of Earth have changed over time. amount of amount of period of time plant life carbon dioxide oxygen in in atm
- June 2023, Paper 2 Higher, Q5(a) (1 mark): Figure 9 shows the percentage of three gases, X, Y and Z, in the Earth’s early atmosphere. percentage 100 of gas in 90 Earth’s early atmosphere 80 70 60 50 40 3
- June 2023, Paper 2 Foundation, Q4(a) (1 mark): Complete the bar chart showing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere 3 billion years ago by adding a bar to show the percentage of carbon dioxide. (1) perce
- June 2023, Paper 2 Foundation, Q4(b)(i) (1 mark): Use words from the box to complete the following sentence. (1) has decreased has increased has stayed the same Over the past 3 billion years the average surface
- June 2023, Paper 2 Foundation, Q4(b)(ii) (2 marks): The Earth’s atmosphere 3 billion years ago contained much more water vapour than today’s atmosphere. Explain what happened to the water vapour. (2)
- June 2023, Paper 2 Foundation, Q4(c)(i) (1 mark): Carbon dioxide was used in the growth of primitive plants and produced oxygen. Give the name of the process in plants that takes in carbon dioxide and produces
- June 2023, Paper 2 Foundation, Q4(c)(ii) (1 mark): Which of the following tests would show that a gas is oxygen? (1) A put a lighted splint into the gas and it burns with a pop B put a glowing splint into the ga
- June 2022, Paper 2 Higher, Q7(a) (2 marks): The percentage of oxygen in today’s atmosphere is greater than the percentage of oxygen in the Earth’s early atmosphere. Explain what caused this change to happ
- June 2022, Paper 2 Higher, Q7(d)(i) (2 marks): Explain one change the student would see after a few days. (2)
- June 2022, Paper 2 Higher, Q7(d)(ii) (2 marks): Explain one change that can be made to the apparatus in Figure 10 to allow the student to calculate the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere. (2)
- June 2022, Paper 2 Foundation, Q9(e) (6 marks): Figure 16 shows the relative amounts of three gases in the early atmosphere compared to the composition of today’s atmosphere. relative amount in composition of
- November 2021, Paper 2 Higher, Q5(d) (4 marks): Figure 6 shows two gas syringes connected by a glass tube. Inside the glass tube there are some pieces of zinc. Zinc reacts with oxygen at a temperature of over
- November 2020, Paper 2 Higher, Q7(a) (1 mark): Air contains several gaseous elements. Which of these shows the three most common gaseous elements in air, listed in order from the most common to the least com
- November 2020, Paper 2 Higher, Q7(d) (2 marks): Much of the carbon dioxide present in the Earth’s early atmosphere dissolved into the oceans. This led to the formation of compounds including calcium carbonate
- November 2020, Paper 2 Higher, Q7(e) (2 marks): P and Q are both mixtures of gases. One has the same composition as the early atmosphere and the other has the same composition as the current atmosphere. Tests
- November 2020, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(a)(i) (1 mark): What is the third most common gas in today’s atmosphere? (1) A argon B butane C chlorine D hydrogen
- November 2020, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(a)(ii) (1 mark): What is the percentage of oxygen in today’s atmosphere? (1) A 0.04 B 1 C 21 D 78
- November 2020, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(b) (1 mark): Give the name of the most common gas in the Earth’s early atmosphere. (1)
- November 2020, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(c) (2 marks): This early atmosphere was hot and contained water vapour. The atmosphere today contains less water vapour. Explain what caused the amount of water vapour in the
- June 2019, Paper 2 Higher, Q5(a)(i) (1 mark): Which row of the table shows the approximate percentage of carbon dioxide thought to be in the Earth’s early atmosphere and how this percentage changed to form
- June 2019, Paper 2 Higher, Q5(a)(ii) (4 marks): The actual percentage of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere today varies. Explain two factors that cause the percentage of carbon dioxide in today’s atmos
- June 2019, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(a) (1 mark): Plants release oxygen into the atmosphere. What is the name of the process that releases oxygen into the atmosphere? (1) A combustion B oxidation C photosynthes
- June 2019, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(b)(i) (1 mark): Figure 1 shows an incomplete bar chart of the main gases in the atmosphere. 100 percentage of gas in today’s 90 atmosphere 78 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1 0 nitrog
- June 2019, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(b)(ii) (2 marks): Calculate the volume of oxygen present in 300 cm3 of air. (volumes are measured under the same conditions of temperature and pressure) (2) volume of oxygen = cm
- June 2019, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(d) (1 mark): Which test shows a gas is oxygen? (1) A a few drops of limewater will turn cloudy when shaken with the gas B a glowing splint will relight when placed in the ga
- June 2018, Paper 2 Higher, Q1(a) (2 marks): Figure 1 shows the relative amounts of gases thought to be in the Earth’s early atmosphere. relative amount in Earth’s gas early atmosphere oxygen small carbon
- June 2018, Paper 2 Higher, Q1(b)(i) (2 marks): The following results were obtained initial volume of air in apparatus = 50 cm3 final volume of gas in apparatus = 40 cm3 Calculate the percentage of oxygen in
- June 2018, Paper 2 Higher, Q1(b)(ii) (1 mark): At the end of the experiment, the apparatus and its contents are allowed to cool before the final volume of gas is measured. (1) The apparatus and its contents
- June 2018, Paper 2 Higher, Q1(c) (2 marks): The Earth’s earliest rocks contained iron sulfide and no iron oxide. Later the rocks contained iron oxide as well as iron sulfide. Explain what happened to allo
- June 2018, Paper 2 Foundation, Q6(c) (2 marks): The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere has increased since the Earth’s early atmosphere was formed. Explain what has caused this change. (2)
- June 2018, Paper 2 Foundation, Q6(d) (2 marks): Carbon dioxide is present in the Earth’s atmosphere. Some processes increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, other processes decrease it. Draw o
- Specimen, Paper 2 Higher, Q1(a) (1 mark): Which of the following is a correct statement about the relative amounts of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the Earth’s early atmosphere? (1) A large amount of car
- Specimen, Paper 2 Higher, Q1(b) (2 marks): Several processes change the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. Describe how the composition of the atmosphere is affected by burning fossil fuels. (2)
- Specimen, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(a) (1 mark): The Earth’s early atmosphere was formed by (1) A animals breathing. B global warming. C plants growing. D volcanic activity.
- Specimen, Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(b) (2 marks): Figure 1 shows some data about the composition of gases present in the Earth’s early atmosphere and today’s atmosphere. composition (%) gas Earth’s early atmosp
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