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The Earth’s atmosphere: Edexcel GCSE Combined Science questions

Every Edexcel GCSE Combined Science 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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2,937 questions

  1. Q3(a)

    June 2025 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  2. Q3(b)(i)

    June 2025 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  3. Q3(b)(ii)

    June 2025 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  4. Q3(c)(i)

    June 2025 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  5. Q3(c)(ii)

    June 2025 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  6. Q3(d)(ii)

    June 2025 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  7. Q2(a)

    June 2024 · Chemistry Paper 2 Higher

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  8. Q4(a)(i)

    June 2024 · Chemistry Paper 2 Higher

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  9. Q4(a)(ii)

    June 2024 · Chemistry Paper 2 Higher

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  10. Q6(a)

    June 2024 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  11. Q6(d)

    June 2024 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    6 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  12. Q3(a)

    June 2023 · Chemistry Paper 2 Higher

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  13. Q3(a)

    June 2023 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  14. Q3(b)(i)

    June 2023 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  15. Q3(b)(ii)

    June 2023 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  16. Q3(c)(i)

    June 2023 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  17. Q3(c)(ii)

    June 2023 · Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation

    1 markThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  18. Q5(a)

    June 2022 · Chemistry Paper 2 Higher

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  19. Q5(d)(i)

    June 2022 · Chemistry Paper 2 Higher

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗

  20. Q5(d)(ii)

    June 2022 · Chemistry Paper 2 Higher

    2 marksThe Earth’s atmosphere
    The whole paper ↗
All 41 questions on The Earth’s atmosphere, as a list
  1. June 2025, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(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
  2. June 2025, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(b)(i) (1 mark): Give the name of the gas in Earth’s atmosphere today that makes up the largest proportion. (1)
  3. June 2025, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(b)(ii) (1 mark): Using the information in Figure 4, calculate the percentage of argon and other gases in the Earth’s atmosphere today. (1) percentage of argon and other gases =
  4. June 2025, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(c)(i) (2 marks): Explain one change that would be seen during the reaction. (2)
  5. June 2025, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(c)(ii) (1 mark): Name the product formed when the zinc reacts with oxygen in this experiment. (1)
  6. June 2025, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(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
  7. June 2024, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q2(a) (2 marks): Describe the test to show that a gas is oxygen. (2)
  8. June 2024, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q4(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
  9. June 2024, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q4(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)
  10. June 2024, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q6(a) (2 marks): Describe the test to show that a gas is oxygen. (2)
  11. June 2024, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q6(d) (6 marks): Figure 10 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
  12. June 2023, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q3(a) (1 mark): Figure 5 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
  13. June 2023, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(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
  14. June 2023, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(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
  15. June 2023, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(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)
  16. June 2023, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(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
  17. June 2023, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q3(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
  18. June 2022, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q5(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
  19. June 2022, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q5(d)(i) (2 marks): Explain one change the student would see after a few days. (2)
  20. June 2022, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q5(d)(ii) (2 marks): Explain one change that can be made to the apparatus in Figure 6 to allow the student to calculate the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere. (2)
  21. June 2022, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q6(e) (6 marks): Figure 10 shows the relative amounts of three gases in the early atmosphere compared to the composition of today’s atmosphere. relative amount in composition of
  22. November 2021, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q3(d) (4 marks): Figure 4 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
  23. November 2020, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q4(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
  24. November 2020, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q4(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
  25. November 2020, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q4(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
  26. November 2020, Chemistry 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
  27. November 2020, Chemistry 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
  28. November 2020, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q1(b) (1 mark): Give the name of the most common gas in the Earth’s early atmosphere. (1)
  29. November 2020, Chemistry 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
  30. June 2019, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q3(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
  31. June 2019, Chemistry Paper 2 Higher, Q3(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
  32. June 2019, Chemistry 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
  33. June 2019, Chemistry 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
  34. June 2019, Chemistry 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
  35. June 2019, Chemistry 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
  36. June 2018, Chemistry 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
  37. June 2018, Chemistry 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
  38. June 2018, Chemistry 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
  39. June 2018, Chemistry 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
  40. June 2018, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q4(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)
  41. June 2018, Chemistry Paper 2 Foundation, Q4(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

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