plumiNewton’s law of gravitation and g for a point mass: Edexcel International A Level Physics questions
Edexcel International A Level Physics past-paper questions on 5.6.1.2 Newton’s law of gravitation and g for a point mass, 2019–2025, with mark schemes and examiner’s reports where available.
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Q17(c)
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All 26 questions on Newton’s law of gravitation and g for a point mass, as a list
- June 2025, Unit 5, Q17(c) (2 marks): A solid sphere has the same diameter as the Gaia globe. Calculate the mass of the sphere that would give a value of g, at its surface, –1. of 9.8 N kg (2) Mass
- January 2025, Unit 5, Q14(b) (3 marks): A television programme claimed that the gravitational field strength at the surface of the Sun is 28 times the gravitational field strength at the surface of th
- October 2024, Unit 5, Q18(b)(i) (2 marks): Show that the gravitational field strength at the surface of Ganymede is about 1.4 N kg –1. radius of Ganymede = 2640 km mass of Ganymede = 1.48 × 10 23 kg (2)
- October 2024, Unit 5, Q18(b)(ii) (2 marks): The radius of Ganymede is about 50% larger than the radius of the Earth’s Moon. Explain what can be deduced about the mass of the Earth’s Moon from this informa
- June 2024, Unit 5, Q6 (1 mark): The dwarf planet Pluto orbits the Sun in an elliptical orbit. The gravitational force of the Sun on Pluto varies as Pluto orbits the Sun. Pluto moves away from
- June 2024, Unit 5, Q12 (3 marks): The planet Uranus has nearly thirty moons. Titania is the largest of these moons. The radius of Titania is 7.88 × 10 5 m. The mass of Titania is 3.40 × 10 21 kg
- January 2024, Unit 5, Q10 (1 mark): The Earth has 10 times the mass of Mars and twice the radius of Mars. The gravitational field strength at the surface of the Earth is gE. The gravitational fiel
- January 2024, Unit 5, Q12 (4 marks): A simple pendulum has a period of 2.00 s on Earth. Calculate what the period would be if the pendulum was on the planet Venus. mass of Venus = 4.87 × 10 24 kg r
- October 2023, Unit 5, Q6 (1 mark): The Moon is gradually moving away from the Earth. The gravitational potential at the Earth due to the Moon, and the gravitational force between the Earth and th
- October 2023, Unit 5, Q7 (1 mark): A small satellite of mass 122 kg is orbiting the Earth. The satellite is orbiting at a height above the surface of the Earth equal to the radius of the Earth. W
- October 2023, Unit 5, Q17(a) (2 marks): Calculate the gravitational field strength at the surface of Makemake. (2) Gravitational field strength at surface =
- October 2023, Unit 5, Q18(a) (4 marks): Calculate the force between the asteroid and the Earth at the closest distance. You may assume the asteroid is a sphere. asteroid diameter = 5.65 m asteroid den
- June 2023, Unit 5, Q8 (1 mark): Mars has approximately 8 times the mass of the Moon. Mars has twice the diameter of the Moon. The value of g on the surface of the Moon is 1.6 N kg –1. What is
- January 2023, Unit 5, Q20(a) (4 marks): A physicist planned to investigate the gravitational force using lead spheres identical to the ones used in Cavendish’s original experiment. One of the spheres
- January 2023, Unit 5, Q20(b)(i) (2 marks): Show that m 3 kg –1 s –2 is a correct unit for G. (2)
- January 2023, Unit 5, Q20(b)(ii) (2 marks): The physicists concluded that their value for G was within reasonable agreement with the standard value of G. Evaluate the validity of their conclusion. G = 6.6
- January 2023, Unit 5, Q21(b) (5 marks): Humans would not be able to survive on a planet with a gravitational field strength 4 times greater than the gravitational field strength at the surface of the
- October 2022, Unit 5, Q17(a)(i) (2 marks): Show that the gravitational force exerted on Ceres by the Sun is about 7 × 1017 N. mass of Sun = 1.99 × 1030 kg (2)
- October 2022, Unit 5, Q17(b) (3 marks): Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system. The gravitational field strength gm at the surface of Mercury is 3.7 N kg–1. It is claimed that the gravitat
- June 2022, Unit 5, Q4 (1 mark): A communications satellite has a mass of 935 kg. The satellite has an orbital radius four times the radius of the Earth. Which of the following gives the gravit
- June 2022, Unit 5, Q6 (1 mark): The gravitational field strength at the surface of the Earth is g. Another planet has the same density as the Earth, but twice the radius of the Earth. What is
- June 2021, Unit 5, Q5 (1 mark): The gravitational field strength on the surface of Mercury is gM. Callisto, a moon of Jupiter, has the same radius as Mercury but only one third of its density.
- January 2021, Unit 5, Q7 (1 mark): A small satellite of mass 245 kg is orbiting the Earth. The radius of the orbit is equal to twice the radius of the Earth. The weight of the satellite in its or
- January 2021, Unit 5, Q11 (2 marks): The Earth is 9.3 times more massive than Mars. The gravitational field strength at the surface of the Earth is 2.6 times greater than at the surface of Mars. Ca
- January 2021, Unit 5, Q16(b) (2 marks): Recent photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope show that NGC 6052 actually consists of two galaxies that are colliding. (Source: © Nasa) The galaxies are ac
- October 2020, Unit 5, Q15(a) (3 marks): Show that g obeys an inverse square law. (3)
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