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SL - Scientific Skills & Tools

25 MCQ from 2025 Question Bank Scientific Skills & Tools (all topics)

DP IB SL Physics Quiz

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1. Which of the following is an estimate of the order of magnitude of the radius of the Earth?

 

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2. Two trucks X and Y are pulling a car out of thick mud along a straight path. The only other horizontal force acting on the car is a drag force opposite to the direction of motion. The diagram shows the direction of the force applied by truck X and the direction of motion of the car.

PH0490

Which of the following vectors shows the direction of the force applied by truck Y?

PH0490-1

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3. Vectors  and  are in the shown directions.

PH0489-Q

Which of the following shows the sum of the two vectors?

A. B.
PH0489QA PH0489QB
C. D.
PH0489QC PH0489QD

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4. A body moves a distance of 1.5 in 10.

Which of the following gives the correct magnitudes of both of distance and time?

Distance Time
A. 1.5×10^−4 dm 10^6ps
B. 10^16ps
C.
D.

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5. A stream flows east with a speed . A boat points due south and moves with a speed  relative to the water.

PH0492

The ratio vo/vs=1/2

Which of the following is correct about the magnitude in m s^−1 and the angle  between the velocity of the boat and the side of the stream?

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6. A student models the relationship between the velocity v of a moving charge in a magnetic field, and the force F acting on it as , with  being a constant

What are the units for  expressed in fundamental SI units?

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7. An object moves  east, then  north.

What is the magnitude of the total displacement of this object?

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8. The diagram shows a cube of side length 0.010m and a metal sphere of radius . The image below is not to scale.

PH0487

If there is a set of these spheres that could be melted down, what is the estimated number of spheres required to construct the cube from the material?

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9. An experiment requires the measurement of the radius  and height  of a cylindrical battery to determine its volume. The uncertainty in R is  and the uncertainty in  is .

What is the fractional uncertainty in the volume of the battery?

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10. An object starting from rest travels a distance d after a time . If d=(20 ± 1)m, and the time is measured as t=(2.0 ± 0.4)s. Which of the following gives the correct values of the fractional and absolute uncertainties of acceleration?

 Fractional  Absolute /m s^−2
 A. 0.25 ± 2.5
 B. 0.30 ± 3.0
 C. 0.45  4.5
 D. 1.4  14

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11. A point P is subjected to three simultaneous forces of magnitudes FA>FB>FC. Point P is in equilibrium. Which of the following statements is not always true about the magnitudes of the forces?

I. FA=FB+FC
II. FA≤FB+FC
III. FA>FB−FC

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12. A spring of negligible mass and length of lo is attached to a fixed point. When the spring is extended by an external force , the length of the spring increases to l. The graph shows how the length of the spring varies with the tension in spring. The tension in the spring is equal to , where k is a constant and  is the extension of the spring.

PH0036

What are the gradient and y-intercept of the graph?

 Gradient  y-intercept
 A. 1/k l
 B. 1/k lo
 C. k lo
 D. 1/k Δl

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13. A car moves clockwise in a circular path as shown. The direction of its instantaneous velocity at two different times is shown in the diagram.

PH0496

Which of the following vectors shows the direction of the change in velocity?

A. B.
PH0496A PH0496B
C. D.
PH0496C PH0496D

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14. A rectangle has length L=(2 ± 0.1) cm and width .

What is the uncertainty of the perimeter of the rectangle?

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15. Electrons are accelerated between two conducting plates that have a potential difference of . Estimate the total energy that would be delivered to 10^21 electrons by the conducting plates.

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16. An apple falls 5m in height from a tree. It rebounds from the ground with a quarter of its striking speed. The apple is in contact with the ground for approximately 0.1 s. What is an estimate of the magnitude of the average net force on the apple when it strikes the ground?

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17. An electronic balance has a button with “tare” written on it. The reading of the balance is reset to zero when the “tare” button is pressed. Which of the following gives a reason why use of the “tare” button improves the measurement?

 

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18. Express 0.04758 to 3 significant figures.

 

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19. Which of the following is not a fundamental SI unit?

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20. A ball is projected with an initial speed of  making an angle of  with the horizontal as shown.

PH0495

Which expression gives the vertical component of the velocity vector?

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21. Which of the following units is not a unit of power?

 

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22. A car is moving with a kinetic energy of .

Estimate the order of magnitude of its momemtum.

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23. A rectangular prism is obtained by combining two identical cubes as shown in the figure.

PH0031

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24. A pilot intends to fly a plane from point  to point . Due to strong winds, she points the nose of the plane in the direction shown by the vector . Which of the choices below best represents the direction of the wind encountered by the plane?

PH0259-1

A. B.
PH0259A PH0259B
C. D.
PH0259C PH0259D

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25. Vector d makes an angle  with the horizontal as shown. Its magnitude is  and the magnitude of its horizontal component  is .

PH0491

Which of the following is correct about the magnitude and direction of its vertical component?

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