Practice questions for Physics interviews

• Place a 30cm ruler on top of one finger from each hand so that you have one finger at each end
of the ruler, and the ruler is resting on your fingertips. What happens when you bring your
fingers together?

• Explain Schrödinger’s Cat.

• How does the sound come from a flute?

• What is the photoelectric effect?

• What is the equation for the motion of a pendulum?

• Explain how a hot air balloon works.

• How hot does the air have to be in a hot air balloon if I wanted to use it to lift an elephant?

• How would you design a gravity dam for holding back water?

• How would the ratio of elements change in a radioactive substance over time?

• How would you define infinity?

• Explain Newton’s three laws of motion.

• Is it a matter of fact or knowledge that time travels in only one direction?

• What are the main differences between the engines in jet fighters and the engines in jet
airliners; which type of engine is the more efficient, and qualitatively why? How would you
design a gravity dam for holding back water?

• What would happen if you drilled through the Earth all the way to the other side and then
jumped into the hole?

• Why did they used to make the mill chimneys so tall?

• Explain the following to someone with no knowledge of physics: force, momentum, power, work.

• What are the fundamental differences between Engineering and Physics? If you had a cylinder,
sealed at both ends, with the pressure rising inside, would it blow at the end or split along the
side first?

• If I am in a room with 5 people and guess all their birthdays what is the probability of getting
(only) one correct?

• Sketch a velocity time graph for a skydiver jumping out of a plane.

• Show the forces acting on a ladder.

• Why do sausages split lengthways, rather than around the circumference?

• Talk about a light bulb.

• How small can you make a computer? What are the limiting factors?

• How do you think you could calculate the number of calories that you have burnt after you have
gone for a run?

• How does a fridge work?

• What challenges do you think you would be facing as a Formula 1 engineer in 10 years’ time?

• If you dig a hole right through the Earth and jump into it, describe your motion.

• Describe the forces acting on a train at bends and explain how it turns.

• How long would it take to pump water out of a cellar 2m and floor space 25m2?

• Consider a loop, what height should the roller coaster start from if it is to make it around the
loop?

• A bath tub can be filled in 10 minutes and emptied in 15. How long would it take to fill if the tap
was on but there was no plug?

• If an aeroplane has a wire stretched from one wingtip to another, and flies along, does a current
run in the wire?

• Draw us a standard timber-framed building truss.

• What would happen to a beam supported on multiple springs if it were loaded unequally?

• When an ice cube melts in a glass of water, does the water level increase, decrease or stay the
same?

• A tennis ball is placed on top of a basketball. The balls are dropped. To what height does the
tennis ball bounce?

• How high can you go up a mountain on just a Mars bar?

• If you leave a fridge turned on in a thermally isolated room, what happens to the room?
• If you could fold a piece of paper as many times as possible, how many times must you fold it to
reach the moon?

• Sketch the displacement time and velocity time graph for a skydiver jumping out of a plane.

• Why can’t you light a candle in a spaceship?

• Why is the sky blue?

• Two identical beakers with the same volume of water are placed on each pan of a double-pan
balance. A steel ball is suspended from a string and submerged in the water of one of the
containers. A hollow plastic ball of the same volume is submerged in the water of the other
container and fastened to the bottom of the beaker by a string. Will the balance move, and if so
in which direction?

• If you had a cylinder, sealed at both ends, with the pressure rising inside, would it blow at the
end or split along the side first?

• Sketch a velocity time graph for a skydiver jumping out of a plane.

• A rectangular sheet dimensions a x b is to be made into an open-topped box by cutting a

• Show the forces acting on a ladder

• Why do sausages split lengthways, rather than around the circumference?

• Talk about a light bulb

• How small can you make a computer? What are the limiting factors?

• What are the main differences between the engines in jet fighters and the engines in jet
airliners; which type of engine is the more efficient, and (qualitatively) why?

• How would you design a gravity dam for holding back water?

• What would happen if you drilled through the Earth all the way to the other side and then
jumped into the hole?

• Why did they used to make the mill chimneys so tall?

• Explain the following to someone with no knowledge of physics: force, momentum, power, work.

• What are the fundamental differences between Engineering and Physics?

• If you had a cylinder, sealed at both ends, with the pressure rising inside, would it blow at the
end or split along the side first?
• If I am in a room with 5 people and guess all their birthdays what is the probability of getting
(only) one correct?

• Differentiate y = sinx + cosx + tanx

• Are bridges more stable on concrete or on soil – why?

• Derive the equation that links voltage, charge and capacitance.

• How do aeroplanes fly? Why can some fly up-side down?

• How do trains go around bends?

• How does an aeroplane stay airborne and how can some aeroplanes fly upside down?

• How does Earthquake-proofing work?

• How would you design a gravity dam for holding back water?

• If I am in a room with 5 people and guess all their birthdays, what is the probability of getting
(only) one correct?

• If you were to drill a circular hole in a sheet of metal and then heat the sheet, what would
happen to the size of the hole?

• Please derive the formula for the area of a circle.

• Show the forces acting on a ladder.

• Talk about a light bulb.

• What are the fundamental differences between Engineering and Physics?

• What are the main assumptions that we make when we model potential flow?

• What are the main differences between the engines in jet fighters and the engines in jet
airliners; which type of engine is the more efficient, and (qualitatively) why?

• What is Moore’s law and what limits the size of a computer chip?

• What is the strongest naturally occurring material and how can it be cut?

• What is the difference between a gun and a rifle and what advantage does a spinning bullet
have?

• What is the significance of superconductors?

• What would be the difficulties with building a bridge that connects the UK and Canada?
• What would be your first invention?

• Why do large ships like aircraft carriers not sink despite weighing several thousand tonnes?

• Why do sausages split length-ways rather than around the circumference?

• Why do windmills never appear stationary?

• Why is copper red and aluminium white(ish)?

• Argon and Helium, same amount of moles, both heated, which moves more quickly?

• How do metals conduct heat?

• Why do aeroplanes tilt to turn corners?

• Would be an upthrust or not if a perfectly smooth object was on a perfectly smooth ocean floor?

• What are the factors to consider in building a long span bridge?

• What is the integral of 1/x between infinity and negative infinity?

• Why is it easier to hit a shuttlecock than a tennis ball?

• What height does a geostationary satellite need to be at?

• Sketch y=cos(x) and y=cos(2x), then shade the area represented by the integral of cos(x) from
pi to zero.

• Make a mathematical formula that would show which is the most efficient way of moving a
bookshelf, by analyzing the moments acting around the said bookshelf.

• How does power dissipated in a circuit?

• Analyze the resistance in a light bulb and how does it changes over time?

• On a clear day, you are on an aeroplane which is at 38,000 ft above the middle of the Pacific
Ocean. Taking the radius of the earth as 6,400km, what is the approximate distance between
you and the horizon of the earth?

• How does Earthquake-proofing work?

• You create a circular hole in a sheet of metal and then heat it up. What happens to the size of
the hole?

• Why do large ships like aircraft carriers not sink despite weighing several thousand tonnes?

• What is centrifugal force? How do you measure it?

• How do forest fires spread so quickly?

• How can light be both a wave and a particle?

• What safety mechanisms prevent a plane from being damaged by lightning?

• How would you weigh the Earth?

• What are the difficulties with building a bridge that connects the UK and USA?

• What is the significance of superconductors?

• What limits the size of a computer chip?

• How do aeroplanes fly? Why can some fly up-side down?

• What would be your first invention?

• Derive the equation that links voltage, charge and capacitance.

• Fast bowlers in cricket can ‘swing’ and ‘reverse-swing’ the bowl. What allows this to happen?

• Why do windmills never appear stationary?

• What is the strongest naturally occurring material? How is it cut into shapes?

• If you were to show a visitor around your local area, what work of civil engineering would you
take them to see?

• Look at these two clamps [a G-clamp and a spring clamp]. What do you think the advantages
and disadvantages of each clamp are?

• Draw a graph of sin(x)/x.

• Talk about a lightbulb.

• Draw a graph of a solid being heated.

• Why is it worse to be scalded by gas at 100°C than water at 100°C?

• Explain Newton’s second law of motion, defining the terms you use.

• Describe and explain what is happening to a ruler balanced on one end when it falls
a) smooth surfaces; b) rough surfaces. Why does the base slip?

• How would a body behave if it was removed from the plane of an ellipse of a solar system?

• Why do high tides occur twice in twenty-four hours?

• How can waves travel through a vacuum?

• How does light behave as both a wave and a particle?

• Work out which is biggest and smallest, without evaluating, the integrals (all between e and 1)
of: lnx, ln(x2), (lnx)2

• If I gave you a substance, what tests would you do to tell me what it was?

• The speed of computers doubles every one and a half years. Could you write an equation for
this?

• Why does a bar magnet fall slower through a metal tube than a wooden one?

• Prove that in a game of pool, after a white ball collides with a red ball that is at rest, the
velocities of the 2 balls are very nearly perpendicular.

• Is it possible to see an object through adjacent faces of a glass cube? (the refractive index of a
glass is 1.5).

• A bouncy ball is dropped h metres from rest into a rigid wooden board inclined at 45˚ to the
horizontal. Assuming no energy is lost in the collision, prove that the ball rebounds horizontally
and find the distance it first bounces to the point it next bounces.

• How would you increase the efficiency of a bar heater with a fixed voltage across it?

• How does a mass spectrometer work?

• How does infrared stroboscopy work?

• Without integrating, rank in order of size: 1nxdx; 1nx2x; (1nx)2dx.

• What is the difference in bonding that results in the difference in the nature of liquids (especially
water), solids and gases?

• How does Earthquake-proofing work?

• You create a circular hole in a sheet of metal and then heat it up. What happens to the size of
the hole?

• Why do large ships like aircraft carriers not sink despite weighing several thousand tonnes?

• What are the difficulties with building a bridge that connects the UK and USA?

• What is the significance of superconductors?

• What limits the size of a computer chip?

• How do aeroplanes fly? Why can some fly up-side down?

• Derive the equation that links voltage, charge and capacitance.

• Fast bowlers in cricket can ‘swing’ and ‘reverse-swing’ the bowl. What allows this to happen?

• Why do windmills never appear stationary?

• What is the strongest naturally occurring material? How is it cut into shapes?

• When an ice cube melts in a glass of water, does the water level increase, decrease or stay the
same?

• A tennis ball is placed on top of a basketball. The balls are dropped. To what height does the
tennis ball bounce?

• How high can you go up a mountain on just a Mars bar?

• If you leave a fridge turned on in a thermally isolated room, what happens to the room?

• If you could fold a piece of paper as many times as possible, how many times must you fold it to
reach the moon?

• Sketch the displacement time and velocity time graph for a skydiver jumping out of a plane.

• Why can’t you light a candle in a spaceship?

• Why is the sky blue?

• Why is life X enantiomer-based rather than Y?

• Why does the boiling point of water rise as salt is dissolved in it?

• How many atoms are there in a brussels sprout?

• What makes some chemicals explosive?

• An alkane has 750 carbon atoms. Given the length of a carbon bond and a carbon hydrogen
bond calculate the total length of the molecule.

• Calculate the number of hydrogen atoms that are in the water in a glass.

• Can you draw an alkane where every carbon atom is in a different NMR environment?

• Can you think of any ways that playing in your school football team would make you better at
Chemistry?

• Can you change an endothermic reaction into an exothermic one?

• Compare and contrast electronegativity and ionisation energy.

• Compare and contrast hydrochloric acid to phosphoric acid.

• Estimate the mass of oxygen in this building.

• Explain the bonding in benzene.

• How do glow sticks work?

• How do the double bonds in a hydrocarbon affect its solubility?

• How do you make aspirin?

• How many isomers of XXX can you draw?

• How many moles of water are there in this bottle of water?

• How would you measure pH of a solution if I told you how many hydrogen ions there were in it?

• The nucleus and electrons are oppositely charged. Why do electrons not crash into the
nucleus?

• What is the density of air in this room? What about outside? What about in Beijing?

• What determines whether an acid is strong or weak?

• What does pH stand for?

• What is entropy?

• What is the cause of Le Chatelier’s principle?

• What is the difference between diamond and graphite? The similarities?

• What is the difference between entropy and enthalpy?

• What is the significance of bonding in benzene?

• What is wrong with the periodic table?

• What is your favourite element? Why?

• What makes drugs physiologically active?

• Where does Chemistry end and Physics begin?

• Why are diamonds so expensive?

• Why are the transition metals good catalysts?

• Why are the transition metals so colourful?

• Why are there so many steps in the cascade of reactions?

• Why does food taste better when it is hot?

• Why does the boiling point of water rise as salt is dissolved in it?

• Why is glass transparent but the sand that it’s made from not?

• Why is life carbon based and not silicon based?

• Why is Vanadium so special?

• You have 30 seconds to name as many functional groups as possible.

• How would you travel through time?

• When an ice cube melts in a glass of water, does the water level increase, decrease or stay the
same?

• How would you measure pH if I told you how many hydrogen ions there were?

• How does a glow-stick work?

• Tell me about these eggs?

• Tell me about your life, from the beginning to what made you sit in that chair

• Derive a Henderson equation.

• What is ‘turning you on’ in chemistry at the moment?

• How many molecules there were in the glass of water on the table?

• If I could fold this piece of paper an infinite number of times how many times must I fold it to
reach the moon?

• How high can I go up a mountain having only eaten a mars bar?

• What makes a material hard?

• How would you measure pH of a solution if I told you how many hydrogen ions there were in it?

• How does depressing a piano key make a sound?

• Why do you think chemistry will change your life and the life of those around you?

• Why does the boiling point of water rise as salt is dissolved in it?

• How would you travel through time?

• Explain the bonding in benzene.

• On a hot day, what should you do with a fridge?

• Write down an organic reaction you have studied at school and explain its mechanism.

• How would a square wave differ from a sinusoidal wave when applying both to a transformer?

• Why don’t fish freeze?

• How many of these pebbles would it take to fill a car?

• Why aren’t you applying to study Maths instead?

• What would be the most exhilarating ride: being dropped through a tube to New York or New
Zealand?

• Does the snow falling on top of a train have an effect on its velocity?

• What is the equation for the motion of a pendulum?

• Why is the sky blue?

• What happens if you throw a lead soldier or a ton of gold out of a boat, does the lake go up or
down?

• A container with liquid nitrogen is left in a laboratory, and its temperature is being recorded over
a long period. The recorded temperature shows variations. Why?

• Sketch the graph of x/(x-1).

• How does a boat float?

• How high can I go up a mountain having only eaten a Mars bar?

• How would you reshape a cuboid wire to double its resistance?

• I’m bouncing a marble, what is happening to the particles at the top of the marble?

• A ball bearing is flying through space (vacuum and no overall gravitational field). It heads
towards a doughnut, through its centre and out the other side. Draw graphs of 1) speed versus
time and 2) acceleration versus time.

• Draw the graphs of y=1/x +x and y=7+3cos(2x+pi/2).

• Describe a heat engine.

• Draw graph of weight versus time for the following: 1) man stands on scale very gently and then
gets off again very gently; 2) man jumps onto scales and then jumps off again; 3) man stands
on scale and lets his knees unlock so that he drops, then stops. For each of these describe the
reasoning behind the graph.
• The wall of death fairground ride: it’s spinning in a horizontal circle. Then the floor that people
are standing on falls away. Calculate how fast it has to spin before the floor can fall away
without the people dropping out given that: coefficient of friction=m and radius of the thing=r.

• Derive an expression for the separation of fringes caused by Young’s Double Slit apparatus.

• Calculate (in algebraic terms) the change that will take place to the fringe pattern when a piece
of glass is placed in front of one of the slits. Draw the new fringe pattern.

• If you leave the fridge turned on in a thermally isolated room, what happens to the room?

• Calculate the speed a coin will hit the floor when dropped from 2m above the ground.

• Does the snow falling on top of a train have an effect on its velocity?

• Explain the different between entropy and enthalpy.

• Explain the principle of how the global positioning system (GPS) operates.

• How did the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos determine the distance to the sun?

• How can a plane fly upside down?

• How can light be both a wave and a particle?

• How does depressing a piano key make a sound?

• How high can I go up a mountain having only eaten a Mars bar?

• How high can I go up a mountain on just a Mars bar?

• How many of these pebbles would it take to fill a car?

• How much is the mass of nitrogen in this room?

• How much water has to go through a hydroelectric power station in order for me to make a cup
of coffee?

• How would you explain what ‘momentum’ means, to a non-physicist?

• How would you go about calculating the number of atoms in the world? What information would
you need to calculate it and given this data work out the answer.

• If you have a helium balloon on a string in a car, and the car accelerates, what happens to the
balloon?

• If a sand timer was turned over onto a weighing scale, would there be fluctuations in the weight
displayed as the sand fell through?

• If I am in a room with 7 people and guess all their birthdays, what is the probability of getting
(only) one correct?
• If I have a three litre and a five litre bottle. How can I get four litres of liquid?

• Integrate y = cos2x + sinx2

• Prove m3-m is always divisible by 6.

• Sitting here explain how we know a centripetal force exists?

• Suggest a method of storing large amounts of hydrogen.

• The Titanic weighed over 50,000 tonnes. Why did it not sink earlier?

• What safety mechanisms prevent a plane from being damaged by lightning? How would you
weigh the Earth? Why was 2011 an incredible year for physics? What is the area of your skin?

• What is centrifugal force?

• What is the equation for the motion of a pendulum?

• What makes a material hard?

• Why did the Titanic initially float? Why did it split into two?

• Why does heat rise?

• Why don’t fish freeze?

• Why can’t you light a candle in a spaceship?

• How many grains of sand are there in the world?

• What happens if I drop an ant?

• Explain how an aircraft flies?

• What is time?

• If you are on a boat with a hairdryer and a sail, and you blow the hairdryer into the sail, what are
the forces acting the boat?

• Sketch the graph of y = (A/x^4) – (B/x^2) where A and B are constants.

• Why do wind turbines have three blades?

• Integrate: