NAME……………………………………………..

INDEX NO………………

232/2
PHYSICS
PAPER 2 (THEORY)
JULY/AUGUST, 2009
TIME: 2 HRS

SECTION A 25 MARKS
Answer all questions
1. State the property of sound that makes a bat fly safely in complete
darkness
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(1 mark)
2. Calculate the length of a wire required to make a resistor of 0.7
ohm’s if the resistivity of the material is 4.9 x 10 -7 Ω m and cross-
sectional area is 2.0 X 10-
m2______________________________________________________________
6

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(3 marks)
3. (a) State the principle of reversibility of light
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(b) Show the position of the image formed when an object is
placed at infinity in front of converging lens
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(2 marks)
 4.(a) The refractive indices of water and glass are 4/3 and 3/2
respectively. Determine the refractive index of a ray of light
moving from water to glass
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(b) Given that the refractive index of ruby is 1.76 and the velocity
of light in air is 3.0 x 108 mls calculate the velocity of light in
ruby.
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(3 marks)
5. Differentiate between gamma rays and X- rays
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(2 marks)
6. Show the direction of the magnetic field in the following diagram on
the board A
and B

(2 marks)
7. Why are audio recording halls covered with soft materials
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8. The ratio of the length of plate P to that of place of a lead acid
accumulator is 2:3. If cell P has a resistance of 13Ω, what is the
resistance of cell?
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(3 marks)
9. State one advantage of a pinhole camera over lens camera
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(1 mark)
10. Distinguish between quality and quantity of X rays
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( 1 mark)
11. The diagram below show a magnet being moved into and out of a
coil

State the observation made on the galvanometer, G explain your

answer.
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(3 marks)
SECTION B 55 MARKS
Answer all questions
12. (a) The diagram in the figure below shows a long tank of water in
which waves are Produced C is a small coark

(i) Four complete waves are produced every second. What is the
frequency of the waves?
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(2 marks)
(ii) What is the wavelength?
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(1 mark)
(iii) How does the cork move as the wave progresses. Why?
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(2 marks)
(b) A man is standing 85 m from a cliff face infront and 170 m
from a cliff face at his back. He whistles loudly and hears two
echoes, one after another
(i) Explain how this can happen
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(ii) Calculate the time interval between the two echoes.
(velocity of sound in air = 340 ms-1)
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(3 marks)

(c) The table below shows a part of electromagnetic spectrum

Wave 1000 10-2m 10-4 10-5 10-6 10-8 10-9

length
wave Radio Micro A Visibles B C D
waves waves Spectru
m

Name:
A- _____________________________ B- ________________________
C- _____________________________ D- ________________________
(2 marks)
(d)Determine the resultant emplitude for two waves out of
phase if one wave has an amplitude of 0.5 m and the other 0.3
m
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(2 marks)
13. (a) (i) Define capacitance and state its SI units
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(ii) Three capacitors are connected as shown in the figure
below;
 (I) Calculate the total capacitance CT
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(3 marks)
(II) The potential differences across C.
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(3 marks)
(b) State two ways of reducing capacitance of parallel plate capacitor
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(c) Explain how eddy currents in transformers are reduced.
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(2 marks)
14. (a) (i) State ohm’s law
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(1 mark)
(ii) Why is the thermistor not an ohmic conductor?
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(b) The diagram below shows a battery of emf 12v and internal
resistance 0.17 ohms connected to a combination of
resistors (1 mark)
Find;
(i) Current through the 3.5 Ω resistor
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(3 marks)
(ii) The P.D across the parallel connection
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(2 marks)
(iii) Current through the Ω resistor
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(1 mark)
(c) Calculate the frequency across X – plates if the Y- plates
produce a frequency of 120HZ shown in the following
lissajors figures

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(3 marks)
(d) How would you estimate the focal length of a concave
mirror in the laboratory given a concave mirror, mirror
stand, whilte screen on a board, a metre rule and the
 window of the laboratory is grilled and its bright outside
the laboratory
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(4 marks)
15. The table below shows the stopping potential and the
corresponding frequencies of a photocell
Stopping 0.31 0.98 1.80 2.62 3.13 3.69 4.38
potential
(Vs)V
Frequen 6.8 8.8 11.0 12.8 14.8 15.2 17.2
cy (f) x
1014Hz

(a) Plot a graph of stopping potential (y-axis) against frequency. (5

marks)

(b) From the graph , determine

(i) The threadhold wavelength
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(3 marks)
(ii) The Planck constant
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 (4 marks)
(iii) The work function of the metal
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( 3 marks)_