INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 Package 1

Chapter 3
Forces and Motion
IGCSE Physics, Made to Measure · Resultant Force · Mass & Weight · F = ma ·
Terminal Velocity · Circular Motion · Momentum & Impulse · Vectors
Designed by Izzeddin Abboushi

This chapter, in learning order

1. Notes — learn it properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 2

2. Problem set — Core → Extended → Distinction . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 25

3. Full worked solutions — model answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 29

4. Test — 15 minutes, closed notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 36

5. Test answers — diagnostic feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 37

6. Exam practice — cited real-paper practice map . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 39

Work the parts in order. No Part 3 before a real attempt at Part 2;

sit Parts 4 and 6 closed-notes, like the real thing.
Bring a sharp pencil, a protractor, a 30 cm ruler and a calculator to every page of this chapter.
Take g = 9.8 N kg−1 throughout unless a question states otherwise.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 2

PART 1
Notes
Forces and the resultant, mass against weight, F = ma, falling through air to a terminal
velocity, going round in circles, momentum and impulse, and adding forces that are not in
line — with the exact sentences and working that earn the marks.

3.1 Forces: what they are and what they do

Chapter 2 taught you to describe motion — how fast, how far, speeding up or slowing down. This
chapter tells you why motion changes. The answer is always the same one word: force. Everything
else here is the machinery for counting forces properly, adding them up, and turning the total into
an acceleration.

3.1.1 A force is a push or a pull

Force
A force is a push or a pull that one object exerts on another. Its unit is the newton, N,
and it is a vector: it has a size and a direction, and you have not described it until you
have given both.

In plain words: Nothing pushes itself. Every force has a pusher and a pushed — an object doing
it and an object having it done to it. If you cannot name both, you have not found a real force.
Forces come in a small number of families, and on this syllabus you meet all of them:

Force What causes it Which way it points

Weight the gravitational field of a planet straight down, toward the centre
Normal contact force a surface being squashed at right angles, out of the surface
Friction two surfaces sliding or gripping along the surface, opposing the sliding
Air resistance (drag) pushing air out of the way backwards, opposing the motion
Tension a stretched string or rope along the string, pulling inwards
Applied (push or pull) you, a motor, an engine whichever way you push

Table 1: The forces you are expected to name in Chapter 3, and the direction each one acts in.
Getting the direction right is half of every force question.

How to earn the marks

Examiners mark force names strictly. Write weight, not “gravity”; write air resistance
or drag, not “wind”; write normal contact force, not “the table force”. And never write
“the force of motion” — there is no such thing. A moving object needs no forward force to
keep moving.

3.1.2 What a force can do

A force can do four things, and a question may ask about any of them:

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 3

at rest already moving → already moving → already moving →

start it moving speed it up slow it down change direction

Figure 1: The four changes of motion a force can produce. A force can also change an object’s
shape — squash it, stretch it or bend it — which is the whole of the springs work in a later chapter.
In plain words: Notice what is missing from that list: “keep it moving”. Keeping something
moving at a steady speed in a straight line needs no resultant force at all. This is the single idea
the rest of the chapter rests on.

3.1.3 The newton

The unit of force is not an arbitrary choice. It is defined by the very relationship you will meet in
section 3.4.

The newton

One newton is the force that gives a mass of 1 kg an acceleration of 1 m s−2 .

N = kg × m s−2 = kg m s−2

That identity is worth carrying with you. Any time an answer’s units look wrong, replace every N
by kg m s−2 and the mistake usually falls out on its own.
It also helps to have a feel for the size of a newton, so that an answer of 2 N for the thrust of a
rocket sets off an alarm:

Force Rough size

Weight of a large apple 1N
Push needed to open a heavy door 20 N
Weight of a 60 kg student 590 N
Driving force of a family car 2000 N
Thrust of one large jet engine 320 000 N

Table 2: Order-of-magnitude anchors for the newton. A 60 kg student weighs about six hundred
times as much as an apple.

3.1.4 Drawing forces: the free-body diagram

Every force question in the paper is easier if you draw the forces first. There is a house style for
it, and examiners reward it.

How to earn the marks

A force arrow earns its mark when it starts on the object, points the right way, and
is labelled with a name or a value. An arrow drawn towards the object, or floating
beside it, is not credited. If two forces are equal, draw the two arrows the same length —
examiners look at arrow length.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 4

N (normal contact) no label

f P (push)

pointing at it

W (weight)
this earns the marks this earns nothing

Figure 2: House style for force diagrams. All arrows start on the object, point outwards along the
direction of the force, and carry a label.

Friction and drag are not optional extras

Friction and air resistance only exist when there is motion, or an attempt at motion. A
crate standing still with nobody pushing it has no friction acting on it. The moment you
push, friction appears and opposes your push. The moment the crate moves, drag appears
too and opposes the movement.

3.2 Adding forces: the resultant

Real objects have several forces on them at once. What decides the motion is not any one of them
but their total — and “total” for vectors means something slightly more careful than for ordinary
numbers.

Resultant force
The resultant force is the single force that would have the same effect as all the forces
acting on an object combined.

In plain words: Replace the whole crowd of forces with one force that does the same job. That
one force is the resultant, and it is the only one the object “feels”.

3.2.1 Forces in the same straight line

When all the forces lie along one line — and in Core work they almost always do — adding them
is arithmetic, provided you first pick a positive direction and declare it.

How to earn the marks

Write your choice down: “taking forwards as positive”. Then add forces that point that
way and subtract forces that point the other way. If your answer comes out negative, that
is not an error — it means the resultant points the other way, and you say so in words.

Worked example 3.1 — a crate on a rough floor

A crate is pushed along a floor with a force of 240 N. Friction opposes the motion with a
force of 160 N. Find the resultant force.
Step 1 — choose and state a positive direction.
Take the direction of the push as positive.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 5

Step 2 — add, with signs.

Fres = 240 N − 160 N
Step 3 — evaluate and say which way.

Fres = 80 N in the direction of the push.

The answer is positive, so the resultant lies along the push — the crate speeds up.

(a)

160 N 240 N

resultant 80 N
(b)

600 N 600 N

resultant = 0 — forces are balanced

(c)

drag 120 N drive 500 N

friction 180 N

resultant 200 N

Figure 3: Adding collinear forces. In (c) the two backward forces are added to each other first
(180 + 120 = 300 N) and only then subtracted from the drive.

3.2.2 Balanced and unbalanced

Balanced forces
Forces are balanced when the resultant force is zero. The object then either stays at rest,
or keeps moving at a constant speed in a straight line — that is, at constant velocity.

“Balanced” does not mean “stationary”

This costs marks in every session. A car cruising down a motorway at a steady 30 m s−1 has
balanced forces on it: the driving force exactly equals the total resistance. Zero resultant
means zero acceleration, not zero speed.
Read the question for the words constant speed, steady speed, terminal velocity or
constant velocity. Every one of them is the examiner telling you the resultant is zero.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 6

Checkpoint

A tug-of-war rope has a team pulling with 450 N one way and the other team pulling with
380 N. What is the resultant, and which way does the rope move?
Answer: 450 − 380 = 70 N, toward the 450 N team.

How to earn the marks

Three sentences pay for themselves in almost every Paper 4 force question:
• “At constant speed the forces are balanced, so the resultant is zero.”
• “The forward force therefore equals the total backward force.”
• “Since the resultant is zero, the acceleration is zero.”

3.3 Mass, weight and gravitational field strength

Mass and weight are used interchangeably in everyday speech and are two entirely different
quantities in physics. Examiners know this and test it every year.

3.3.1 The two quantities

Mass
Mass is a measure of the quantity of matter in an object. It is a scalar, measured in
kilograms (kg), and it is the same everywhere in the universe.

Weight

Weight is the force on an object caused by a gravitational field. It is a vector, measured

in newtons (N), and it changes from planet to planet.

In plain words: Mass is how much stuff. Weight is how hard gravity pulls that stuff. Take the
stuff to the Moon and there is exactly as much of it — but gravity pulls it far less hard.

Mass Weight
What it is the quantity of matter the force of gravity on that matter
Unit kilogram, kg newton, N
Scalar or vector scalar vector (points downwards)
On the Moon unchanged about one sixth of its Earth value
Measured with a balance (by comparison) a forcemeter / spring balance

Table 3: Mass against weight. If a question gives you kilograms and asks for a force, you must
convert; if it gives newtons and asks for a mass, you must divide.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 7

3.3.2 Gravitational field strength

Gravitational field strength, g

The gravitational field strength at a point is the force exerted per unit mass placed at
that point.
W
g= ⇐⇒ W = mg
m
Its unit is the newton per kilogram, N kg−1 . Near the Earth’s surface g = 9.8 N kg−1 .

Why N kg−1 and m s−2 are the same unit

This is not a coincidence and it is worth two minutes.

Start from the newton itself:
N = kg m s−2
Now divide by a kilogram, as the definition g = W/m requires:

kg m s−2
N kg−1 = = m s−2
kg

The kilograms cancel exactly. So 9.8 N kg−1 and 9.8 m s−2 are the same physical quantity
written two ways — and this is why a freely falling object accelerates at 9.8 m s−2 : each
kilogram of it is pulled with 9.8 N, and 9.8 N on 1 kg is 9.8 m s−2 by the definition of the
newton.

How to earn the marks

Use N kg−1 when you are talking about a field, and m s−2 when you are talking about an
acceleration. They are numerically identical, but writing an acceleration in N kg−1 looks
careless and can lose the unit mark.

Body g / N kg−1 Weight of 10 kg / N

Earth 9.8 98
Moon 1.6 16
Mars 3.7 37
Jupiter 25 250

Table 4: The same 10 kg object on four bodies. The mass is 10 kg in every row; only the weight
changes.

Worked example 3.2 — the same astronaut, two worlds

An astronaut has a mass of 65 kg.

(a) Find her weight on Earth, where g = 9.8 N kg−1 .
(b) Find her weight on the Moon, where g = 1.6 N kg−1 .
(c) State her mass on the Moon.
(d) Find how many times heavier she is on Earth than on the Moon.
(a)
W = mg = 65 kg × 9.8 N kg−1 = 637 N ≈ 640 N
(b)
W = mg = 65 kg × 1.6 N kg−1 = 104 N

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 8

(c) 65 kg. Mass does not depend on location. (Check it: m = W/g = 104/1.6 = 65 kg, as it
must be.)
(d)
637 9.8
= = 6.125 ≈ 6.1
104 1.6
She weighs about 6.1 times more on Earth. Notice the masses cancelled — the ratio is
just the ratio of the two field strengths, so it is the same for any object.

Worked example 3.3 — identifying a world from a measurement

A rock of mass 60 kg is found to weigh 96 N on the surface of some body in the Solar System.
Which body is it?
Step 1 — rearrange the definition.
W
g=
m
Step 2 — substitute.
96 N
g= = 1.6 N kg−1
60 kg
Step 3 — compare with table 4.
Only one tabulated body has g = 1.6 N kg−1 : the Moon.

“Weight in kg” is always wrong

A bathroom scale reading “65 kg” is reporting a mass. The shop calls it your weight; physics
does not. In an answer, a weight always carries newtons. If you write 65 kg for a weight
you will lose the unit mark even when the number is right.

Checkpoint

A suitcase weighs 196 N on Earth. What is its mass, and what would it weigh on Mars?
Answer: m = 196/9.8 = 20 kg; on Mars W = 20 × 3.7 = 74 N.

3.4 Force, mass and acceleration

This is the central equation of the chapter, and one of the three or four most important in the
whole course.

3.4.1 The relationship

Newton’s second law, in the form 0625 uses

The resultant force on an object, its mass and its acceleration are related by

F = ma

where F is the resultant force in newtons, m the mass in kilograms and a the acceleration
in m s−2 . The acceleration is always in the same direction as the resultant force.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 9

The F in F = ma is the resultant, never one of the forces

This is the most expensive misreading in the topic. If a car’s engine provides 2200 N while
drag is 400 N, you do not put 2200 into F = ma. You put 2200 − 400 = 1800 N.
Before you ever write F = ma, ask: have I added up all the forces?

What the equation assumes

F = ma as used here assumes the mass stays constant while the force acts. That is true for
a car or a trolley; it is not true for a rocket burning fuel, which is why rockets are outside
this syllabus.

3.4.2 Reading the proportionality both ways

The equation contains two separate statements, and questions test them separately.

Fixed mass, m = 4.0 kg Fixed force, F = 12 N

F /N a / m s−2 m / kg a / m s−2
2.0 0.50 2.0 6.0
4.0 1.0 3.0 4.0
8.0 2.0 4.0 3.0
12 3.0 6.0 2.0

Table 5: Left: with the mass fixed, doubling the force doubles the acceleration — a ∝ F . Right:
with the force fixed, doubling the mass halves the acceleration — a ∝ 1/m.

a / m s−2 a / m s−2

3 6

2 4

1 2

F /N m / kg
4 8 12 2 4 6
fixed m = 4.0 kg fixed F = 12 N
a∝F a ∝ 1/m

Figure 4: The two proportionalities inside F = ma. A straight line through the origin means
directly proportional; a curve approaching both axes without touching them means inversely
proportional.

How to earn the marks

If a graph question asks you to show that a ∝ F , the answer is not “it goes up”. The marks
are for: the graph is a straight line and it passes through the origin. Both halves, every
time.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 10

Worked example 3.4 — the simplest possible use

A resultant force of 6.0 N acts on a trolley of mass 2.5 kg. Find its acceleration.
Step 1 — write the equation and rearrange.
F
F = ma =⇒ a=
m
Step 2 — substitute with units.
6.0 N
a=
2.5 kg
Step 3 — evaluate.
a = 2.4 m s−2
in the direction of the resultant force.

Worked example 3.5 — a car, with drag in the way

A car of mass 1200 kg is to accelerate at 1.5 m s−2 . The total resistive force on it is 400 N.
(a) Find the resultant force needed.
(b) Find the driving force the engine must provide.
(c) If instead the engine provides only 1800 N against the same drag, find the acceleration.
(a)
F = ma = 1200 kg × 1.5 m s−2 = 1800 N
(b) The resultant is what is left after drag has been subtracted, so the drive must supply
the resultant and overcome the drag:

Fdrive = Fres + Fdrag = 1800 + 400 = 2200 N

(c) Now find the resultant first:

Fres = 1800 − 400 = 1400 N

Fres 1400
a= = = 1.17 m s−2 (3 s.f.)
m 1200

Part (b) and part (c) are opposite operations

In (b) you were told the acceleration and asked for the drive, so drag is added. In (c) you
were told the drive and asked for the acceleration, so drag is subtracted. Students who
memorise “add the drag” get one of these right and one wrong every time. Draw the arrows
instead and the sign takes care of itself.

Checkpoint

A resultant force of 45 N acts on a mass of 15 kg. What is the acceleration? And if the
same force acted on 30 kg, what would it be then?
Answer: a = 45/15 = 3.0 m s−2 ; doubling the mass halves it, to 1.5 m s−2 .

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 11

3.5 Falling through air: drag and terminal velocity

In Chapter 2 you met free fall with the air ignored. Now put the air back in. Everything that
follows is F = ma applied four times to the same falling body, and the whole story is one figure.

3.5.1 How drag behaves

Air resistance
Air resistance (drag) acts on any object moving through air. Three facts run the whole
argument:
• it acts opposite to the direction of motion;
• it increases as the speed increases;
• it increases with the surface area presented to the air.
It is zero when the object is at rest.

In plain words: Weight never changes as you fall — your mass is the same and g is the same.
The only thing that changes is the drag, and it changes because your speed changes. So the whole
story is: weight fixed, drag growing.

3.5.2 The five stages of a parachute jump

Take a skydiver of mass 80 kg. Her weight is

W = mg = 80 × 9.8 = 784 N

and it stays 784 N for the entire jump.

speed

first terminal velocity

3

2
parachute opens

second terminal velocity

5

time

Figure 5: The speed–time graph of a parachute jump. Read it with the force diagrams in table 6:
the gradient of this graph is the acceleration, and the acceleration is the resultant force divided
by 80 kg.

Stage What is happening Drag / N Resultant / N Acceleration

1 just released, still at rest 0 784 down 9.8 m s−2 down
2 speeding up, drag growing 400 384 down 4.8 m s−2 down
3 terminal velocity reached 784 0 0
4 parachute just opened 2000 1216 up 15.2 m s−2 deceleration
5 new terminal velocity 784 0 0

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 12

Table 6: The same skydiver (W = 784 N throughout) at five moments. Every resultant is W −drag,
and every acceleration is that resultant divided by 80 kg.
Work through one row so the arithmetic is visible. At stage 2 the drag has grown to 400 N, so
384
Fres = 784 − 400 = 384 N downward, = 4.8 m s−2 .
a=
80
She is still speeding up — but at less than half the rate she started with, which is why the graph
in fig. 5 bends over.
At stage 4 the drag exceeds the weight:
1216
Fres = 2000 − 784 = 1216 N upward, = 15.2 m s−2 upward.
a=
80
An upward resultant on a downward-moving object means it slows down. She is still falling; she is
falling more slowly each second.

Terminal velocity

An object reaches its terminal velocity when the drag on it has grown until it is equal in
size to its weight. The resultant force is then zero, the acceleration is zero, and the object
falls at a constant speed.

At terminal velocity the forces are equal — the object has not stopped

Two failures cost marks here.

Failure 1: writing “the weight becomes zero” or “gravity stops”. Weight is unchanged at
every instant of the fall.
Failure 2: writing “it stops”. Terminal velocity is a constant speed, often 50 m s−1 or more
before the parachute opens. Nothing stops.

How to earn the marks

The full-mark explanation of terminal velocity has three steps, and scripts that give two
get two marks:
1. as the speed increases, the air resistance increases;
2. eventually the air resistance becomes equal to the weight;
3. so the resultant force is zero, so the acceleration is zero, and the object falls at constant
speed.
For the parachute-opening part, the same three steps run backwards: the area increases, so
the drag increases above the weight, so there is an upward resultant and the diver decelerates
— until the falling speed has reduced the drag back to 784 N and a new, lower terminal
velocity is reached.

Checkpoint

Why does a feather reach its terminal velocity almost at once, while a stone dropped from
the same height barely slows at all?
Answer: the feather has a very small weight but a large area, so a very small speed is
enough for the drag to grow equal to the weight. The stone has a large weight and small
area, so it would have to be travelling extremely fast before the drag could match its weight
— and it hits the ground first.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 13

University bridge — extension

At A Level you meet the drag law itself, roughly Fdrag ∝ v 2 for a fast-moving body. Put
that into F = ma and you get a differential equation whose solution is exactly the curve
in fig. 5 — an exponential approach to the terminal speed, reaching it only in the limit.
That is why the graph flattens but never quite kinks: at IGCSE we simply say “the speed
becomes constant”.

3.6 Going round in circles

An object moving in a circle at a steady speed is accelerating. That sentence sounds wrong the
first time and is one of the most reliable marks in the paper once you see why.

3.6.1 Steady speed, changing velocity

Why circular motion needs a force

Velocity is a vector: speed and direction. Follow a ball on a string round a circle and
compare two instants a moment apart.

P
vP
Q
v ∆v

vQ

O
v

∆v points towards
the centre O

same speed at P and Q,

different direction

The two velocity arrows have the same length — the speed has not changed. But they
̸ vP : the velocity has changed. Draw them tail to tail
point in different directions, so vQ =
and the change ∆v is the arrow joining the tips, and that arrow points into the circle.
A changing velocity is an acceleration. An acceleration needs a resultant force, in the same
direction as the acceleration. So there must be a resultant force, and it must point towards
the centre of the circle.

In plain words: Going round a corner at a steady 30 miles per hour, your speedometer does not
move but you are thrown against the door. Something is accelerating you — sideways, towards the
centre of the bend.

3.6.2 Where the force comes from, and what happens when it stops
The centre-directed force is never a new kind of force. It is always something ordinary, doing that
job:

Object moving in a circle What provides the force Direction

Ball whirled on a string tension in the string along the string, inwards
Car on a roundabout friction between tyres and road towards the centre
Moon orbiting the Earth gravitational attraction towards the Earth
Clothes in a spin dryer the drum wall pushing inwards towards the axis

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 14

Table 7: The inward force always has an ordinary name. Naming it correctly is usually the mark.

path after the

string breaks

motion

tension

hand

Figure 6: Cut the string and the ball does not fly outwards along the radius. It carries straight
on along the tangent — the direction it was already travelling — because with the tension gone
there is no resultant force to bend its path.

There is no outward force

The feeling of being flung outwards is real; the outward force is not. What you feel is
your own body carrying straight on while the car door curves inwards into you. Writing
“centrifugal force” or “an outward force acts” on an 0625 script loses the mark. The resultant
force on an object moving in a circle points inwards, always.

3.6.3 What makes the required force bigger

You are expected to state, in words, how the inward force depends on three things:

If you increase. . . . . . the force needed Everyday evidence

the mass increases a loaded trolley is harder to swing round a
corner
the speed increases take a bend too fast and the tyres lose grip
the radius decreases a gentle motorway curve is easier than a
tight bend

Table 8: The three dependences. Double the mass and you double the force needed; halve the
radius and you double it again.

How to earn the marks

0625 does not give you a formula for the size of this force — there is no F = mv 2 /r on
your equation list and you are never asked to calculate it. What you are asked for is the
three statements above, in words, and the direction. Answer “larger” or “smaller”, say why
in one clause, and stop.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 15

Checkpoint

A car goes round a roundabout at a steady speed. (a) Is it accelerating? (b) What provides
the resultant force? (c) What happens on an icy day?
Answer: (a) Yes — its direction, and therefore its velocity, is changing. (b) Friction
between the tyres and the road, directed towards the centre. (c) Ice reduces the friction
available, so the inward force may be too small to bend the car’s path and it continues
along the tangent — off the road.

3.7 Momentum and impulse

Extended only. Sections 3.7 and 3.8 are examined on the Extended papers (2 and 4) and not on
the Core papers. If you are entered for Extended, they are among the most reliably rewarding marks
in the whole syllabus, because the method never varies.

3.7.1 Momentum
Momentum
The momentum of a moving object is the product of its mass and its velocity.

p = mv

Its unit is the kilogram metre per second, kg m s−1 . Momentum is a vector: it points the
way the object is moving.

In plain words: Momentum measures how hard something is to stop. A lorry crawling along a
road and a bullet from a rifle can carry similar momentum for opposite reasons — huge mass and
small speed, or tiny mass and enormous speed.

Worked example 3.6 — momentum of a car

A car of mass 1200 kg travels at 15 m s−1 . Find its momentum.

p = mv = 1200 kg × 15 m s−1 = 18 000 kg m s−1 = 1.8 × 104 kg m s−1

in the direction of travel.

How to earn the marks

Because momentum is a vector, signs are compulsory the moment anything reverses.
Choose a positive direction, write it down, and give every velocity its sign. Most lost
momentum marks are lost here and nowhere else.

3.7.2 Impulse, and force as a rate of change of momentum

Impulse and the force equation

The impulse of a force is the product of the force and the time for which it acts:

impulse = F ∆t

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 16

An impulse produces a change of momentum equal to it:

mv − mu ∆p
F ∆t = mv − mu ⇐⇒ F = =
∆t ∆t
So the resultant force on an object is its rate of change of momentum. Impulse is
measured in newton seconds, N s.

N s and kg m s−1 are the same unit

 
N s = kg m s−2 × s = kg m s−1
which is exactly what the equation F ∆t = mv − mu requires: the left-hand side is an
impulse and the right-hand side is a change of momentum, so their units had better agree.
Either unit is accepted in an answer.

Where F = ma comes from

F = ma is not a separate law — it is this one, for constant mass:
mv − mu v−u
 
F = =m = m × (acceleration) = ma
∆t ∆t

because (v − u)/∆t is precisely the definition of acceleration from Chapter 2. Everything

in section 3.4 is a special case of this section.

Worked example 3.7 — a tennis ball is returned

A tennis ball of mass 0.058 kg arrives at a racket at 25 m s−1 and leaves it at 18 m s−1 in
the opposite direction. The contact lasts 0.0080 s.
(a) Find the change in momentum of the ball.
(b) Find the average force the racket exerts on it.
Step 1 — choose a positive direction and give every velocity a sign.
Take the ball’s original direction as positive:

u = +25 m s−1 , v = −18 m s−1

Step 2 — (a) change of momentum.

∆p = mv − mu = m(v − u) = 0.058 × (−18 − 25) = 0.058 × (−43)

∆p = −2.494 kg m s−1
The magnitude is 2.5 kg m s−1 (2 s.f.), and the minus sign says the change is directed back
the way the ball came — which is the direction the racket pushed.
Step 3 — (b) the force.

∆p 2.494
F = = = 311.75 N ≈ 310 N
∆t 0.0080
directed back along the incoming path.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 17

v − u, never |v| − |u|

In Worked example 3.7 the speeds are 25 and 18, and it is very tempting to write 25−18 = 7.
That gives 7 m s−1 instead of 43 m s−1 — an answer six times too small, and a guaranteed
zero.
The ball reversed. Its velocity went from +25 to −18, a change of 43. Subtract the signed
velocities, always.

Worked example 3.8 — why cars have airbags

A passenger of mass 65 kg is travelling at 14 m s−1 when the car crashes and she is brought
to rest.
(a) Find her change of momentum.
(b) Find the average force on her if she is stopped in 0.050 s by a rigid dashboard.
(c) Find the average force if an airbag extends the stop to 0.50 s.
(d) Compare.
(a)
∆p = mv − mu = 65 × (0 − 14) = −910 kg m s−1
a magnitude of 910 kg m s−1 .
(b)
910
F = = 18 200 N = 1.82 × 104 N
0.050
(c)
910
F =
= 1820 N
0.50
(d) The airbag makes the stopping time 10 times longer, and the force is 10 times
smaller. The change of momentum is 910 kg m s−1 in both cases — it is fixed by her mass
and her speed, and no safety device can alter it. What a safety device alters is the time.

F /N F /N

18 200 N
both shaded areas
= impulse = 910 N s

1820 N

t/s t/s
0.050 0.50

rigid dashboard airbag fitted

Figure 7: Impulse is the area under a force–time graph. The crash fixes the area; the safety
engineering chooses the shape. Spread the same area over ten times the time and the height falls
by a factor of ten.

How to earn the marks

Safety questions — seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, crash helmets, gym mats, packaging
— all take the same four-sentence answer:
1. the change of momentum is fixed by the mass and the speed;

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 18

2. the device increases the time taken for that change;

3. since F = ∆p/∆t, a larger ∆t gives a smaller F ;
4. a smaller force on the body means less injury.
Say “increases the time” explicitly. “It absorbs the impact” earns nothing.

3.8 The principle of the conservation of momentum

Conservation of momentum
When objects interact — collide, bounce, stick together or push apart — the total
momentum before the interaction is equal to the total momentum after, provided no
external resultant force acts.

m1 u1 + m2 u2 = m1 v1 + m2 v2

The condition attached to the principle

“No external resultant force” means, in practice, that friction and air resistance are negligible
during the brief moment of the collision. Every 0625 question states or implies this — look
for smooth, frictionless, or a collision so short that friction has no time to matter.

How to earn the marks

Every conservation question, without exception, is these four lines:
1. state a positive direction;
2. total momentum before = sum of every mu, with signs;
3. total momentum after = sum of every mv, with signs;
4. set them equal and solve for the unknown.
Write line 1 even when it feels obvious. Examiners give the method mark for the statement
“momentum before = momentum after” even when the arithmetic that follows is wrong, so
always write that sentence.

3.8.1 Three standard situations

Worked example 3.9 — they stick together

A trolley of mass 0.80 kg moving at 3.0 m s−1 collides with a stationary trolley of mass
1.20 kg. They stick together. Find their common velocity afterwards.
Step 1 — positive direction: the direction of the moving trolley.
Step 2 — momentum before.
pbefore = (0.80 × 3.0) + (1.20 × 0) = 2.4 kg m s−1
Step 3 — momentum after. They move as one object of mass 0.80 + 1.20 = 2.00 kg, at
a velocity v:
pafter = 2.00 v
Step 4 — equate and solve.
2.00 v = 2.4 =⇒ v = 1.2 m s−1

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 19

in the original direction.

Worked example 3.10 — they separate

A body of mass 2.0 kg moving at 4.0 m s−1 hits a stationary body of mass 3.0 kg. After the
collision the first body continues forwards at 1.0 m s−1 . Find the velocity of the second.
Before:
pbefore = (2.0 × 4.0) + (3.0 × 0) = 8.0 kg m s−1
After:
pafter = (2.0 × 1.0) + (3.0 × v2 ) = 2.0 + 3.0 v2
Equate:
2.0 + 3.0 v2 = 8.0 =⇒ 3.0 v2 = 6.0 =⇒ v2 = 2.0 m s−1
forwards.

Worked example 3.11 — one of them rebounds

A ball of mass 0.20 kg travelling at 5.0 m s−1 strikes a stationary block of mass 0.80 kg. The
ball rebounds at 1.0 m s−1 . Find the velocity of the block.
Positive direction: the ball’s original direction. The ball’s velocity afterwards is therefore
−1.0 m s−1 .
Before:
pbefore = (0.20 × 5.0) + (0.80 × 0) = 1.0 kg m s−1
After:

pafter = 0.20 × (−1.0) + 0.80 v = −0.20 + 0.80 v
Equate:

−0.20 + 0.80 v = 1.0 =⇒ 0.80 v = 1.2 =⇒ v = 1.5 m s−1

forwards. Notice that the block ends up moving faster than the ball originally — perfectly
allowed, because it is momentum that is conserved, not speed.

stick together BEFORE AFTER

3.0 1.2
0.80 1.20 2.00

at rest

separate BEFORE AFTER

4.0 1.0 2.0

2.0 3.0 2.0 3.0

at rest

rebound BEFORE AFTER

5.0 1.0 1.5

0.20 0.80 0.20 0.80

at rest

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 20

Figure 8: The three collision types you will meet. Masses are in kg and velocities in m s−1 ; a red
arrow marks a reversal, which is where the signs earn their keep.

Momentum is conserved; kinetic energy usually is not

In Worked example 3.9 the trolleys stick together, and if you work out the kinetic energy
before and after you will find some has gone — into sound, heating and permanent
deformation. That is normal. Momentum is conserved in every collision; kinetic energy is
conserved only in the special “perfectly elastic” ones. Never assume the kinetic energies are
equal.

Checkpoint

A 3.0 kg trolley moving at 2.0 m s−1 catches a 1.0 kg trolley at rest and they stick. Find the
common velocity.
Answer: p = 3.0 × 2.0 = 6.0 kg m s−1 ; combined mass 4.0 kg; v = 6.0/4.0 = 1.5 m s−1 .

3.9 Scalars, vectors and adding forces that are not in line
Extended only. Adding vectors that are not in the same straight line is Extended material. Core
candidates need only the scalar/vector distinction and collinear addition from section 3.2.

3.9.1 The distinction, and why it matters

Scalars and vectors
A scalar quantity has magnitude (size) only.
A vector quantity has magnitude and direction.

Scalars Vectors
distance, speed, time, mass, energy, temperature, displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, weight,
volume, density momentum

Table 9: The syllabus lists. Notice the pairs that differ only by direction: distance/displacement,
speed/velocity, mass/weight.
In plain words: If reversing the direction would change the answer, it is a vector. Turning
round changes your velocity but not your speed; it changes your displacement but not the distance
you have walked.

Mass is a scalar, weight is a vector

This is asked directly and often. Mass has no direction — it is a quantity of matter. Weight
is a force and points downwards, towards the centre of the planet.

3.9.2 In line: just add, with signs

You have been doing this since section 3.2. A force of 500 N to the right and 350 N to the left give

500 − 350 = 150 N to the right.

Nothing new is needed while the forces share a line.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 21

3.9.3 Not in line: the vector triangle

When two forces act at an angle to each other, arithmetic no longer works and you must add
them geometrically.

Adding two vectors: the triangle rule

Draw the first vector to scale, in the correct direction. From its tip, draw the second vector
to scale, in its correct direction. The resultant is the arrow drawn from the tail of the
first to the tip of the second.

5.0 cm
30 N 30 N 3.0 cm

50 N

37◦

40 N 40 N 4.0 cm

tip to tail drawn to scale

the two forces
1 cm : 10 N

Figure 9: Adding two perpendicular forces. The middle panel is the calculation; the right panel is
the same triangle drawn to scale, which is how the paper usually asks you to do it.

Worked example 3.12 — two forces at right angles

Forces of 40 N and 30 N act at a point at 90◦ to each other. Find the magnitude and
direction of the resultant.
Step 1 — draw the triangle (fig. 9). The two forces are the two shorter sides; the
resultant is the hypotenuse.
Step 2 — magnitude by Pythagoras.
p √ √
R = 402 + 302 = 1600 + 900 = 2500 = 50 N

Step 3 — direction by trigonometry.

30
tan θ = = 0.75 =⇒ θ = 36.87◦ ≈ 37◦
40
Answer: 50 N at 37◦ to the 40 N force.
Recognise it: 30–40–50 is the 3–4–5 triangle multiplied by 10. Examiners choose these
numbers deliberately, so if you spot a 3–4–5 you can write the answer down and use the
calculator only to check.

Worked example 3.13 — the same triangle, relabelled

Forces of 6.0 N and 8.0 N act at right angles. Find the resultant.
p √ √
R= 6.02 + 8.02 = 36 + 64 = 100 = 10 N
8.0
tan θ = =⇒ θ = 53.13◦ ≈ 53◦ from the 6.0 N force.
6.0
Check: 37◦ + 53◦ = 90◦ . The angle from one force and the angle from the other must always
add to the angle between them — here a right angle. It is a free check and it catches the

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 22

commonest slip, which is measuring the angle from the wrong side.

3.9.4 Doing it by scale drawing

The Extended papers frequently ask for a scale drawing rather than a calculation, and it carries
its own marks.

How to earn the marks

A scale-drawing answer earns marks for:
1. stating the scale — write “1 cm represents 10 N” on the page;
2. drawing both vectors to that scale, with a ruler, in the right directions (use a protractor,
and mark the angle);
3. drawing the resultant from the tail of the first to the tip of the last;
4. measuring the resultant and converting back — “the resultant measures 5.0 cm, so it is
50 N”;
5. measuring and stating the angle.
Choose a scale that makes the drawing large: fill at least half the page. A 2 cm triangle
cannot be measured to the accuracy the mark scheme allows.

The resultant is never the sum of the numbers

Two forces of 40 N and 30 N give 70 N only if they point the same way. At 90◦ they give
50 N; in opposite directions they give 10 N. The resultant of two forces always lies between
|F1 − F2 | and F1 + F2 — a useful sanity check on any answer you produce.

3.9.5 The equilibrant

Equilibrant

The equilibrant is the single force that must be added to a set of forces to make the
resultant zero — that is, to put the object in equilibrium. It is equal in size and opposite
in direction to the resultant.

For the 40 N and 30 N pair of Worked example 3.12, the resultant was 50 N at 37◦ . The equilibrant
is therefore 50 N at 37◦ + 180◦ = 217◦ — the same size, the exact opposite direction. Add it in
and every component cancels: the object stays put.

Checkpoint

Two tugs pull a barge with forces of 9.0 kN east and 12 kN north. What single force would
hold the barge still?
√
Answer: the resultant is 92 + 122 = 15 kN at tan−1 (12/9) = 53◦ north of east, so the
equilibrant is 15 kN at 53◦ south of west.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 23

3.10 Summary
3.10.1 The equations of this chapter
Quantity Equation Worked check
Weight W = mg 7.5 kg on Earth: 7.5 × 9.8 = 73.5 N
W
Gravitational field strength g= and back again: 73.5/7.5 = 9.8 N kg−1
m
Newton’s second law F = ma 3.2 kg at 2.5 m s−2 : F = 8.0 N
Momentum (ext) p = mv 3.2 kg at 2.5 m s−1 : p = 8.0 kg m s−1
Impulse (ext) F ∆t = mv − mu 8.0 N for 0.25 s: impulse = 2.0 N s
∆p
Force from momentum (ext) F = 2.0/0.25 = 8.0 N, as it must be
∆t

Table 10: Every equation in Chapter 3, each checked on the same small set of numbers so the
consistency is visible. Items marked (ext) are Extended only.

One scenario, two routes, the same answer

A resultant force of 8.0 N acts for 0.25 s on a mass of 3.2 kg, initially at rest.
Route 1 — through acceleration.
F 8.0
a= = = 2.5 m s−2 , ∆v = a ∆t = 2.5 × 0.25 = 0.625 m s−1
m 3.2
∆p = m ∆v = 3.2 × 0.625 = 2.0 kg m s−1
Route 2 — through impulse.

∆p = F ∆t = 8.0 × 0.25 = 2.0 N s

The two agree exactly, and they must: F = ma and F ∆t = ∆p are the same statement
written for different unknowns.

3.10.2 The sentences that earn the marks

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Notes 24

The Chapter 3 phrase book

• “The forces are balanced, so the resultant force is zero and the acceleration is zero.” —
for anything at constant speed or terminal velocity.
• “The F in F = ma is the resultant force.” — write the subtraction before you write
the equation.
• “As the speed increases the air resistance increases, until it equals the weight.” — the
terminal-velocity spine.
• “Mass is a measure of the quantity of matter; weight is the force of gravity on that mass.”
— and never quote a weight in kilograms.
• “The resultant force acts towards the centre of the circle.” — and there is no outward
force.
• “Total momentum before = total momentum after.” — write this sentence first, every
time, before any numbers.
• “Increasing the time of the collision reduces the force, because F = ∆p/∆t.” — every
safety question.

The five errors that cost the most marks in this chapter

1. Putting a single force into F = ma instead of the resultant.

2. Saying “balanced forces” means “not moving”.
3. Saying weight becomes zero, or gravity stops, at terminal velocity.
4. Using |v| − |u| instead of v − u when something bounces back.
5. Quoting a weight in kilograms, or an acceleration in N kg−1 .

3.10.3 What to do next

Work Part 2 without looking at Part 3. Draw the force arrows before you write any equation — in
this chapter, more than any other, the diagram is the method. When you reach a distance in Part
2, remember the Chapter 2 rule that still governs everything here: on this syllabus a distance
always comes from the area under a speed–time graph, or from average speed multiplied by
time. There are no other routes and none are needed.

University bridge — extension

Two things you are being kept from, both of which are waiting at A Level. First, Newton’s
third law: forces come in equal and opposite pairs acting on different objects, which is the
deep reason momentum is conserved at all — the two bodies in a collision receive equal
and opposite impulses, so their momentum changes cancel exactly. Second, the vector
methods here generalise: resolving any force into perpendicular components, Fx = F cos θ
and Fy = F sin θ, replaces scale drawing entirely and handles three or more forces at once,
which scale drawing does only clumsily.

References for those who want more depth are listed in the course register; they are optional, and nothing
in this chapter depends on them.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Problems 25

PART 2
Problem Set
Core → Extended → Distinction. Attempt honestly before Part 3.

Attempt every question with the notes closed. Draw the force arrows before you write any equation
— in this chapter the diagram is the method. Write the relation before the numbers, keep the unit
on every line, and give answers to 2–3 significant figures unless the data divide exactly. Take
g = 9.8 N kg−1 (that is, 9.8 m s−2 ) throughout unless the question states otherwise. Questions
marked [draw] must be answered on plain paper with a sharp pencil, a ruler and a protractor
— the drawing is the answer, and it is marked on construction.
Three questions in this set are here for a specific reason. The past-paper sweep behind Part 6 read
66 papers and found that Cambridge has never set a conservation-of-momentum question in which
both bodies are moving before the collision — every single one has one body at rest. It has also never
asked for the resultant of three or more forces that are not in line, and the Alternative-to-Practical
papers give this chapter almost nothing. Those gaps are covered by P12, P10(c) and P13. Do not
skip them because they look unfamiliar in the papers; every one is examinable syllabus content,
and the day Cambridge sets one you will be the only candidate who has seen it.

Core
P1. A box of mass 25 kg is pushed along a horizontal floor with a horizontal force of 180 N.
Friction opposes the motion with a force of 145 N.
(a) Draw a free-body diagram of the box, showing and labelling all four forces acting on it.
[draw]
(b) Calculate the resultant horizontal force on the box, and state its direction.
(c) Calculate the acceleration of the box.
(d) The push is now reduced to 145 N. State the resultant force and describe the motion of
the box.
(e) Starting from rest, the box is pushed with the original 180 N for 5.0 s. Calculate the speed
it reaches, and then calculate the distance it travels in that time.
Nudge: for the distance in (e), sketch the speed–time graph and find the area underneath it. There is
no other route on this syllabus and none is needed.

P2. An astronaut, together with her suit and equipment, has a total mass of 130 kg. On Earth
g = 9.8 N kg−1 ; on the Moon g = 1.6 N kg−1 .
(a) Calculate her total weight on Earth.
(b) Calculate her total weight on the Moon.
(c) State her total mass on the Moon, and explain your answer in one sentence.
(d) Calculate how many times greater her weight is on Earth than on the Moon, and state
what this ratio depends on.
Nudge: in (d), write the ratio as a fraction before you reach for the calculator and watch what cancels.

P3. A stone weighs 4.9 N on Earth. Taken to the surface of planet X, the same stone weighs
1.85 N.
(a) Calculate the mass of the stone.
(b) Calculate the gravitational field strength at the surface of planet X, and use the table in
the notes to identify planet X.
(c) State the mass of the stone on planet X.
(d) A student says “the stone lost weight on the journey, so it lost mass too”. Explain in one
or two sentences why this is wrong.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Problems 26

P4. A lorry of total mass 8000 kg travels along a straight, level road at a constant speed of
22 m s−1 . Its engine provides a driving force of 3400 N.
(a) State the total resistive force acting on the lorry, and justify your answer in one sentence.
(b) State the resultant force on the lorry.
(c) The driver increases the driving force to 4200 N. Calculate the resultant force and the
initial acceleration.
(d) Explain why the lorry does not go on accelerating at the rate you found in (c), and state
what happens to its speed in the end.
Nudge: (a) is a one-mark question that depends entirely on the two words “constant speed”. Say what
those words tell you about the resultant before you write a number.

P5. A trolley of mass 0.60 kg is pulled along a bench by a horizontal force of 2.4 N. A frictional
force of 0.60 N opposes the motion.
(a) Calculate the resultant force on the trolley.
(b) Calculate its acceleration.
(c) The trolley starts from rest. Calculate its speed after 4.0 s.
(d) Calculate the distance it travels in that 4.0 s, using the area under a speed–time graph.
Then verify your answer by a second method.
(e) State one change that would double the acceleration, and one different change that would
halve it.
P6. A ball is whirled in a horizontal circle on the end of a string. The tension in the string is
5.0 N.
(a) State the direction of the resultant force on the ball, and name the force that provides it.
(b) The ball moves at a steady speed. Explain why it is nevertheless accelerating.
(c) The string breaks. On a sketch of the circular path, draw the path the ball follows
afterwards, and explain your answer. [draw]
(d) A student writes: “an outward force throws the ball away from the centre”. State what is
wrong with this and give the correct description.
(e) The ball is replaced and whirled again. Calculate the new tension if, keeping everything
else the same,
(i) the mass of the ball is doubled;
(ii) the radius of the circle is halved;
(iii) both changes are made at once.
Nudge: 0625 gives you no formula here, but it does give you the two proportionalities in the notes.
Use them as multipliers on the 5.0 N.

Extended
P7. A skydiver of mass 90 kg steps out of an aircraft.
(a) Calculate her weight.
(b) Calculate her acceleration at the instant she steps out, and state what this value is more
usually called.
(c) Later in the fall the air resistance on her is 530 N. Calculate the resultant force and her
acceleration at that moment.
(d) She reaches terminal velocity. State the air resistance, the resultant force and the
acceleration at that moment.
(e) She opens her parachute, and the air resistance rises immediately to 2600 N. Calculate
the resultant force, state its direction, and calculate her deceleration.
(f) State the air resistance when she reaches her new, slower terminal velocity, and explain in
one sentence why the new terminal velocity is lower than the first.
(g) Sketch a speed–time graph for the whole fall, labelling the parts that correspond to (b),
(d), (e) and (f). [draw]

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
 INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Problems 27

P8. A hockey ball of mass 0.16 kg travels towards a player at 12 m s−1 . She strikes it, and it
leaves her stick at 20 m s−1 in the opposite direction. The stick is in contact with the ball for
0.012 s.
(a) Calculate the momentum of the ball before the strike.
(b) Calculate the change in momentum of the ball, taking care with signs, and state the
direction of the change.
(c) Calculate the average force the stick exerts on the ball.
(d) A different player strikes an identical ball in the same way but follows through, so that
the contact lasts 0.024 s. Calculate the average force in this case and state the relationship
between the two answers.
(e) A student calculates the change in speed as 20 − 12 = 8 m s−1 . Explain what is wrong
with this, and state the correct value.
P9. A railway truck of mass 2400 kg moving at 3.5 m s−1 collides with a stationary truck of mass
3600 kg. The two couple together.
(a) Calculate the total momentum before the collision.
(b) Calculate the common velocity of the coupled trucks immediately after the collision.
(c) Calculate the total kinetic energy before and after the collision, and hence the energy
transferred away from kinetic energy. Express this as a percentage of the original kinetic
energy.
(d) A student concludes from (c) that “momentum is not conserved either, because energy
was lost”. Explain why this conclusion is wrong, and state what is conserved.
Nudge: Ek = 12 mv 2 from the energy chapter. The point of (c) and (d) is that one of these quantities
survives a collision and the other does not.

P10. A crate on a smooth floor is pulled by two horizontal ropes at right angles to each other.
One rope pulls due north with a force of 60 N; the other pulls due east with a force of 80 N.
(a) Calculate the magnitude of the resultant force on the crate.
(b) Calculate the direction of the resultant, giving your answer as an angle measured from
the east direction.
(c) A third rope is attached so that the crate does not move at all. State the magnitude and
direction of the force in the third rope, and name the quantity you have just found.
(d) Find the resultant again by scale drawing, using a scale of 1 cm to 20 N. State the length
you draw for each of the two given forces and the length you measure for the resultant.
[draw]
Nudge: check your calculated and drawn answers against each other. If they disagree by more than
about 2 N, one of the two is wrong and it is usually the protractor.

P11. A car of mass 1250 kg travelling at 24 m s−1 brakes uniformly to rest in 6.0 s.
(a) Calculate the change in momentum of the car, and give the answer in standard form.
(b) Calculate the average braking force.
(c) Calculate the acceleration from the gradient of the speed–time graph, and use F = ma to
confirm your answer to (b).
(d) Calculate the distance travelled during the braking.
(e) The same car brakes to rest from the same speed on a wet road, taking 9.0 s. State, with
a reason, whether the average braking force is larger or smaller, and by what factor the
stopping distance changes.

Distinction (design stretch — for everyone brave)

P12. Two trolleys travel towards each other on a smooth, straight track. Trolley A has mass
1.5 kg and moves to the right at 4.0 m s−1 . Trolley B has mass 2.5 kg and moves to the left
at 2.0 m s−1 . They collide. After the collision, trolley A is moving to the left at 1.2 m s−1 .

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
 INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Problems 28

(a) Taking to the right as positive, calculate the momentum of each trolley before the collision,
and the total momentum before the collision.
(b) Calculate the momentum of trolley A after the collision.
(c) Calculate the velocity of trolley B after the collision, stating clearly which way it is
moving.
(d) Verify your answer by calculating the total momentum after the collision and comparing
it with (a).
(e) State which trolleys have reversed direction, and explain in one sentence why the total
momentum is so much smaller than the momentum of either trolley individually.
Nudge: this is the case the past papers never set — both bodies moving before the collision. It is no
harder than the ones they do set, provided you give every velocity its sign and never take a shortcut
with magnitudes.

P13. Two trolleys are held together on a smooth track with a compressed spring between them,
and are then released. Trolley A has mass 0.90 kg; trolley B has mass 0.60 kg. The spring
pushes them apart for 0.15 s. Immediately afterwards, trolley A is moving to the left at
0.80 m s−1 .
(a) State the total momentum of the two trolleys before release, and justify your answer.
(b) Calculate the velocity of trolley B immediately after release, stating its direction. Verify
that the total momentum afterwards is what you stated in (a).
(c) Calculate the average force the spring exerts on trolley B.
(d) Calculate the average force the spring exerts on trolley A, and comment on the two
answers.
(e) State the impulse given to each trolley, and explain in one sentence how (d) and (e) are
the same fact stated twice.
Nudge: nothing was moving before release, and there is still no external horizontal force. That fixes
the total momentum for all time — including afterwards, when both trolleys are moving.

P14. A car crashes into a solid wall. A passenger of mass 72 kg is travelling at 15 m s−1 and is
brought to rest.
(a) Calculate the change in momentum of the passenger.
(b) In an old car with a rigid body and no airbag, the passenger is brought to rest in 0.040 s.
Calculate the average force on her, and give it in standard form.
(c) In a modern car with a crumple zone and an airbag, the same passenger is brought to
rest in 0.30 s. Calculate the average force.
(d) Calculate the passenger’s weight, and express each of the two forces as a multiple of it.
(e) State the ratio of the two forces, and state what else in the question has that same ratio.
(f) Using your answers, write a four-sentence explanation of how a crumple zone reduces
injury. Your explanation must make clear which quantity is fixed by the crash and which
quantity the engineering is able to change.
Nudge: (f) is the answer that appears, in some form, in almost every Paper 4 momentum question in
the archive. Learn it once and you never write it out from scratch again.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Solutions 29

PART 3
Full Worked Solutions
Spoiler gate: turn this page only after a real attempt at Part 2.

Every solution below is a model full-credit answer — the structure (relation stated before the
numbers, units carried through every line, rounding done once at the end, a checked final value) is
what earns the marks, not the number on its own.
Marking code: C concept · M method · A accuracy · U units/precision. Equivalent valid
methods score fully; ECF applies, so a wrong value carried correctly into a later part still earns that
part’s method and accuracy marks. For [draw] parts the marks quoted are for the construction; a
described construction is given here in place of the drawing itself.
One habit runs through the whole chapter: write the resultant down before you write F = ma,
and declare a positive direction before you write a momentum. Nearly every mark lost on
this topic in the papers is lost because one of those two lines was skipped.

Core
P1. (a) Construction: a rectangle for the box with four arrows drawn from it, each labelled with
a name and a value.
Weight, vertically down, W = mg = 25 × 9.8 = 245 N.
Normal contact force from the floor, vertically up, 245 N.
Push, horizontally forwards, 180 N.
Friction, horizontally backwards, 145 N.
The two vertical arrows are drawn the same length as each other (the box does not accelerate
vertically, so they must balance: 245 − 245 = 0 N); the push arrow is drawn noticeably longer
than the friction arrow. [C1 all four forces named correctly, no invented “force of motion”;
C1 directions right; A1 weight calculated; A1 vertical pair drawn equal]
(b) Resultant = 180 − 145 = 35 N, in the direction of the push. [M1 subtraction of the
opposing force; A1 U1 with direction]
F 35
(c) a = = = 1.4 m s−2 . [C1 F is the resultant, not the push; M1; A1 U1]
m 25
(d) Resultant = 145 − 145 = 0 N. The box does not stop: with zero resultant it carries on at
whatever constant speed it already had. Zero resultant means zero acceleration, not zero
velocity. [A1 zero; C1 constant speed, explicitly not stationary]
(e) From (c) the acceleration is 1.4 m s−2 , so after 5.0 s from rest
v = a t = 1.4 × 5.0 = 7.0 m s−1 . [M1; A1 U1]
Distance is the area under the speed–time graph. The graph is a straight line from
(0, 0) to (5.0 s, 7.0 m s−1 ), so the area is a triangle:
s = 12 × 5.0 × 7.0 = 17.5 m. [C1 area = distance; M1; A1 U1]
Check by the other legal route: average speed = 0+7.0
2 = 3.5 m s−1 , and 3.5 × 5.0 = 17.5 m. The two
agree, as they always must for a straight-line graph.

P2. (a) W = mg = 130 × 9.8 = 1274 = 1300 N (2 s.f.). [C1 relation; M1; A1 U1]
(b) W = 130 × 1.6 = 208 N. [M1 same mass, new g; A1 U1]
(c) 130 kg — unchanged. Mass is the quantity of matter in her and her suit, and nothing
was added or removed on the journey; only the field strength she stands in has changed.
(Formally: m = W/g = 208/1.6 = 130 kg.) [C1 unchanged with a correct reason]
WEarth mgE gE 9.8
(d) = = = = 6.125 = 6.1 (2 s.f.).
WMoon mgM gM 1.6
Her mass cancels, so the ratio depends only on the two gravitational field strengths — it

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Solutions 30

would be the same number for any object whatever. [M1 ratio written as a fraction; A1; C1
mass cancels, so it depends only on g]
W 4.9
P3. (a) m = = = 0.50 kg. [C1 rearranged W = mg; A1 U1]
g 9.8
W 1.85
(b) gX = = = 3.7 N kg−1 .
m 0.50
From table 4 this is Mars. [M1 the same mass used; A1 U1; C1 identification]
(c) 0.50 kg, exactly as on Earth. [A1]
(d) The stone’s weight changed because weight is the pull of gravity on it and Mars has a
weaker field; its mass is the amount of matter in the stone and is a property of the stone
alone, so it cannot change by being carried somewhere. Mass is measured in kg and is a
scalar; weight is measured in N and is a vector. Nothing was chipped off the stone, so nothing
was lost. [C1 weight depends on g; C1 mass is a property of the body itself]
P4. (a) 3400 N. At a constant speed the acceleration is zero, so by F = ma the resultant force
is zero; therefore the resistive forces must be exactly equal and opposite to the driving force.
[C1 constant speed ⇒ zero resultant, then the value]
(b) 0 N. [A1]
(c) Resultant = 4200 − 3400 = 800 N forwards.
F 800
a= = = 0.10 m s−2 . [M1 resultant; A1 U1 acceleration]
m 8000
(d) As the lorry speeds up, the air resistance (and rolling resistance) increases with speed.
The driving force stays at 4200 N, so the resultant 4200 − resistance gets steadily smaller,
and so does the acceleration. When the resistance has grown to the full 4200 N the resultant
is zero again and the acceleration is zero: the lorry then travels at a new, higher constant
speed. [C1 resistance rises with speed; C1 resultant and acceleration therefore fall; C1 new
steady speed, higher than 22 m s−1 ]
This is the terminal-velocity argument of section 3.5 in horizontal clothing. Examiners set it both
ways and mark it the same way.

P5. (a) Resultant = 2.4 − 0.60 = 1.8 N. [M1; A1 U1]

1.8
(b) a = = 3.0 m s−2 . [C1 resultant used; A1 U1]
0.60
(c) v = a t = 3.0 × 4.0 = 12 m s−1 . [M1; A1 U1]
(d) Area under the speed–time graph, a triangle from (0, 0) to (4.0 s, 12 m s−1 ):
s = 21 × 4.0 × 12 = 24 m. [C1 area = distance; M1; A1 U1]
Second method: the speed rises uniformly, so the average speed is 0+12 2 = 6.0 m s−1 and
s = 6.0 × 4.0 = 24 m. The two agree. [M1 second valid route; A1 agreement]
(e) To double it: double the resultant to 3.6 N by pulling with 3.6 + 0.60 = 4.2 N, giving
3.6 1.8
a= = 6.0 m s−2 ; or halve the mass to 0.30 kg, giving a = = 6.0 m s−2 .
0.60 0.30
To halve it: pull with 0.9 + 0.60 = 1.5 N so the resultant is 0.90 N and a = 1.5 m s−2 ; or
double the mass to 1.2 kg, again giving a = 1.5 m s−2 . [C1 one correct doubling change with
its value; C1 one correct halving change with its value]
Note the trap in “double the pull”. Doubling the 2.4 N pull to 4.8 N does not double the acceleration,
because the friction is not doubled with it: the resultant becomes 4.2 N, not 3.6 N. It is the resultant
that must double.

P6. (a) The resultant force acts towards the centre of the circle, along the radius. It is
provided by the tension in the string. [C1 towards the centre; C1 tension named]
(b) Velocity is a vector: it has a direction as well as a size. The ball’s speed is constant
but its direction is changing continuously, so its velocity is changing; a changing velocity
is an acceleration, and an acceleration requires a resultant force. [C1 velocity is a vector /
direction changes; C1 changing velocity = acceleration]
(c) Construction: the circular path drawn, the ball marked at a point on it, and a straight

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Solutions 31

arrow drawn from that point along the tangent to the circle there — not radially outwards
and not curving.
Explanation: once the string breaks there is no longer a force towards the centre, so nothing
changes the ball’s direction. By the first law it keeps the velocity it had at that instant,
and that velocity was directed along the tangent. [C1 tangential straight line drawn; C1 no
inward force, so velocity is unchanged in direction]
(d) There is no outward force on the ball at all. What the ball actually does when released
is travel in a straight line along the tangent, which looks like moving away from the centre;
and the outward pull the student can feel is the force the ball exerts on the hand through
the string, which acts on the hand, not on the ball. The only horizontal force on the ball is
the tension, which points inwards. [C1 no outward force on the ball; C1 correct description
of what really happens]
(e) From table 8, at constant speed and radius F ∝ m, and at constant speed and mass
1
F ∝ .
r
(i) Mass doubled: T = 5.0 × 2 = 10 N. [M1; A1]
(ii) Radius halved: T = 5.0 × 2 = 10 N. [M1 inverse proportion recognised; A1]
(iii) Both at once: T = 5.0 × 2 × 2 = 20 N. [M1 both factors applied; A1]

Extended
P7. (a) W = mg = 90 × 9.8 = 882 = 880 N (2 s.f.). [M1; A1 U1]
(b) At the instant she steps out her speed is zero, so the air resistance is zero and the only
force is her weight:
F 882
a= = = 9.8 m s−2 , which is the acceleration of free fall, g. [C1 drag is zero at
m 90
zero speed; M1; A1 U1; C1 named as g]
(c) Resultant = 882 − 530 = 352 N downwards.
352
a= = 3.911 . . . = 3.9 m s−2 (2 s.f.), still downwards. [M1 resultant; M1; A1 U1]
90
She is still speeding up — just less rapidly than before. “Smaller acceleration” is not “slowing down”.
(d) Air resistance = 882 N (it has grown until it equals the weight); resultant = 882−882 = 0 N;
acceleration = 0 m s−2 . She falls at a constant speed. [C1 drag equals weight; A1 zero resultant;
A1 zero acceleration]
(e) Resultant = 2600 − 882 = 1718 N, and because the drag now exceeds the weight it acts
upwards.
1718
Deceleration = = 19.088 . . . = 19 m s−2 (2 s.f.). [M1 subtraction the right way round;
90
C1 direction upwards; A1 U1]
She is still moving down while the resultant force points up. Force and velocity need not share a
direction — that is what deceleration is.
(f) 882 N once more: at any terminal velocity the drag must equal the weight, and her weight
has not changed. The new terminal velocity is lower because the open parachute has a far
larger area, so it generates that same 882 N of drag at a much smaller speed. [A1 value; C1
larger area reaches the same drag at a lower speed]
(g) Construction: speed on the vertical axis, time on the horizontal. From the origin, a curve
that starts with the steepest gradient (label: (b), a = g) and gets progressively less steep; it
flattens to a horizontal line at the first terminal velocity (label: (d), a = 0). At the instant
the parachute opens the curve drops steeply (label: (e), resultant upwards) and then levels
off at a second, much lower horizontal line (label: (f), the new terminal velocity). The second
horizontal line is clearly below the first, and the curve nowhere goes back up. [C1 correct
initial gradient and concave shape; C1 first plateau; C1 sharp fall on opening; C1 second,
lower plateau]

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
 INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Solutions 32

P8. Take the ball’s original direction of travel as positive.

(a) p = mv = 0.16 × 12 = 1.92 kg m s−1 (equivalently 1.92 N s). [C1 relation; A1 U1]
(b) The ball comes back, so its final velocity is −20 m s−1 :
∆p = m(v − u) = 0.16 × (−20 − 12) = 0.16 × (−32) = −5.12 kg m s−1 .
The magnitude is 5.12 kg m s−1 , directed away from the player — that is, opposite to
the ball’s original motion. [C1 signs assigned and v − u used in that order; M1; A1 U1; C1
direction]
∆p 5.12
(c) F = = = 426.67 = 430 N (2 s.f.). [C1 relation; M1; A1 U1]
∆t 0.012
(d) The change of momentum is identical — same ball, same speeds — so
5.12
F = = 213.3 = 210 N (2 s.f.).
0.024
Doubling the contact time halves the average force: F and ∆t are in inverse proportion for
a fixed ∆p. [C1 ∆p unchanged; A1 U1; C1 halved / inverse proportion]
(e) Speed is a scalar, but momentum is a vector, and the ball has reversed. Subtracting
the magnitudes, 20 − 12, treats the two velocities as though they pointed the same way and
throws away the reversal. The correct change of velocity is v − u = −20 − 12 = −32 m s−1 ,
a change of 32 m s−1 in magnitude — four times the student’s answer. [C1 the reversal is
ignored; A1 32 m s−1 ]
P9. Take the direction of the moving truck as positive.
(a) p = mv = 2400 × 3.5 = 8400 kg m s−1 (the stationary truck contributes 3600 × 0 = 0). [C1
both trucks considered; M1; A1 U1]
(b) Momentum is conserved, and after coupling the two move as one body of mass 2400+3600 =
6000 kg:
8400
8400 = 6000 × v, so v = = 1.4 m s−1 , in the original direction. [C1 conservation stated;
6000
M1 combined mass; A1 U1]
(c) Before: Ek = 12 mv 2 = 21 × 2400 × 3.52 = 14 700 J.
After: Ek = 12 × 6000 × 1.42 = 5880 J.
Transferred away: 14700 − 5880 = 8820 J.
8820
As a percentage: × 100 = 60 %. [M1 both energies; A1 both values; M1 difference; A1
14700
U1 percentage]
(d) The conclusion is wrong: momentum and kinetic energy are different quantities with
different conservation rules. Momentum is conserved in every collision with no external
force, whatever happens to the energy. Kinetic energy is conserved only in a perfectly elastic
collision, and this one is not: the trucks couple together, and 8820 J is transferred to internal
(thermal) energy in the buffers and to sound as they deform. Energy overall is still conserved
— it has simply left the kinetic store. So momentum is conserved; kinetic energy is not. [C1
the two are independent; C1 where the energy went; C1 momentum conserved]
P10. (a) The two forces are perpendicular, so the resultant is the hypotenuse of a right-angled
triangle:
√ √ √
R = 602 + 802 = 3600 + 6400 = 10000 = 100 N. [C1 tip-to-tail triangle / Pythagoras;
M1; A1 U1]
opposite 60
(b) tan θ = = = 0.75, so θ = 36.87◦ = 37◦ (nearest degree), measured north of
adjacent 80
east. Equivalently, 53◦ east of north, or a bearing of 53◦ . [C1 correct pair of sides; M1; A1
with the reference direction stated]
(c) 100 N, acting in exactly the opposite direction to the resultant — that is, 37◦ south of
west (bearing 233◦ ). This force is the equilibrant: it is the single force that puts the crate
into equilibrium, equal in magnitude to the resultant and opposite in direction, so that all
three forces together give zero. [A1 magnitude; C1 opposite direction, stated unambiguously;
C1 named as the equilibrant]

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
 INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Solutions 33

(d) Construction: at 1 cm to 20 N,
60
the 60 N force draws as = 3.0 cm due north;
20
80
the 80 N force draws as = 4.0 cm due east.
20
Drawn tip-to-tail with a set square and closed from the tail of the first to the tip of the
second, the resultant measures 5.0 cm = 5.0 × 20 = 100 N, at 37◦ to the east line measured
with a protractor. [C1 scale stated on the drawing; A1 both component lengths; A1 resultant
length measured; A1 converted back with the scale; A1 angle measured]
The triangle is a 3–4–5, scaled by 20. If your drawn resultant is not almost exactly 5.0 cm, your right
angle is not right.

P11. (a) Take the direction of travel as positive. The car ends at rest, so v = 0:
∆p = m(v − u) = 1250 × (0 − 24) = −30 000 kg m s−1 ,
a magnitude of 3.0 × 104 kg m s−1 , directed backwards. [C1 signs; M1; A1 U1 standard form]
∆p 30000
(b) F = = = 5000 N, backwards. [M1; A1 U1]
∆t 6.0
∆v 0 − 24
(c) Gradient of the speed–time graph: a = = = −4.0 m s−2 .
∆t 6.0
∆p m ∆v
F = ma = 1250×4.0 = 5000 N — the same value, as it must be, since F = = = ma
∆t ∆t
when the mass is constant. [C1 gradient; A1 acceleration with its sign; M1 F = ma; A1
agreement noted]
(d) Area under the speed–time graph, a triangle from (0, 24 m s−1 ) down to (6.0 s, 0):
s = 12 × 6.0 × 24 = 72 m. [C1 area; M1; A1 U1]
(e) Smaller. The change of momentum is fixed at 3.0 × 104 kg m s−1 by the car’s mass and
speed, so a longer stopping time means a smaller average force:
30000
F = = 3333 = 3300 N (2 s.f.), against 5000 N on the dry road.
9.0
The stopping distance is again the area: 12 × 9.0 × 24 = 108 m, so it grows by a factor of
108 9.0
= 1.5 — the same factor as the times, = 1.5, because the initial speed is unchanged.
72 6.0
[C1 same ∆p, longer time, smaller force; A1 value; M1 area for the wet road; A1 factor 1.5]

Distinction
P12. Positive is to the right throughout; every velocity below carries the sign that direction gives
it.
(a) Trolley A: pA = 1.5 × (+4.0) = +6.0 kg m s−1 .
Trolley B: pB = 2.5 × (−2.0) = −5.0 kg m s−1 .
Total before = +6.0 + (−5.0) = +1.0 kg m s−1 (that is, 1.0 kg m s−1 to the right). [C1 positive
direction declared; A1 each momentum with its sign; A1 total]
(b) A now moves to the left, so its velocity is −1.2 m s−1 :
p′A = 1.5 × (−1.2) = −1.8 kg m s−1 . [M1 sign changed; A1 U1]
(c) No external horizontal force acts, so the total momentum is unchanged:
p′A + p′B = +1.0, so p′B = 1.0 − (−1.8) = +2.8 kg m s−1 .
′
vB′ = pB = 2.8 = 1.12 m s−1 , and the sign is positive, so trolley B moves to the right. [C1
mB 2.5
conservation used as an equation; M1 subtraction with signs; A1 U1; C1 direction stated]
(d) Total after = −1.8 + 2.8 = +1.0 kg m s−1 , identical to (a). Momentum is conserved. [M1
both momenta added; A1 agreement stated]
(e) Both trolleys have reversed: A was going right and now goes left; B was going left and
now goes right.
The total is small because the two momenta point in opposite directions and therefore very
nearly cancel: 6.0 units to the right against 5.0 to the left leaves only 1.0 to the right.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
 INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Solutions 34

Momentum is a vector, so it is the signed sum that is conserved, not the sum of the sizes.
[C1 both reversed; C1 near-cancellation of opposite vectors]
Note what conservation does not say: it does not say each trolley keeps its momentum, and it does
not say the two speeds are related in any simple way. It fixes one number — the total — and that
single equation is enough to find the one unknown.

P13. Positive is to the right.

(a) 0 kg m s−1 . Both trolleys are at rest before release, so each has p = m × 0 = 0, and the
total is zero. The spring is internal to the system, so it cannot change that total. [C1 both at
rest; C1 the spring force is internal]
(b) A moves to the left at 0.80 m s−1 , so vA = −0.80 m s−1 and
pA = 0.90 × (−0.80) = −0.72 kg m s−1 .
The total must still be zero, so pB = +0.72 kg m s−1 and
0.72
vB = = 1.2 m s−1 , to the right — opposite to A.
0.60
Check: −0.72 + 0.72 = 0 kg m s−1 , as stated in (a). [C1 conservation from zero; M1; A1 U1;
C1 direction; A1 verification]
The lighter trolley leaves faster — 1.2 m s−1 against 0.80 m s−1 — because the two momenta must
have equal size and p = mv.
∆pB 0.72
(c) F = = = 4.8 N, to the right. [C1 relation; M1; A1 U1]
∆t 0.15
∆pA 0.72
(d) F = = = 4.8 N, to the left.
∆t 0.15
The two forces are equal in size and opposite in direction. They have to be: the
momentum gained by one trolley is exactly the momentum lost by the other, and both
changes happen in the same 0.15 s. [A1 value; C1 equal and opposite, with the reason]
(e) Impulse = F ∆t = ∆p = 0.72 N s on each trolley, opposite in direction.
Parts (d) and (e) are one fact written twice: impulse is force × time, so dividing the impulse
by the contact time gives the force, and the statement “equal and opposite impulses” and
the statement “equal and opposite forces acting for the same time” contain exactly the same
information. [A1 value and unit; C1 the two statements are equivalent]
P14. (a) ∆p = m ∆v = 72 × 15 = 1080 kg m s−1 (a decrease; taking her direction of travel as
positive, ∆p = −1080 kg m s−1 ). [C1 relation; A1 U1]
∆p 1080
(b) F = = = 27 000 N = 2.7 × 104 N. [M1; A1 U1 standard form]
∆t 0.040
1080
(c) F = = 3600 N. [M1; A1 U1]
0.30
(d) W = mg = 72 × 9.8 = 705.6 N.
27000
Old car: = 38.3 = 38 times her body weight (2 s.f.).
705.6
3600
Modern car: = 5.10 = 5.1 times her body weight (2 s.f.). [A1 weight; M1 division; A1
705.6
both multiples]
27000 0.30
(e) = 7.5. The times have the same ratio the other way round: = 7.5. Force
3600 0.040
and stopping time are in inverse proportion because the change of momentum is the same in
both cars. [A1 ratio; C1 identified as the inverse ratio of the times]
(f) Model answer:
“The passenger’s change of momentum is fixed by her mass and the speed of the car —
here 1080 kg m s−1 — and no amount of engineering can alter it once the crash has begun.
The average force on her is that change of momentum divided by the time taken to stop
her, F = ∆p/∆t. A crumple zone and an airbag deform progressively and so extend the
stopping time, here from 0.040 s to 0.30 s. Because ∆p is unchanged, the longer time makes
the average force 7.5 times smaller — from 27 000 N to 3600 N — and it is that reduced force
on her chest and head that reduces the injury.” [C1 ∆p fixed by the crash; C1 F = ∆p/∆t

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Solutions 35

quoted; C1 time extended by the crumple zone/airbag; C1 therefore smaller force, with figures]
Every mark in (f) hangs on the word fixed. A candidate who writes “the crumple zone reduces the
momentum” has contradicted the physics and scores nothing, however fluent the rest of the sentence.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Test 36

PART 4
Test
15 minutes · 10 items · closed notes.

Questions
15 minutes · 10 items · 15 marks · closed notes. Q6–Q9 are (Extended); Core candidates
attempt Q1–Q5 and Q10 in 9 minutes. Take g = 9.8 N kg−1 throughout. A calculator is allowed;
no drawing is required, but Q9 is quicker with a sketch. The mark for each item is shown in
brackets — treat them as an examiner would and write the relation before the numbers.
Q1. A sledge is pulled forwards along level ground with a force of 350 N. Friction opposes it with
120 N and air resistance with 80 N. Calculate the resultant force on the sledge. [1]
Q2. A rock of mass 40 kg rests on the surface of Mars, where g = 3.7 N kg−1 . Calculate its weight.
[2]
Q3. A resultant force of 96 N acts on a block of mass 12 kg. Calculate the acceleration of the
block. [2]
Q4. A steel ball of mass 5.0 kg is dropped into a tall tube of oil and quickly reaches terminal
velocity. State the size of the drag force on it at that moment, and the size of its acceleration.
[1]
Q5. A ball on the end of a string is swung in a horizontal circle at a steady speed. State the
direction of the resultant force on the ball. [1]
Q6. (Extended) A ball of mass 0.45 kg moves at 8.0 m s−1 . Calculate its momentum. [1]
Q7. (Extended) The same ball is brought to rest by a wall in 0.020 s. Calculate the average
force the wall exerts on it. [2]
Q8. (Extended) A trolley of mass 0.50 kg moving at 6.0 m s−1 collides with a stationary trolley
of mass 1.0 kg and the two stick together. Calculate their common velocity immediately
after the collision. [2]
Q9. (Extended) Two forces act at a point: 9.0 N due east and 12.0 N due north. Calculate the
magnitude of the resultant and its direction, measured from the east direction. [2]
Q10. A cyclist and her bicycle have a total mass of 85 kg. She rides along a level road at a steady
7.5 m s−1 while the chain provides a forward driving force of 32 N. State the total resistive
force acting on her. [1]

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Answers 37

PART 5
Test Answers and Diagnostic Feedback
Mark honestly — every wrong option maps to its fix.

Answers and diagnostic feedback (teacher/self-marking page)

Total 15 marks. Award the mark for a correct value with its unit; a bare number scores zero in
this course, as it does in the papers. ECF applies down a question.
Q1. 350 − 120 − 80 = 150 N, forwards. [1]
Got 230 N? You subtracted only one of the two backward forces. Every force opposing the
motion comes off the total — friction and air resistance. Got 550 N? You added them;
forces pointing the other way carry the opposite sign.
Q2. W = mg = 40 × 3.7 = 148 N. [2]
Used 9.8? You answered for Earth. Read the value of g the question hands you — when a
planet is named, its field strength is the only one that matters. Answered 40 kg? That is
the mass, which the question already told you; weight is a force in newtons. Divided instead
of multiplying? W = mg: mass times field strength.
F 96
Q3. a = = = 8.0 m s−2 . [2]
m 12
Got 0.125? You divided mass by force. A sanity check that costs one second: a force nearly
ten times the mass in kilograms must give an acceleration bigger than 1, not smaller. Wrote
N as the unit? The answer is an acceleration.
Q4. Drag = 49 N; acceleration = 0 m s−2 . [1]
Both marks hang on one idea: at terminal velocity the drag has grown until it equals the
weight, W = 5.0 × 9.8 = 49 N, so the resultant is 49 − 49 = 0 N and, by F = ma, the
acceleration is zero. Said the acceleration was 9.8? That is its value at the instant of release,
before the ball has any speed and therefore any drag. Said the ball has stopped? It has not
— it is falling at a constant speed. Zero acceleration is not zero velocity, and that confusion
is the single most expensive error in this topic.
Q5. Towards the centre of the circle (along the radius, inwards). [1]
Wrote “outwards”? There is no outward force on the ball. Wrote “along the direction of
motion”? That is the direction of the velocity, which is along the tangent — at right angles
to the force. Wrote “centripetal force”? That names the force but does not answer the
question, which asked for a direction; and “centripetal” simply means “centre-seeking”, so
the direction was already in the word.
Q6. p = mv = 0.45 × 8.0 = 3.6 kg m s−1 . [1]
Unit written as N? Momentum is kg m s−1 , or equivalently N s; both are accepted, and N
alone is not. Halved it? You were thinking of 12 mv 2 — that is kinetic energy, a different
quantity with a different unit.
∆p 3.6
Q7. F = = = 180 N. [2]
∆t 0.020
Got 0.072? You multiplied by the time instead of dividing. Got 72? You divided by 0.05,
not 0.020. Used a change of momentum other than 3.6? The ball is brought to rest, so the
change is the whole of its momentum. Wrote the answer as negative? A magnitude was
asked for; the sign only becomes part of the answer when a direction has been declared.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Answers 38

Q8. Momentum before = 0.50 × 6.0 = 3.0 kg m s−1 ; combined mass = 0.50 + 1.0 = 1.5 kg;
3.0
v= = 2.0 m s−1 , in the original direction. [2]
1.5
Got 6.0? You forgot that the stationary trolley joins the moving one — after the collision
the momentum is shared over 1.5 kg, not 0.5 kg. Got 3.0? You divided by the stationary
trolley’s mass alone. Averaged the two velocities to 3.0? Momentum, not velocity, is the
quantity that is conserved; averaging velocities is correct only when the two masses happen
to be equal.
√ √ √
Q9. R = 9.02 + 12.02 = 81 + 144 = 225 = 15.0 N;
12.0
tan θ = , so θ = 53◦ north of east. [2]
9.0
Got 21 N? You added the magnitudes. Forces at right angles never simply add — the
resultant is the hypotenuse, and it must be smaller than the sum and larger than either
one on its own. Got 37◦ ? You used tan θ = 9.0/12.0 and found the angle from north, not
from east; the two are complementary, and the mark depends on saying which direction you
measured from. No angle at all? Half the marks in vector questions are for the direction; a
magnitude alone is half an answer.
Q10. 32 N. [1]
The reasoning the mark is for: a steady speed means the speed–time graph is horizontal, so
its gradient — the acceleration — is zero; by F = ma the resultant force is 85 × 0 = 0 N;
so the resistive force must exactly balance the 32 N drive. Tried to use the 85 kg or the
7.5 m s−1 ? Neither is needed — they are there to see whether you reach for the words
“steady speed” first. Answered 0 N? That is the resultant, which the question did not ask for.

Marks: 13–15 secure · 10–12 solid, revise the two items you lost · below 10, work back through
§3.2, §3.4 and §3.7 before attempting the past-paper list in Part 6. If exactly one mark was lost, it
was almost certainly a missing unit or a missing direction — neither of which is a physics error,
and both of which cost the same as one.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 39

PART 6
Exam Practice — Extended
171 real past-paper questions and parts across thirteen sessions (2021–2026), precisely cited
from Papers 2, 4 and 6 — sit them from the papers, mark them with the official schemes.

Real Extended-tier past-paper questions relevant to this chapter, cited exactly (paper, session, year,
question part) — not reprinted. Sit each from the paper your teacher provides, closed notes; mark
with the official mark scheme; repair every lost mark from the matching box in Part 1. Every
entry below was classified question-by-question from the official papers in the course archive, then
independently re-verified against the papers a second time.

How to work this section

(1) Take the cited paper and sit the listed question or part. (2) Mark with the official
scheme, point by point. (3) For every lost mark, name the missing move (did you write
F = ma before you had written the resultant down? did you leave a direction off a
momentum? did you call the contact force “the force of motion”? did you forget that at
terminal velocity the resultant is zero, not the drag?) and repair it from Part 1. (4) Log
your score on the playlist sheet. How to cite one: “0625 Paper 41, June 2021, Q2(a)(ii)”.

What this list contains: 171 cited questions and parts worth 265 marks, drawn from thirteen
sessions (June 2021 – March 2026) — 84 Paper 4 theory parts (171 marks, cited part by part
across ten sessions), 79 distinct Paper 2 multiple-choice items (1 mark each, across ten sessions),
and 8 Paper 6 practical parts (15 marks, across six sessions). Extended tier only; no specimen
papers. 66 papers were read question by question to build it — 20 Paper 2, 20 Paper 4 and 26
Paper 6.

Where the marks actually are — read this before you plan your revision

This is the highest-yielding chapter in the whole archive: 171 cited items against
95 for motion. And unlike motion, it has no negative papers at all — every one of the
twenty Paper 4s and every one of the twenty Paper 2s in the archive gives you Chapter-3
marks. Paper 4 runs at 8.6 marks per paper (lowest 43 June 2021 with 2, highest 41
June 2021 with 15); Paper 2 runs at just under four items per paper (lowest 2, highest
6). Read that plainly: on a typical Extended entry, forces, weight and momentum are worth
about twelve marks before you open the paper, and six whole Paper 4 questions
in ten sessions are nothing but this chapter. There is no chapter where revision time
pays back faster. Paper 6 is the exception and it is a sharp one — 15 marks out of 26
papers — and §C below tells you exactly what to do about it.

A · Theory questions — Paper 4 (Extended)

Cited part by part. Six whole questions are pure Chapter 3; where that happens, the printed
question total is shown in bold beneath its parts as a reconciliation — it is not extra marks. Paper
and session are printed once per group.

Paper Session Part Chapter-3 focus Marks

Paper 41 June 2021 1(a)(ii) force on a falling body from its mass and 3
its acceleration

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 40

Section A continued — Paper 4 (Extended)

Paper Session Part Chapter-3 focus Marks
1(b) changing deceleration explained as weight 3
against air resistance, to terminal velocity
1(c) why the speed cannot fall to zero — there 2
is no drag at zero speed
2(a)(i) impulse as mass multiplied by change of 2
velocity
2(a)(ii) conservation of momentum to find an 2
unknown velocity
2(b) friction doing work, transferring kinetic 3
energy to thermal energy
41 June 2021 Q2 — whole of Q2 is forces and momentum 7
Paper 43 June 2021 3(c)(ii) average collision force from impulse = 2
change of momentum
Paper 41 Nov 2021 1(a) how a vector differs from a scalar 1
1(b) classifying listed quantities as vector or 2
scalar
1(c)(i) weight from mass and g 1
1(c)(ii) resultant of two perpendicular forces by 3
scale drawing — magnitude and direction
1(c)(iii) resultant against balancing cord force: 2
equal and opposite, hence equilibrium
41 Nov 2021 Q1 — whole of Q1 is forces and vectors 9
4(c)(iii)† net force on a decelerating vehicle 2
Paper 43 Nov 2021 1(c)(i) force on a large vessel from its mass and 2
its acceleration
1(c)(ii) identifying drag as the reason the driving 1
force must exceed the resultant
Paper 41 June 2022 1(d)(i) air resistance as the force that slows a 1
body once the drive is removed
1(d)(ii) drag falling with speed, so the resultant 2
and the deceleration also fall
Paper 43 June 2022 1(a)(ii) force on an accelerating vehicle 2
3(a)(i) resultant of two non-collinear forces by 4
scale drawing
3(a)(ii) mass from weight using g 1
3(b) identifying the vectors in a list of 2
quantities
43 June 2022 Q3 — whole of Q3 is forces and vectors 7
Paper 41 Nov 2022 1(b)(i) impulse as change of momentum, from 3
mass and velocity
1(b)(ii) friction slowing a sliding body, kinetic 3
energy to thermal energy
2(a)(i) the two pieces of information needed to 2
specify a vector
2(a)(ii) identifying the vectors in a list of 2
quantities
3(a) weight of a person from mass and g 1
3(b)† conditions for equilibrium — no resultant 2
force and no resultant turning effect
Paper 43 Nov 2022 1(b)(ii) force on an accelerating aircraft 2
1(b)(iii) changing drag as the reason the 1
acceleration is not constant
2(a)(i) change of momentum of a body that 3
reverses direction
2(a)(ii) impulse as force multiplied by time 1
2(a)(iii) contact time from change of momentum 2
divided by force

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 41

Section A continued — Paper 4 (Extended)

Paper Session Part Chapter-3 focus Marks

Paper 41 June 2023 1(a)(i)† combining two perpendicular vectors — 4

magnitude and direction
1(b) naming the resistive force; balanced forces 2
giving constant velocity
2(a)(ii) resultant force from mass and acceleration 2
2(b)(i) vector against scalar 1
2(b)(iii) circular motion: centre-directed force 2
linked to acceleration and change of
momentum
Paper 43 June 2023 1(a) weight from mass and g 2
1(b) acceleration from resultant force and mass 2
Paper 41 Nov 2023 1(b)(ii) change of momentum for a rebounding 3
body
1(b)(iii) force as change of momentum divided by 2
impact time
3(b)(iii)† mass from weight using g 2
4(b)(i) direction of the tension in a supporting 1
wire
Paper 43 Nov 2023 2(b)(i) drawing the resultant force radially, 2
toward the centre
2(b)(ii) how the centre-directed force changes as 1
the motion changes
3(a) momentum from mass and velocity 2
3(b) conservation of momentum where one 3
body rebounds
Paper 41 June 2024 1(b) force from mass and acceleration 2
1(c)(i) drag rising with speed, resultant falling to 4
zero, terminal velocity
2(a)(i) conservation of momentum in an 3
explosion-type separation from rest
Paper 43 June 2024 1(d) initial acceleration under weight, rising air 3
resistance, terminal velocity
3(a)(ii)† weight-to-mass conversion inside a 3
balanced-beam problem
3(b)(i) impulse as force multiplied by time and as 1
change of momentum
3(b)(ii) an impact-safety feature explained by 3
lengthening the collision time
Paper 41 Nov 2024 1(c)(i) weight from mass and g 1
1(c)(ii) resultant of two opposing collinear forces, 3
then the acceleration
2(a)(i) momentum from mass and velocity 2
3(c)† the zero-resultant-force condition for 2
equilibrium
Paper 43 Nov 2024 1(a)(i) vector against scalar 1
1(a)(ii) momentum as mass multiplied by velocity 1
1(b)(i) impulse = force × time = change of 3
momentum, used to find a speed
1(b)(ii)† sketching speed–time for balanced motion 2
followed by retarded motion
43 Nov 2024 Q1 — whole of Q1 is momentum and impulse 7
7(a)(ii)† mass-to-weight conversion inside a 3
balanced-beam problem
Paper 41 June 2025 1(a) which of the listed quantities are vectors 1
2(a)(i) the changes to motion a resultant force 2
can cause

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 42

Section A continued — Paper 4 (Extended)

Paper Session Part Chapter-3 focus Marks
2(a)(ii) the effect of a force on the shape or size of 1
a body
3(b)(i)† work done against weight, with weight 2
found from mass and g
3(b)(ii) the defining equation for force as rate of 2
change of momentum, and its symbols
10(b)(i) defining gravitational field strength as 2
force per unit mass
10(b)(ii)† what makes g differ from one planet to 1
another
Paper 43 June 2025 2(a) momentum from mass and velocity 1
2(b) conservation of momentum when a body 3
separates into two parts
2(c) mass from weight at terminal velocity, 2
where the forces balance
43 June 2025 Q2 — whole of Q2 is momentum and weight 6
3(a)† average force from work done and distance 2
3(b)(ii) drag opposing motion, reducing speed and 2
transferring kinetic energy
Paper 41 Nov 2025 1(a) a vector quantity against its scalar 1
counterpart
1(c)(i) F = ma applied to a uniform deceleration 2
2(a) defining gravitational field strength 1
2(b)(i) weight on another planet via W = mg 2
2(c)(i) drawing and labelling the resistive force 2
acting at constant speed
2(c)(ii) effect on the resultant when the resistive 1
forces decrease
Paper 43 Nov 2025 1(b) weight against air resistance leading to 3
terminal velocity
2(a) change of momentum of a body brought 2
to rest
2(b) force from change of momentum divided 3
by contact time
43 Nov 2025 Q2 — whole of Q2 is momentum and impulse 5
Paper 4 total — 84 parts, 20 papers, 10 sessions 171

† Multi-topical — and here it runs both ways. Eleven of the 84 parts above sit inside a question whose overall subject
is something else: forces arrive as one step of a moments problem, a density problem, an energy problem, a motion-graph
problem. The host questions are 41 Nov 2021 Q4 (motion graphs), 41 Nov 2022 Q3 (moments), 41 June 2023 Q1
(velocity vectors), 41 Nov 2023 Q3 (density and pressure), 43 June 2024 Q3 (moments), 41 Nov 2024 Q3 (moments),
43 Nov 2024 Q1(b)(ii) (speed–time sketch) and Q7 (moments), 41 June 2025 Q3 (work and energy) and Q10 (space
physics), and 43 June 2025 Q3 (work and energy). Sit the whole question, then mark only the cited parts against this
chapter.
So your mark totals reconcile. Six questions are wholly Chapter 3 and their printed totals appear as bold reconciliation
rows: 41 June 2021 Q2 = 7, 41 Nov 2021 Q1 = 9, 43 June 2022 Q3 = 7, 43 Nov 2024 Q1 = 7, 43 June 2025 Q2 =
6 and 43 Nov 2025 Q2 = 5. Every other row is a part, not a question, and the 171 is the sum of the parts.
No negative papers — and that is the finding. All 20 Paper 4s in the archive yield Chapter-3 marks. Nothing else
swept so far is like this: three of the twenty were empty for motion. The yield runs from 2 marks (43 June 2021, a single
collision-force part) to 15 (41 June 2021, where Q1 is a terminal-velocity analysis worth 8 and Q2 is a momentum question
worth 7), and it averages 8.6. Six papers give you double figures. Work Section A by session, oldest first, and you will meet
this chapter twenty times.
Where the tariff sits. Of the 171 marks: roughly a third are momentum and impulse (syllabus 1.6, Supplement only —
conservation, F t = ∆(mv), F = ∆p/∆t, and the crumple-zone explanation), roughly a quarter are weight, mass and g
(syllabus 1.5.1, and it is the single most repeated idea in the whole archive), and the rest split between resultant force and
F = ma, friction, drag and terminal velocity, equilibrium, circular motion and vector addition. A three-mark
“explain why the crash force is smaller” is worth exactly as much as a three-mark calculation, and it is far more reliably earned
— §3.7 gives you that answer in four sentences.
A tariff caveat, stated openly. Six Paper 4 mark schemes in this archive lose their Marks column when the PDF text
is extracted (the June 2021, June 2023 and June 2024 pairs). Those tariffs were read back off the source PDFs and every

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 43

affected paper was reconciled against its 80-mark total before any row above was written. Variants 22 and 42 are not in the
archive, so no claim is made about them.

B · Multiple-choice questions — Paper 2 (1 mark each)

Every one of the twenty Paper 2s in the archive carries Chapter-3 items — between two and six
of them, just under four per paper. Weight and mass alone account for more multiple-choice items
than any other single idea in the syllabus. 77 of these 79 items sit in Q1–Q10; the block starts
right where motion leaves off.

Paper Session Q Chapter-3 focus

Paper 21 June 2021 4 weight from mass and g, compared on Earth and
on the Moon
Paper 21 June 2021 7 friction deduced from an applied push and the
resulting acceleration
Paper 21 June 2021 8 impulse as change of momentum for a ball
rebounding from a wall
Paper 23 June 2021 4 weight as the gravitational force on a body,
distinct from mass and inertia
Paper 23 June 2021 7 acceleration from the resultant of a driving force
and friction
Paper 23 June 2021 8 conservation of momentum when a moving body
strikes a stationary one
Paper 23 June 2021 11† work done against gravity, requiring weight from
mass and g
Paper 21 Nov 2021 3 mass and weight compared under two different
gravitational field strengths
Paper 21 Nov 2021 7 the relationship between impulse and change of
momentum
Paper 23 Nov 2021 3 mass as resistance to change in motion, against
weight as a field effect
Paper 23 Nov 2021 7 contact time from force and change of momentum
for a ball that reverses
Paper 21 June 2022 4‡ equal free-fall acceleration because weight is
proportional to mass
Paper 21 June 2022 6 direction of the resultant force in circular motion
at constant speed
Paper 21 June 2022 8 magnitude of the resultant of two non-collinear
forces by scale drawing
Paper 21 June 2022 9 identifying the situations in which momentum
changes
Paper 21 June 2022 10‡ conservation of momentum to find a velocity after
a collision
Paper 21 June 2022 12† average braking force from kinetic energy and
stopping distance
Paper 23 June 2022 3 terminal velocity as constant speed once the
forces balance
Paper 23 June 2022 6 applied force from mass, acceleration and
opposing friction
Paper 23 June 2022 8 resultant of two non-collinear vectors by the
vector-triangle rule
Paper 23 June 2022 9 recognising the correct expression for impulse
Paper 21 Nov 2022 3‡ weight as the property arising when a
gravitational field acts on mass
Paper 21 Nov 2022 6 direction of the resultant force in circular motion
at constant speed
Paper 21 Nov 2022 7 force of a moving water stream from its rate of
change of momentum

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 44

Section B continued — Paper 2 (Extended)

Paper Session Q Chapter-3 focus
Paper 21 Nov 2022 8 friction in braking transferring kinetic energy to
thermal energy
Paper 23 Nov 2022 6 direction of the force keeping a body in circular
motion at constant speed
Paper 23 Nov 2022 7 relating force and contact time to change of
momentum
Paper 21 June 2023 1 the correct vector triangle for the resultant of two
non-collinear forces
Paper 21 June 2023 2 the forces acting at terminal velocity, and the
resulting acceleration
Paper 21 June 2023 4† equal spring force implies equal weight; finding
mass where g differs
Paper 21 June 2023 5 what a hanging spring balance actually compares
Paper 21 June 2023 7 deducing the motion from labelled weight, contact
and friction arrows
Paper 21 June 2023 9 force, mass and change of velocity giving the time
the force acts
Paper 23 June 2023 2 weight against air resistance on a body that is
still accelerating
Paper 23 June 2023 3† combining two perpendicular vectors
Paper 23 June 2023 4 which experimental methods validly compare
masses
Paper 23 June 2023 5 mass, weight and g compared between two
locations
Paper 23 June 2023 6 friction and drag at constant speed under a
constant driving force
Paper 23 June 2023 9 impulse on a ball rebounding along its original
path
Paper 21 Nov 2023 1 identifying a vector quantity
Paper 21 Nov 2023 3† speed–time graph shape for a body reaching
terminal velocity
Paper 21 Nov 2023 5 which described motion has a non-zero resultant
force
Paper 21 Nov 2023 6 which arrangement of force arrows leaves a body
in equilibrium
Paper 21 Nov 2023 7 impulse and conservation of momentum in a
head-on collision
Paper 23 Nov 2023 1 counting the scalars in a list of quantities
Paper 23 Nov 2023 5 direction of the force required for circular motion
at constant speed
Paper 23 Nov 2023 7 impulse for a given change of velocity
Paper 21 June 2024 1 sorting quantities into scalars and vectors
Paper 21 June 2024 2 mass as the measure of the quantity of matter in
a body
Paper 21 June 2024 3 the effect on mass and on weight of moving to a
different g
Paper 21 June 2024 5 which pair of forces leaves a body in equilibrium
Paper 21 June 2024 6 change of momentum of a ball rebounding from a
hard surface
Paper 23 June 2024 2 identifying a vector quantity
Paper 23 June 2024 5 defining g and relating it to the acceleration of
free fall
Paper 23 June 2024 6 the property of a body that a force cannot change
Paper 23 June 2024 7 conservation of momentum when a body embeds
in a stationary one
Paper 21 Nov 2024 3 how the resultant force and the acceleration
change as drag grows
Paper 21 Nov 2024 5 direction of the resultant force on a vehicle
following a curved path

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 45

Section B continued — Paper 2 (Extended)

Paper Session Q Chapter-3 focus
Paper 21 Nov 2024 6 direction of the third force for equilibrium under
weight and tension
Paper 21 Nov 2024 7 the correct relationship between change of
momentum, force and time
Paper 23 Nov 2024 1 the list containing only vectors
Paper 23 Nov 2024 3 weight and acceleration for identical bodies in
different g
Paper 23 Nov 2024 5 deducing the motion from a driving force and a
drag force
Paper 23 Nov 2024 7 impulse from mass and change of velocity
Paper 21 June 2025 2 direction of the resultant of several forces on a
body in flight
Paper 21 June 2025 3† comparing newtonmeter readings for two bodies
of identical size
Paper 21 June 2025 6 recognising two balanced forces, hence equilibrium
Paper 21 June 2025 7 recall of momentum, impulse, and force as rate of
change of momentum
Paper 21 June 2025 8 how mass determines the change in motion under
a constant force
Paper 23 June 2025 4 weight as a gravitational force, against quantity
of matter
Paper 23 June 2025 6 resultant of driving force, friction and air
resistance deciding the motion
Paper 23 June 2025 7 direction of the resultant force in circular motion
at constant speed
Paper 23 June 2025 8 conservation of momentum when two bodies
collide and move off joined
Paper 21 Nov 2025 3 recognising a description of a gravitational field
Paper 21 Nov 2025 7 resultant force from the rate of change of
momentum
Paper 23 Nov 2025 3† velocity and acceleration as a body approaches
terminal velocity
Paper 23 Nov 2025 4 selecting the instrument used to compare masses
Paper 23 Nov 2025 6 effect on motion of a driving force balanced by an
equal opposing force
Paper 23 Nov 2025 8 impulse during a brief contact, and the resulting
average acceleration
Paper 2 — 79 distinct items, 20 papers, 79 marks

‡ Cross-variant duplicates — counted once, and the judgement call named. Cambridge prints some items on both
variants of a session. 82 rows were classified for this chapter; three are such pairs and are listed above at their variant-21
occurrence only, so the table gives 79 distinct items. They are June 2022 P21 Q4 = P23 Q4 (free-fall acceleration
independent of mass — verbatim identical, same option order), June 2022 P21 Q10 = P23 Q10 (velocity after a collision
— same masses, same speeds, same options), and Nov 2022 P21 Q3 = P23 Q3 (weight as the effect of a gravitational
field). The third is a judgement call and is recorded as one: the stems are reworded and it is not verbatim, but the required
reasoning, the correct answer and three of the four options coincide, so a candidate meets it as one question. Every other
cited item was checked against all forty questions of its sister variant and confirmed unique. Same-topic pairs at the same
number are common and were not treated as duplicates — both Nov 2022 Q6 papers ask for the direction of the force in
circular motion, but from different scenarios with different diagrams, so both are listed.
† The boundary, marked openly. Seven items sit in questions whose overall subject is work and energy, springs, or a
speed–time graph. They are cited here because the marked step is a force step — a weight obtained from a mass, a braking
force recovered from energy and distance, a drag force balancing a weight. Where the force is given and the answer is an
energy, the item is not in this list.
What the multiple-choice paper actually tests here. Counting the 79 distinct items, the largest single block is weight,
mass and g — the distinction between the two quantities, W = mg in both directions, and the same body compared on
Earth, the Moon and another planet. After it come resultant force and F = ma, friction, drag and terminal velocity,
momentum and impulse, circular motion (nearly always “which way does the force point”), equilibrium, and vector
addition. Two of these are pure recall and you should never lose them: mass is in kilograms and does not change; weight is
a force in newtons and does change with g, and at terminal velocity the resultant force is zero. Own those two sentences and
roughly a third of this table is already yours.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 46

A structural pattern worth exploiting. 77 of the 79 items sit in Q1–Q10, and Q7 is the single most frequent slot (15 of
the 79). The opening third of your multiple-choice paper is measurement, motion and then this chapter, in that order, nearly
every session. The two exceptions above Q10 are June 2021 P23 Q11 and June 2022 P21 Q12, and both reach this
chapter through an energy question — one wants a weight before it can find the work done against gravity, the other wants a
braking force out of a kinetic energy and a distance.
Production note. The Paper 2 mark schemes in this archive are bare answer keys — a question/answer/marks letter grid
with no topic information whatsoever. Every one of the 79 classifications above was therefore made from the question
papers, read item by item; the mark schemes were used only to confirm the 40-question, one-mark-each structure and to
detect withdrawn items. One was found: June 2024 P21 has 40 numbered slots but only 39 live items — Cambridge
withdrew Q14, a thermal-physics item, and the numbering is not shifted. No citation above is affected.

C · Practical questions — Paper 6 (ATP)

This section is eight parts long out of twenty-six papers, and every one of the eight is daggered.
That is not an accident of classification — it is the finding. Read the box below before you spend a
single hour of ATP revision on forces.

Paper Session Part Chapter-3 practical Marks

Paper 62 March 2022 1(c)(iii)† weight in newtons of a rigid object, from a 1
spring calibrated with a known load
Paper 62 March 2022 1(d)(ii)† a source of inaccuracy in that determination 1
of weight
Paper 62 Nov 2022 4† planning an investigation in which tension in 7
a wire is varied by hanging loads over a
pulley
Paper 62 March 2023 1(c)(i)† mass of a group of identical objects by 1
balance difference, then the average mass of
one
Paper 62 Nov 2024 1(b)(i)† reading a mass from a top-pan balance to a 1
stated precision
Paper 61 June 2025 1(c)† mass of a single object by difference from a 2
combined balance reading
Paper 62 March 2026 1(a)(i)† good practice for taking an accurate balance 1
reading
Paper 62 March 2026 1(b)(i)† mass of one item from before-and-after 1
balance readings
Paper 6 total — 8 parts, 6 sessions, out of 26 papers read 15

The single most important finding in this whole sweep

The Alternative to Practical paper barely examines forces at all. All 26 ATP
papers in the archive — June and November variants 61 and 62 for 2021–2025, plus the
March 62 papers for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 — were read question by
question. Chapter 3 yields 15 marks in total, and not one of the eight parts sits inside a
question whose subject is forces. Every one is a step on the way to something else: a spring,
a moment, a density, a cooling curve.
Absent from all 26 papers: any measurement of friction; any drag or terminal-
velocity investigation; any determination of a force from F = ma; any momentum or
impulse measurement; any force-vector construction or scale drawing; and any use
of a forcemeter to measure a force other than a weight hanging from a spring. The
recurring “mechanics” slot on this paper is moments and the balanced rule, springs and
load–extension, pendulum timing, and density by displacement — every one of which is
outside this chapter.
What Chapter 3 does own on this paper is narrow, specific, and worth every
mark. Four skills carry all 15: (1) measuring a mass on a balance by difference — weigh
together, weigh one away, subtract; (2) converting that mass to a weight in newtons with
g; (3) reading a spring calibrated with a known load as a forcemeter; and (4) naming

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 47

the source of inaccuracy in doing either. They are drilled directly in Part 1 §3.2 and in
problem P3. Do not spend ATP revision time hunting for a forces practical — there is
not one. Spend it on the four skills above and on the technique an ATP paper examines
constantly: repeat-and-average, reading to the precision of the instrument, and naming one
specific source of error rather than saying “human error”.

Adjacent planning questions — labelled honestly, worth 21 marks

Three further ATP planning questions are built on a force or a weight, but what they ask you to
determine is an extension, a period or a balancing position — not a force. They are not counted
in this chapter’s 171. They are excellent 7-mark planning practice in a force-flavoured context, so
they are listed here under that honest label rather than quietly promoted.

Paper Session Q What is actually planned Marks

Paper 61 June 2021 4 how the extension of a spring depends on the 7
load hung from it
Paper 62 June 2023 4 how the period of a pendulum depends on a 7
property of the pendulum
Paper 61 Nov 2024 4 how the balancing position of a loaded rule 7
depends on the load
Adjacent planning practice — 3 questions, not counted above 21

Sit all three. The planning question is worth 7 marks on every ATP paper — almost a tenth of
it — and the marks go to the same skeleton every time: name the independent and dependent
variables, name what you keep constant, say what you measure and with what instrument, say
how you make it accurate (repeats, averages, a long extension rather than a short one), and say
what you plot. That skeleton is identical whether the thing on the end of the string is a spring, a
pendulum or a mass on a pulley.

What the archive does not examine — and why Part 2 covers it anyway
Five gaps came out of the 66-paper sweep. Each one is real syllabus content that the recent
examined record barely touches, and each is deliberately covered in the problem set instead. This
is the honest reason Part 2 is not simply a set of past-paper clones.
1. Vector addition by scale drawing is examined only four times in twenty Paper
4 papers — 41 Nov 2021 1(c)(ii), 43 June 2022 3(a)(i), 41 June 2023 1(a)(i), and 41 Nov
2024 1(c)(ii) for the collinear case. Yet it is Supplement content that carries three or four
marks whenever it appears, and it is the one skill in this chapter that is lost purely for want
of a ruler and a protractor. Taught in Part 1 §3.9, drilled in P10, and tested closed-notes in
Test Q9.
2. The conservation of momentum is never examined with both bodies initially
moving. In every Paper 4 in the archive the case is moving-onto-stationary, a rebound off a
wall, or a separation from rest. The two-bodies-approaching case is fully within the syllabus,
it is the one where sign convention actually decides the answer, and it can be set at any
session. Covered explicitly in P12.
3. No archive question asks for the resultant of three or more non-collinear forces.
Two is the ceiling everywhere in 66 papers. This is recorded so that you do not over-invest:
§3.9 teaches the two-force construction properly and then stops, and the third-rope case in
P10 is there for understanding, not because the paper demands it.
4. Circular motion is examined almost entirely as “which way does the force point”.
How the required force depends on mass, speed and radius — which the coursebook teaches —

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.
INT-PHYS-IG · CH03 · Exam Practice 48

appears in the archive only qualitatively, in 43 Nov 2023 2(b)(ii). Covered in §3.6 and drilled
once, at the level the syllabus actually sets, in Test Q5.
5. Paper 6 gives this chapter almost nothing (see §C above). The chapter’s practical
work is therefore built on the four skills the archive does examine — mass by difference, mass
to weight, the calibrated spring, and naming the inaccuracy — rather than on an invented
practical that no examiner has ever set.

What is deliberately not here

Roughly twenty-five questions look like Chapter 3 questions and are not. They are excluded on
purpose, and named so that you know they were considered rather than missed.
• Gas pressure explained by molecular momentum. Several items build pressure from
molecules colliding with a wall and changing momentum. The physics is momentum; the
syllabus placement and the required answer are kinetic theory (topic 2). They belong to the
thermal chapter.
• Work and energy where the force is given. W = F d with F supplied tests topic 1.7, not
force analysis. Only the reverse cases are cited — where a force must be found from work and
distance, or a weight from a mass.
• Free-fall kinematics with mass as a distractor. Questions asking for a speed or a time
in free fall, where the mass is present only to be ignored, are motion questions and are cited
in Chapter 2.
• Weights that fall out of the principle of moments. Where a weight is recovered by
balancing a beam, the examined skill is moments (topic 1.5.3). Only the parts that separately
convert between mass and weight are cited, and those are daggered.
• Forces read off a load–extension line. That is a springs question. The two Paper 6 parts
from March 2022 are the exception, and the reason is precise: there the spring is used as a
calibrated forcemeter to obtain a weight in newtons, which is a Chapter-3 skill.
• The force opposing a falling magnet. It is electromagnetic induction (topic 4.5) even
though it slows a falling body.
• Pressure under a solid. p = F/A takes a weight as an input but examines pressure (topic
1.8).
• Orbital questions about planets and satellites. Topic 6.2 — except where the answer
turns on the centre-directed force itself, which is cited.

Every classification above was made by reading the official papers question by question — 20 Paper
2, 20 Paper 4 and 26 Paper 6 — and the working index behind this section, ch03_index.md,
records the decision for each one, including the daggered host questions, the cross-variant duplicates
and the rejected borderline cases. No Cambridge question text, figure, table or mark-scheme content
is reproduced anywhere in this document; these are citations, and you sit them from the papers
themselves.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi. All rights reserved. Aligned with Cambridge IGCSE Physics 0625 (examinations 2026–2028); an
independent publication, not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International Education.

© 2026 Izzeddin Abboushi · Independent publication — not endorsed by or affiliated with Cambridge International
Education.