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PHYSICS
(THEORY)
Paper 1
1 August 2024
2½ hours

ENTEBBE JOINT EXAMINATION BUREAU

Uganda Lower Secondary Certificate of Education

PHYSICS

Paper 1

THEORY

2 hours 30 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
This paper has two Sections A and B.
It has seven items
Section A has three compulsory items.
Section B has two Parts: I and II. Answer one item from each part.
Answer five items in all.
Additional item(s) will not be scored.
All responses should be written in the booklets provided.
 SECTION A
Respond to all items in this Section.
Item 1
S3 and S4 students of a certain school were to have a motion (debate) about time
durations of a day, night and seasons of a year which they normally experience
in their lives. This motion was to be presented on visitation day to parents most
of whom are peasants.
In their debate, one presenter argued that ocean tides are the causes of these
durations. Another learner supplemented that oceantides and drought are caused
by artificial satellites placed in space by powerful countries like Russia.
A parent who had attended also said that seasons are brought about by the
motion of the planets about the sun and this distorts climatic conditions.
The audience was confused by the arguments. A learner from the audience
raised an inquiry if there can be a means of getting some information about these
weather changes and planets.
The chairperson tasked each participant to make more research so that they
could have clear information for the next presentation.
Task:
As a learner of physics, help the audience to:
(a) understand about time duration of the day, night and year.
(b) explain the occurrence of seasons and ocean tides.
(c) know what artificial satellites are and their roles in everyday life.

Item 2
A patient went for tooth extraction in a clinic with his eight-year-old son. The
dentist was so busy and so asked his nurse to look for an optical instrument of
radius of curvature 20cm with the confidence that this would give him the best
magnification.
The average length of a mature human tooth is 2cm. To achieve the best results,
the nurse was advised to have a tooth 40cm from the instrument. As soon as the
man arrived home late in the evening, the eight-year-old son started narrating to
the neighbors in the next room who had closed their room to sleep. The neighbor
felt sorry for the man.
Note that the available optical instruments were a concave mirror and convex
lens of the same focal length.

2
Task:
As a learner of Physics:
(a) advise the nurse on the optical instrument that would best extract the tooth.

(b) help to explain why the neighbor was able to hear the conversation from
the eight-year-old boy in the other room.

Item 3
Some people here in Uganda largely earn a living through mining. Recently
people who were extracting stones for construction developed itchy-like
symptoms all over their bodies. Now, this issue has become a point of concern
as the number of people with such symptoms increases in nearby health units.

Samples from the quarry were picked and taken to ascertain their nature. They
showed the following properties

Figure 1
Sample

Thin sheet of Thin sheet Lead box

paper of aluminium

Figure 2

3 Turn Over
The sample further showed 1600 counts per minute with GM tube and rate
meter. This activity was studied to show how it changes with time. However
here in Uganda, background radiation of 50 counts per minute is not harmful.
Locals have little knowledge about background radiation and have also been told
to wait for some time before the decision is made to close or leave the quarry.

Task:
As a learner of physics;
(a) help the locals understand what background radiation is and know the
nature of sample picked from the quarry.

(b) advise locals on the time they should wait to see if the quarry can be closed
or not.

SECTION B

Respond to one item from this Part.

Item 4

A certain highway restaurant in one of the towns in Uganda is known to provide

warm water to its customers for bathing.
An attendant who works in this hotel was given two similar plastic cyli
cylindrical
2
tanks each with a cross-sectional
sectional area of 18380cm and height of 5.5m. One of
the tanks is painted white and the other painted black.
An attendant is supposed to store 10m3 of warm water in any of the tanks. He
has a worry on which tank she can use to keep water warm and accommodate all
the available water. To ensure smartness in the restaurant, each tank is supposed
to be supported on plastic stands as shown in Fig 33.
Support material

4
Task:
As a learner of physics,
(a) help to explain to the attendant on the:

(i) tank she would use to store the required amount of water.
(ii) type of tank that would keep water for customers at required
temperature.

(b) If one of the tanks was to be used for handwashing and the owner of
restaurant wants to put a tap on it, redraw the tank and,

(i) show him by letter K, the position where the tap can be put.
(ii) explain to the restaurant owner on the choice of position K.

(c) What advice would you give to the restaurant owner on the measures he
would ensure for the stand to withstand the weight of the tank for a long
time?

Item 5

While driving passengers, a taxi driver got frightened when a flying bird hit the
windscreen. He then suddenly stopped and applied brakes. This led his car tyre
to burst. As soon as the driver went out of the vehicle to check what had
happened, he found the tyre rim and other engine parts were hot.

Fig4 shows the motion of the vehicle before the incidence.

250

200
Velocity (ms-1)

150

100

50

0 2 4 6 8 10
Time(s)

5
Turn Over
The taxi driver did not know the exact location he was at so that he could direct
the mechanic to bring him a new tyre to replace the bust one.

Task:
As a learner of physics:
(a) Help the driver to design a system that will enable him replace the burst
tyre.

(b) Help the driver to explain why the engine parts and rim became hot when
he suddenly braked.

(c) Advise the taxi driver to direct the mechanic the exact location he would
find him to deliver the new tyre.

PART II
Respond to answer one item from this Part.
Item 6
A certain home has three rooms each with a bulb as shown in fig 5.

Bulbs
Switches

240V
A C
B

Electric kettle

When a member switched on all bulbs at a go in all rooms, one bulb in a certain
room did not light but the other two lit brightly. That bulb and the kettle were
then put in the other two rooms and the bulb lit as brightly as other two bulbs.
The kettle is considered effective if it is switched on for 4 minutes 8 seconds. A
member argued that energy from the transformer was not enough. Other
members were confused because they did not know what a transformer is.
To ascertain all this, 1 litre of water was filled in a kettle at 15 0 C and heated up
to 1000 C.
Hint
Resistance of heating coil of the Kettle = 40 Ω
SHC of water = 4200JKk-1kg-1

6
Task:
As a learner of physics:
(a) help the family members to understand why the bulbs in two rooms had lit
yet it was not lighting in the other room.

(b) explain to the home owner what a transformer is and how it works.

(c) advise the members whether the kettle was okay or had a problem.

Item 7
Achola switched on a blender to prepare passion juice for her friend who was
with her in the kitchen. Her friend, being a villager, was mesmerized by the
rotating blades and the sound of the blender. During that brief moment of their
chat, the electricity distribution company delivered a bill of Shs 38959.5 for the
last 30 days of the month. She disagreed with the bill claiming that it is too high
compared to what she has used.
Appliance No. of appliances Power(w) Time
Flat iron 1 75 1hr
Television (TV) 2 100 4hr
Phone charger 2 50 55min
Lighting bulbs 4 4 50
Hint
Mains p.d. = 240V
Cost per unit = 950/=

Task:
As a learner of physics:
(a) help Achola to understand the system that helps blades to rotate and how it
works.

(b) advise Achola so that she can appreciate the bill brought to her by the
electricity distribution company.

7 END