This exam focus covers Exam Focus within Kinetic Energy for GCSE Physics. Revise Kinetic Energy in Energy for GCSE Physics with 15 exam-style questions and 30 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 13 of 15 in this topic. Treat this as a marking guide for what examiners are looking for, not just a fact list.
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This topic is examined in Edexcel 1PH0/1 (Paper 1). Edexcel questions frequently give a real-world context (e.g. a car crash, a ball rolling down a slope) and ask you to calculate or compare kinetic energies, or to explain why doubling speed has a greater effect than doubling mass. Kinetic energy calculations appear in nearly every GCSE Physics exam paper. You must be able to:
- Calculate KE when given mass and speed
- Rearrange to find mass or speed
- Link KE to GPE in conservation problems (e.g., find speed after falling)
- Explain (not just state) why higher speed is disproportionately more dangerous in road safety contexts
4-6 mark explain questions often ask: "A car travelling at 30 m/s has four times the kinetic energy of the same car at 15 m/s. Explain why." — You must reference the v² relationship explicitly.
Practice questions for Kinetic Energy
Which of the following objects has kinetic energy stored in its kinetic energy store?
A car travels at 20 m/s. The driver then doubles their speed to 40 m/s. Explain what happens to the kinetic energy of the car and by what factor it changes.