Thermal questions are a fixture of Paper 6. Read the meniscus in the measuring cylinder and the liquid column on two thermometer diagrams, head the table correctly, plot temperature against time with a sensible false origin, take the gradient as the rate of temperature rise and turn it into the specific heat capacity of water. Then say what keeps the readings accurate and the comparison with a lid fair. Every attempt uses a different heater, volume and starting temperature. Allow about 25 minutes.
Checked: Cambridge IGCSE Physics 0625 Papers 5 and 6, 2014 to 2025. Only the papers in our collection are listed, so the real number may be higher. Question papers are available from Cambridge.
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The volume at the bottom of the meniscus and both temperatures to the nearest 1 °C. Examiners report the same misreading every session: a 1 °C division read as 0.1 °C, so 23 °C becomes 20.3 °C.
Headings written as quantity / unit: t / s and θ / °C. The reports are blunt about units: sec is not accepted for seconds, and C or C° is not accepted for degrees Celsius.
Axes labelled with quantity and unit, scales that spread the points over at least half the grid (a temperature axis starting at 0 °C squashes the plots into the top), every point within half a small square, and a thin best-fit line rather than dot-to-dot joins.
A large triangle marked on the graph, the gradient read from your own line, and a description of the line that matches what you drew.
c = P / (m × G) from your own volume and gradient with the mass in kg and the unit J / (kg °C), a value within 10% of 4200 J / (kg °C), a precaution that keeps the temperature readings accurate, and a comparison with a lid that changes only the lid.
The marking follows the conventions in published Cambridge mark schemes. The experiments, readings and wording on this page are our own.