science year 6 exam paper

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SCIENCE YEAR 6 EXAM

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Duration – 1 hour and 30 minutes

Each correct answer is worth 1 mark out of a total of 100, unless stated otherwise.

SECTION 1 – THE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC SPECTRUM
(29 marks)

1. The picture below shows the electro-magnetic spectrum.

Using the number key below write in the different parts of the spectrum. (5 marks)

science
1_____________________________
2_____________________________
3_____________________________
4_____________________________

5_____________________________
6_____________________________
7_____________________________

2. True or False? Red light has a shorter wavelength than blue light.
______________________________

3. Which parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum are potentially dangerous to humans? Why do you think these rays can be so harmful? (2 marks)
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4. Complete the following sentence. Tick the correct answer.

The different parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum travel at…

a. Different speeds depending on length of wave

b. The same speed – the speed of light
c. The same speed – the speed of waves
d. Different speeds depending on height of wave

5. Fill in the missing words.

The high point of a wave is called a________________________. The low point of a wave is called a _______________________.

6. Complete the following sentence. Tick the correct answer.

Light always travels like…

a. A wave in wavy lines
b. A circle in straight lines
c. A wave in straight lines
d. A hexagon in perpendicular lines

7. Which of the following objects can light pass through?

Circle the correct answers.

Mirrors Hands Water Steel Paper Wood Tents Gold

8. Complete the following sentence. Tick the correct answer.

Light is made up of tiny particles called…

a. Photons

b. Photographs
c. Phytoplasm
d. Photophytofruitoscuttobonbons

9. True or False? Everything you see is a reflection of light.

________________________

10. Draw a picture of a basic periscope.

Briefly explain below how the periscope works. (5 marks)

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11. Why does white appear to us as very light, whilst black appears to us as very dark. (2 marks)

12. If you were standing in the middle of an empty, flat landscape your shadow would be much darker than if you were standing in a village surrounded by trees and houses.

Why? (Note – In both places the sun is in the same position and you are receiving exactly the same amount of sunlight)
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13. Place the following objects in order, from the most reflective (number 1), to the least reflective (number 6). (2 marks)

Plastic Wood Still Water Cloth Mirror Varnished wood

14. Why are some surfaces more reflective than others?

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15. When you place a pencil in a glass of water, as in the picture below, the part in the water appears bent.

Why is this and what is this process called? (2 marks) science

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16. The same process occurs when you shine a light through a prism.

Explain what happens to the ‘white’ light and why. (2 marks) science

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SECTION 2 – ATOMS (11 marks)

17. Which of the following two statements is true and which is false?

a. Every solid, liquid and gas is composed of atoms.__________________________
b. Every solid and liquid but not gas is composed of atoms._____________________

18. Atoms are incredibly small.

Approximately how many atoms are in a drop of water? Tick the correct answer.

a. 1,000
b. 1,000,000
c. 1,000,000,000
d. 100,000,000,000,000,000,000

19. Below left is a picture of the Bohr model of an atom.

Label both pictures and explain why this model has now been replaced with the Schrödinger model, below right. (6 marks)

BOHR MODEL

atom

SCHRODINGER MODEL
atom

20. Every atom is made up from one of the elements.
What makes one element different from another? Tick the correct answer.

a. They have different names.

b. They have different colours.
c. They have different amounts of electrons and protons.
d. They have different amounts of electrodes and protoids.

21. Why is hydrogen the simplest element and uranium the most complex? (2 marks)

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SECTION 3 – THE UNIVERSE (25 marks)

22. Complete the following sentence. Tick the correct answer.

To leave Planet Earth you need to travel at…

a. 1 million mph

b. 24,067 mph
c. 11,011 mph
d. Just keep going up – it does not matter what speed.

23. Why do you need to travel at this speed and what is the name given to this speed?

_________________________________________________________________

24. True or False?

Jupiter is so large that you could fit all the other 7 planets into it and still have room left over.

______________________

25. There is a vast distance between the last of the inner planets, Mars, and the first of the gas planets, Jupiter. Other than space, what else lies between these two planets?

____________________________

26. Name the following planets – (3 marks)

File written by Adobe Photoshop® 4.0 universe

universe

27. Inside every galaxy there are vast clouds called nebulae. There are a number of different types of nebulae.

Give a brief description of the following types in the boxes below. (4 marks)

Dark Nebula

Emission Nebula

Reflection Nebula

Planetary Nebula

28. The majority of nebulae have a mostly red / pink colour. Why?

_____________________________________________________________________

29. Look carefully at the two pictures below.

What happens when the two collide with each other? (4 marks)

universe

File written by Adobe Photoshop® 5.0

30. Why can light not escape a black hole?

Tick the correct answer.

a. Light cannot escape a black hole because the mass of a black hole is so great that the speed needed to escape its gravitational pull is greater than the speed of light.
b. Light cannot escape a black hole because the mass of a black hole is so great space/time becomes curved and bends the light inwards.

c. Light cannot escape a black hole because the mass of a black hole is so great that the general thermal dynamics of antidisestablishmentarianism turns out the lights.

d. Light cannot escape a black hole because the wind of a black hole is so great it blows all the lights right out.

31. Describe how a black hole is created, in the box below. (4 marks)

32. Below is a picture of the Crab Nebula, an old neutron star. What is a neutron star and how is it created? (2 marks)

33. What will happen to our sun after it has expanded and died?

Tick the correct answer.

a. It will turn into a black hole.

b. It will become a white dwarf.
c. It will become a neutron star.
d. It will never die!

34. Why will our sun one day die? __________________________________________________________________________

SECTION 4 – GENERAL SCIENCE (35 marks)

35. The air we breathe is mostly made up from 2 gases (about 97% in total).

What are the names of these 2 gases?

______________________
______________________

36. What are molecules?

_____________________________________________________________________
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37. Briefly describe how the molecules of gases behave__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

38. A water molecule is made from 3 atoms. What are they?

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39. Plastic is made from 3 different elements.

Circle the correct 3 elements.

Helium Gold Carbon Argon Chlorine Copper Oxygen Zinc Hydrogen

40. The picture below shows someone about to fly up in the air carried by helium balloons.

Why does helium float up through the air?

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41. Why is the ‘sky’ on the moon always black, even when the sun is shining?

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42. What is thunder and why does it always occur after lightning?

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43. Which of the following changes are reversible and which are irreversible?

Write the answer next to each sentence. (2 marks)

a. Cooling water_______________________________
b. Boiling an egg_______________________________
c. Dissolving salt in water________________________
d. Cooking bread_______________________________

e. Freezing water into ice_________________________
f. Burning a candle______________________________
g. Cooking popcorn______________________________

44. When you boil water why does the level of water gradually go down, and where does it go?

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45. Becky wants to find out what happens when she mixes different solids with water.

She adds water to 4 different solids and stirs each mixture. After 20 minutes she draws a picture of each beaker.

The table below names the 4 different solids that Becky mixed with water.

Which solid was in each beaker?

Write A, B, C or D in the appropriate beaker column.

SOLID	BEAKER
Soil
Vitamin Tablet
Plastic Beads
Salt

46. A little later mum comes home and wants to know where has all the salt gone. How can Becky extract the salt from the water before her mum finds out she has used it all?

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47. Luke is in the kitchen making popcorn. The pictures below show what he does.

Write in true or false next to the following 4 statements –

The pictures show that as the popcorn pops it…

a. Gets bigger___________________________

b. Changes to a darker colour_______________
c. Changes shape_________________________
d. Gets smoother_________________________

48. After the popcorn is cooked it is hot. What should Luke measure to find out how hot the popcorn is?

Circle the correct answer.

Mass Volume Temperature Time to cook

49. Look at the pictures above. What is most likely to cause the popcorn to change?

Circle the correct answer.

Salt Heat Oil Saucepan

50. Aidan puts 2 boats in a bowl of water. They float on the water.

Aidan pushes down on 1 of the boats with his finger.

Tick ONE box to show what Aidan can feel as he pushes down.

a. The force from the water pushing the boat up.

b. The force from the air pushing the boat up.

c. The force from the water pushing the boat down.

d. The force from the air pushing the boat down.

51. Aidan makes masts for the boats with straws. He attaches the masts to the boats using modelling clay.

Explain why boat 2 floats lower in the water than boat 1.

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52. Aidan makes sails for the boats out of paper.

He uses a straw to blow one of the boats along.

Draw an arrow on the picture to show the direction of the force pushing the boat along.

53. What is the name of the force which slows the boat down?___________________

54. This force slows everything down.

Which of the following exerts the greatest amount of this force.

Place a number from 1 to 5 by the following places – 1 for greatest force down to 5 for the least amount of this force. (2 marks)

A Road The Sea The Sky Space A Field

55. Isaac Newton was a famous scientist who was born in 1642.

There is a famous story about Newton watching an apple fall from a tree.

Newton thought a force must cause the apple to fall.

Tick ONE to show which force on the apple causes it to fall.

a. A pulling force towards the tree.

b. A pulling force towards the Earth.

c. A pushing force from the apple.

d. A pushing force from the air.

56. Newton conducted different experiments to test his ideas.

Why was it important for Newton to test his ideas with different experiments?

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57. Newton realised that the force, which made the apple fall to the ground, also causes the Earth to orbit the Sun.

What is the name of this force?

_________________

58. How long does the Earth take to orbit the Sun once?

________________________

59. How does the Earth move to cause day and night?

_____________________________________________________________________

AppleMark

60. The primary class were investigating whether or not some materials are attracted to a magnet.

They made notes of their results.

Write the numbers to show the scale on the chart below. The first number has already been written in.

Draw a bar on the chart to show the number of materials attracted to a magnet.

61. The teacher wrote – ‘Our investigation was good’ as a conclusion for the investigation.

Why is this not a useful scientific conclusion?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

62. One of the children, Mike, afterwards stated in his conclusion that – ‘All metals are magnetic’. Asha concluded that – ‘Only some metals are magnetic’.

Does each observation support their conclusions?

Tick ONE box on each row of the table. (2 marks)

Observation	Supports Mike’s and Asha’s conclusion	Supports only Asha’s conclusion	Does not support either conclusion
The iron nail is magnetic
The steel clip magnetic
The metal coin is not magnetic
The modelling clay is not magnetic
The chocolate is not magnetic

63. Greta and George are doing experiments with ice cubes.

First Greta puts ice cubes on a plate over a bowl of water.

After some time, Greta sees droplets of water drip from underneath the plate. Water from the melting ice cannot pass through the plate and the bowl has not moved.

Explain how the water droplets formed in the bowl underneath the plate. (2 marks)

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64. In winter people put salt on the road to make the ice melt.

George investigates the effect of salt on melting ice.

He puts the same amount of ice in 2 funnels. He adds salt to the ice in one funnel.

The ice starts to melt. Every ten minutes George measures how much water is in each funnel.

The graph below gives George’s results. One axis on the graph has been labelled.

Write the label and the units for the other axis.

? …………………………(……………) ?

65. What has George found out about the effect of salt on ice?

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