What this topic covers

Nuclear physics is topic 23 of the Cambridge 9702 syllabus (2025–2027), covering mass defect and nuclear binding energy, and radioactive decay. It is A Level content, examined in Paper 4 (A Level Structured Questions), which carries 38.5% of the A Level. The ideas students find most demanding are using E = mc² with consistent units, interpreting the graph of binding energy per nucleon to explain why both fission and fusion release energy, and treating radioactive decay as a random and spontaneous process. Calculations involving the decay constant, half-life and exponential decay require confidence with logarithms. Precise definitions of half-life and activity are frequently examined. The questions below build from definitions to multi-stage numerical problems.

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Questions in this topic

• 9702/41/O/N/24 Q9 — Fluorine-18 decay and medical imaging · 10 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/24 Q10 — Radioactive decay and nuclear processes · 8 marks
• 9702/43/O/N/24 Q9 — radioactive decay and medical imaging · 10 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/24 Q9 — binding energy of a nucleus · 13 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/24 Q9 — radioactive decay · 8 marks
• 9702/41/O/N/23 Q9 — nuclear fusion and fission · 10 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/23 Q9 — radioactive decay and PET scanning · 12 marks
• 9702/43/O/N/23 Q9 — nuclear fusion and fission · 10 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/23 Q9 — radioactive decay and half-life · 9 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/23 Q9 — mass defect and fusion · 11 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/23 Q9 — radioactive decay and half-life · 9 marks
• 9702/42/F/M/23 Q8 — radioactive decay · 11 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/22 Q8 — nuclear binding energy · 12 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/22 Q10 — radioactive decay · 11 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/22 Q8 — nuclear binding energy · 12 marks
• 9702/41/O/N/21 Q12 — radioactive decay constant · 7 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/21 Q12 — radioactive decay · 8 marks
• 9702/43/O/N/21 Q12 — radioactive decay constant · 7 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/21 Q6 — Electric fields and de Broglie wavelength · 8 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/21 Q5 — Electric potential and photoelectric effect · 9 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/21 Q12 — photon and momentum · 9 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/21 Q6 — Electric fields and quantum physics · 8 marks
• 9702/42/F/M/21 Q12 — radioactive decay · 6 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/20 Q7 — X-ray emission · 6 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/20 Q12 — nuclear binding energy and fission · 7 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/20 Q12 — radioactive decay · 8 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/20 Q12 — mass defect and binding energy · 8 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/20 Q12 — radioactive decay · 8 marks
• 9702/42/F/M/20 Q12 — nuclear reactions and decay · 8 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/19 Q12 — radioactive decay · 9 marks

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