The 2020 exam holds to 40 questions in 45 minutes with separate Division 1 and Division 2 awards, mechanics and electromagnetism in the lead, and heat and optics in their steady supporting roles. Scan the code for the paper, key and solutions.
The 25 online practice questions start instantly; the full past-paper & answers PDF is available free from an advisor via the QR code — it is not a direct download on this page.2020 Physics Bowl paper overview and exam highlights.
The 2020 contest was again hosted by the American Association of Physics Teachers, following the usual schedule of spring testing (around late March to early April) with registration deadlines per the official announcement. The format stayed unchanged: 40 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes, no penalty for wrong answers, calculators allowed, and the paper fully in English.
The paper read steady overall, built on the core high school framework. Mechanics and electromagnetism filled most of the space, heat and waves-optics kept their fixed low-difficulty roles, and odd or out-of-scope items were rare. Division 1 targeted freshmen and first-year physics students, Division 2 sophomores and AP Physics C students, with separate rankings and awards.
Work through this paper at a steady, easy-first pace and leave time for bubbling, then review each miss for the concept behind it. Scan the QR code for the complete 2020 paper, answer key and matching solutions, and reinforce the feel with the 25 original bilingual practice questions on this page.
2020 Physics Bowl main topic areas, weights and emphasis.
Motion graphs, force analysis and momentum-energy remain the backbone, with projectile and collision models frequent.
Circuit analysis gains weight, magnetic force and induced emf sit mid-to-late, and capacitor items stay basic.
Doppler effect, lens imaging and interference share the stage, where memorized formulas decide the marks.
Specific heat and the empirical gas laws lead, with short stems and given conditions offering high value.
Result-style checkpoints such as half-life, photon energy and time dilation appear steadily.
2020 Physics Bowl-style mock questions (Basic · Medium · Hard) — submit to grade and view step-by-step solutions.
A high-speed train travels at a steady 252 km/h. How many meters does it cover in 20 s?
Correct answer: A
252 km/h = 70 m/s, so s = 70×20 = 1400 m. Answer A. Core: convert to SI units before calculating.A 250 g toy cart is pushed by a 2.0 N horizontal net force. What is its acceleration in m/s2?
Correct answer: E
m = 250 g = 0.25 kg, and a = F/m = 2.0/0.25 = 8 m/s2. Answer E. Core: grams must be converted to kilograms.A 60 kg passenger stands in an elevator accelerating upward at 2 m/s2 (g = 10 m/s2). What is the normal force from the floor on the passenger?
Correct answer: D
N = m(g + a) = 60×12 = 720 N. Answer D. Core: apparent weight rises as N = m(g+a) in upward acceleration.A simple pendulum undergoing simple harmonic motion has a length of 0.25 m. Take g = 9.8 m/s2. What is its period, approximately, in seconds?
Correct answer: A
T = 2π√(L/g) = 2π√(0.25/9.8) ≈ 1.0 s. Answer A. Core: the pendulum period depends only on length and g.A 6 Ω resistor carries a current of 2 A. What is the voltage across it?
Correct answer: D
U = IR = 6×2 = 12 V. Answer D. Core: Ohm law, U = IR.A 6 Ω resistor and a 3 Ω resistor are connected in parallel. What is the equivalent resistance?
Correct answer: C
R = R₁R₂/(R₁+R₂) = 18/9 = 2 Ω. Answer C. Core: parallel resistance is smaller than either branch.A 4 μF capacitor and a 6 μF capacitor are connected in parallel. What is the equivalent capacitance?
Correct answer: A
Parallel capacitances add: C = 4+6 = 10 μF. Answer A. Core: capacitors add in parallel; the reciprocal rule is for series.A sound wave of frequency 680 Hz travels at 340 m/s in air. What is its wavelength?
Correct answer: C
λ = v/f = 340/680 = 0.5 m. Answer C. Core: wavelength = speed divided by frequency.31500 J of heat is supplied to 1.5 kg of water (c = 4200 J/(kg·℃)). By how many degrees does the water warm?
Correct answer: C
ΔT = Q/(mc) = 31500/(1.5×4200) = 5 ℃. Answer C. Core: rearrange Q = mcΔT for the temperature change.A radioactive isotope has a half-life of 3 days. Starting from 8 g, how much remains after 9 days?
Correct answer: B
9 days is three half-lives: 8 → 4 → 2 → 1 g. Answer B. Core: each half-life halves the mass.A ball is kicked at 20 m/s at an angle of 30° above the horizontal (g = 10 m/s2). What maximum height does it reach?
Correct answer: C
The vertical component is vy = 20×sin30° = 10 m/s, and h = vy2/(2g) = 5 m. Answer C. Core: maximum height depends only on the vertical launch speed.On a frictionless track, a 1 kg cart moving at 4 m/s collides head-on with an identical stationary cart in a perfectly elastic collision. What is the speed of the first cart afterward?
Correct answer: B
Equal masses exchange velocities in a perfectly elastic head-on collision, so the first cart stops. Answer B. Core: identical elastic collisions swap the velocities.A 4 kg crate slides at 10 m/s across a floor with kinetic friction coefficient 0.5 (g = 10 m/s2). How far does it slide before stopping?
Correct answer: E
d = v2/(2μg) = 100/(2×0.5×10) = 10 m. Answer E. Core: all kinetic energy goes into work against friction.Suppose a satellite circles Earth just above its surface, with gravity providing the centripetal force, ignoring the atmosphere. Earth radius is 6.4×106 m and surface gravity is 10 m/s2. What is the orbital speed of the satellite?
Correct answer: D
Gravity supplies the centripetal force, mg = mv2/R, so v = √(gR) = √(6.4×107) = 8000 m/s. Answer D. Core: near-surface orbital speed is √(gR).An 18 V battery drives a 4 Ω resistor in series with a parallel pair of 6 Ω and 3 Ω. What current flows through the battery?
Correct answer: E
The parallel pair gives 2 Ω, the total is 6 Ω, and I = 18/6 = 3 A. Answer E. Core: simplify the parallel branch before finding the main current.A straight 30 cm wire carrying 2 A sits in a 0.5 T uniform magnetic field, with the wire at 30° to the field. What is the magnetic force on the wire?
Correct answer: D
F = BIL·sin30° = 0.5×2×0.3×0.5 = 0.15 N. Answer D. Core: the magnetic force formula carries the sine of the angle.A train whistle sounds at 450 Hz as the train approaches a stationary listener at 34 m/s. Sound travels at 340 m/s. What frequency does the listener hear?
Correct answer: C
f′ = f·v/(v−vs) = 450×340/306 = 500 Hz. Answer C. Core: an approaching source raises the observed frequency.A converging lens has a focal length of 10 cm, and an object sits 30 cm in front of it. What is the magnification of the image?
Correct answer: B
1/v = 1/10 − 1/30 = 1/15 gives v = 15 cm, and m = v/u = 0.5. Answer B. Core: image formula first, magnification second.Two identical in-phase speakers emit 340 Hz sound (speed of sound 340 m/s). At a point 10.0 m from speaker A and 8.5 m from speaker B, what does a listener hear?
Correct answer: B
λ = 1 m and the path difference of 1.5 m is 1.5λ, an odd half-wavelength, so the waves cancel. Answer B. Core: a path difference of an odd half-wavelength gives destructive interference.A fixed amount of gas at constant temperature starts at 1.0×105 Pa and 0.3 m3, and is compressed to 0.1 m3. What is the new pressure?
Correct answer: A
At constant temperature pV is constant: p₂ = 1.0×105×0.3/0.1 = 3×105 Pa. Answer A. Core: Boyle law, p₁V₁ = p₂V₂.A circular coil of area 0.2 m2 lies perpendicular to a magnetic field that rises uniformly from 0.5 T to 1.5 T in 0.4 s. What is the magnitude of the induced emf in the coil?
Correct answer: E
ε = ΔΦ/Δt = A·ΔB/Δt = 0.2×1/0.4 = 0.5 V. Answer E. Core: Faraday law, ε = ΔΦ/Δt.A 2 kg cart moving at 6 m/s collides with a stationary 4 kg cart and the two stick together. How much kinetic energy is lost in the collision?
Correct answer: D
The common speed is v = 12/6 = 2 m/s, and ΔKE = 36−12 = 24 J. Answer D. Core: a perfectly inelastic collision loses the most kinetic energy.A flywheel with moment of inertia 2 kg·m2 spins at 12 rad/s. A constant frictional torque of 4 N·m brings it to rest. How long does that take?
Correct answer: A
The angular momentum to remove is Iω = 24, so t = Iω/τ = 24/4 = 6 s. Answer A. Core: torque changes angular momentum over time, t = Iω/τ.A muon lives 1.5 μs in its own rest frame and travels at 0.8c. What lifetime does the laboratory measure?
Correct answer: B
γ = 1/√(1−0.82) = 5/3, so t = γt₀ = 2.5 μs. Answer B. Core: moving clocks run slow, t = γt₀.An organ pipe open at both ends is 0.85 m long, and the speed of sound inside is 340 m/s. What is its fundamental frequency?
Correct answer: E
The open-pipe fundamental is f = v/2L = 340/1.7 = 200 Hz. Answer E. Core: an open pipe fundamental fits half a wavelength.Unified Physics Bowl specs, consistent across years.
Division 1 is for first-year physics students (no calculus); Division 2 is for second-year and AP Physics C students. The two divisions are ranked and awarded separately — students must choose one and cannot take both. Pick based on your level; our advisor can help.
Four steps · Overview / Topics / Practice / Prep
Read the 2020 Physics Bowl overview and format specs to grasp the year’s style.
Review the key topics and weights, and locate your weak areas.
Complete the 25 mock questions; submit for auto-grading and right/wrong marks.
Open the step-by-step solutions, learn from mistakes, and scan for full papers to push for national and global rankings.
Prep tips and score-boosting advice for the 2020 Physics Bowl.
Work through a full paper at exam pace and record time and accuracy for mechanics, electricity and heat. Let that data decide which block to attack first instead of spreading effort evenly.
Drill reading slopes and areas on kinematics graphs, and solve calculation items by model: projectiles, circles, collisions. Papers of this style lean on basic models, so fluency secures the marks.
Reduce mixed networks parallel-first then series-first, and back-substitute for branch currents. Repeating a few classic networks until answers come in seconds leaves only reading time on exam day.
Specific heat, gas laws, refraction and imaging formulas come in fixed, short-stem formats. Review the formula list daily in the final two weeks and turn this block into a dependable source of marks.
Write photon energy, half-life and time dilation results on pocket cards. Most items are one-step substitutions, so recognizing the concept matters more than the arithmetic.
Frequent questions about the 2020 Physics Bowl papers and answers.
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