Science Assessment ~ Items ~ EG030003

If you increase an object’s temperature, what will happen to the object's thermal energy and why?

It will decrease because increasing an object’s temperature decreases its thermal energy.
It will increase because increasing an object’s temperature increases its thermal energy.
It won't change because an object's thermal energy does not depend on its temperature.
It won't change because objects do not have any thermal energy.

Group	Correct	Total	Percent
Overall	1837	2979	62%
Grades
6–8	1020	1678	61%
9–12	810	1290	63%
Gender
Male	902	1447	62%
Female	902	1477	61%
Primary Language
English	1633	2614	62%
Other	157	283	55%

Disciplinary Core Ideas: PS3.A The temperature of a system is proportional to the average internal kinetic energy and potential energy per atom or molecule (whichever is the appropriate building block for the system's material). The details of that relationship depend on the type of atom or molecule and the interactions among the atoms in the material. Temperature is not a direct measure of a system's total thermal energy. The total thermal energy (sometimes called the total internal energy) of a system depends jointly on the temperature, the total number of atoms in the system, and the state of the material.

Science Assessment