Original Project
Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation
Item EG016003: The gravitational potential energy of an object depends on the mass of the object and the object's distance from the center of the earth.
The gravitational potential energy of an object depends on which of the following?
- Both the mass of the object and the object’s distance from the center of the earth
- The mass of the object but not the object’s distance from the center of the earth
- The object’s distance from the center of the earth but not the mass of the object
- Neither the mass of the object nor the object’s distance from the center of the earth
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 3037 |
6–8 n = 1791 |
9–12 n = 1235 |
Male n = 1464 |
Female n = 1505 |
English n = 2654 |
Other n = 299 |
||
| A. | Both the mass of the object and the object’s distance from the center of the earth | 50% | 46% | 56% | 51% | 49% | 51% | 46% |
| B. | The mass of the object but not the object’s distance from the center of the earth | 22% | 23% | 20% | 21% | 22% | 22% | 20% |
| C. | The object’s distance from the center of the earth but not the mass of the object | 18% | 18% | 17% | 18% | 17% | 18% | 19% |
| D. | Neither the mass of the object nor the object’s distance from the center of the earth | 10% | 13% | 7% | 9% | 11% | 10% | 15% |