Science Assessment ~ Items ~ FM097002

A person is riding a snowmobile in a snowy field. As the snowmobile reaches a frozen lake, the person turns off the snowmobile’s engine and allows the snowmobile to slide across the lake. What will happen to the motion of the snowmobile if friction and air resistance act to slow the snowmobile down?

The snowmobile will move slower and slower the entire time it is sliding across the lake.
The snowmobile will move at a constant speed the entire time it is sliding across the lake.
The snowmobile will move at constant speed for a while and then slow down as it is sliding across the lake.
The snowmobile will slow down for a while and then move at constant speed as it is sliding across the lake.

Details
Performance
NGSS

Topic: Force and Motion
Correct Answer: A
Misconceptions

Distribution of Responses

Chart showing distrubtion of responses for Item FM097002

Students Responding Correctly

Group	Correct	Total	Percent
Overall	1583	3499	45%
Grades
6–8	940	2221	42%
9–12	639	1270	50%
Gender
Male	851	1663	51%
Female	702	1766	40%
Primary Language
English	1471	3152	47%
Other	87	276	32%

View data table

Disciplinary Core Ideas: PS2.A The motion of an object is determined by the sum of the forces acting on it; if the total force on the object is not zero, its motion will change. The greater the mass of the object, the greater the force needed to achieve the same change in motion. For any given object, a larger force causes a larger change in motion.
PS2.A Newton's second law accurately predicts changes in the motion of macroscopic objects.

Science Assessment

Item FM097002: A snowmobile sliding across a lake with its engine turned off will move slower and slower the entire tme it is sliding across the lake.