ASPECt
Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation
Item EG031004: For two ice cubes of the same mass, the ice cube with the higher temperature has more thermal energy than the ice cube with the lower temperature.
A student has two identical ice cubes except that the temperature of Ice Cube 1 is 30ºF and the temperature of Ice Cube 2 is 0ºF.
Which ice cube has more thermal energy and why?
- Ice Cube 1 has more thermal energy because it is at a higher temperature than Ice Cube 2.
- Ice Cube 1 has more thermal energy because things at 0ºF do not have any thermal energy.
- Ice Cube 1 and Ice Cube 2 have the same amount of thermal energy because anything made of ice has the same amount of thermal energy no matter what its temperature is.
- Ice Cube 1 and Ice Cube 2 do not have any thermal energy because frozen things do not have thermal energy.
- Distribution of Responses
- Scale Score for Item Difficulty
(200[Easy]-800[Difficult]) - 472
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 6685 | 11750 | 57% |
| Grades | |||
| 4–5 | 401 | 780 | 51% |
| 6–8 | 3299 | 5875 | 56% |
| 9–12 | 2985 | 5095 | 59% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 3266 | 5600 | 58% |
| Female | 3266 | 5896 | 55% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 5954 | 10336 | 58% |
| Other | 563 | 1094 | 51% |
- Disciplinary Core Ideas
- PS3.A Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles of matter. The relationship between the temperature and the total energy of a system depends on the types, states, and amounts of matter present.
- NRC Framework
- Matter at any temperature above absolute zero contains thermal energy.
- PS3.A Thermal energy is the random motion of particles (whether vibrations in solid matter or molecules or free motion in a gas)...