ASPECt
Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation
Item EG043005: For two identical springs, the spring that is compressed more has more elastic energy.
A student has two identical springs, Spring 1 and Spring 2. She compresses Spring 1 a little bit, and she compresses Spring 2 as much as she can.
While the springs are compressed, which spring has more elastic potential energy and why?
- Spring 1 has more elastic potential energy because the student can still compress it more.
- Spring 2 has more elastic potential energy because it is compressed more than Spring 1.
- Both springs have the same amount of elastic potential energy because they are identical springs.
- Neither spring has any elastic potential energy because springs only have elastic energy when they are stretched and not when they are compressed.
- Distribution of Responses
- Scale Score for Item Difficulty
(200[Easy]-800[Difficult]) - 463
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 4973 | 8022 | 62% |
| Grades | |||
| 4–5 | 838 | 1322 | 63% |
| 6–8 | 2195 | 3635 | 60% |
| 9–12 | 1940 | 3065 | 63% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 2330 | 3726 | 63% |
| Female | 2509 | 4076 | 62% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 4426 | 7044 | 63% |
| Other | 420 | 737 | 57% |