ASPECt
Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation
Item EG089001: Two apples hanging from a tree will have different amounts of gravitational potential energy if one is hanging higher in the tree than the other.
Two identical apples are hanging from a tree. Is it possible for the apples to have different amounts of gravitational potential energy and why?
- No, because the apples have the same mass, and gravitational potential energy depends only on the mass of an object
- No, because both apples have the potential to fall from the tree, and gravitational potential energy is the potential to start moving
- Yes, if one apple is hanging higher in the tree than the other one, because gravitational energy depends on how high an object is above the ground
- Yes, if one apple is just about to fall from the tree and the other one is not, because gravitational potential energy depends on how likely an object is to fall
- Distribution of Responses
- Scale Score for Item Difficulty
(200[Easy]-800[Difficult]) - 484
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 922 | 1842 | 50% |
| Grades | |||
| 4–5 | 132 | 354 | 37% |
| 6–8 | 399 | 810 | 49% |
| 9–12 | 391 | 678 | 58% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 404 | 839 | 48% |
| Female | 494 | 952 | 52% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 853 | 1678 | 51% |
| Other | 44 | 109 | 40% |