Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation ~ Item EG053006 ~ Student Performance

A student has two ice cubes. Ice Cube 1 and Ice Cube 2 are both made up of the same number of molecules. The average speed of the molecules of Ice Cube 1 is less than the average speed of the molecules of Ice Cube 2.

Which ice cube has less thermal energy and why?

Ice Cube 1 has less thermal energy because its molecules are moving slower than the molecules of Ice Cube 2.
Ice Cube 2 has less thermal energy because its molecules are moving faster than the molecules of Ice Cube 1.
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 how fast the molecules are moving.
Ice Cube 1 and Ice Cube 2 do not have any thermal energy because frozen things do not have thermal energy.

Distribution of responses
Answer Choice	Overall	Grades			Gender		Primary Language
	n = 1073	4–5 n = 0	6–8 n = 647	9–12 n = 426	Male n = 543	Female n = 514	English n = 920	Other n = 137
A.	59%	N/A	55%	65%	58%	60%	60%	49%
B.	17%	N/A	18%	15%	15%	19%	17%	17%
C.	15%	N/A	17%	11%	17%	12%	14%	18%
D.	9%	N/A	9%	9%	9%	9%	8%	16%

Science Assessment

Item EG053006: For two ice cubes that are made up of the same number of molecules, the ice cube with the molecules moving at the lower average speed has less thermal energy.