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Item NG008004: The brake pads on a bike have more thermal energy after they are used to stop the bike because the motion energy that the bike and rider had was converted into thermal energy.

A boy was riding his bike on a level road. He stopped pedaling and applied the brakes. When he applied the brakes, the brake pads squeezed the wheel, and the bike slowed down and stopped. After the bike stopped, the brake pads had more thermal energy. Why did the thermal energy of the brake pads increase?

  1. Because some of the kinetic energy (motion energy) that the bike and the boy had was converted into thermal energy of the brake pads
  2. Because the energy that was stored inside of the brake pads was released in the form of thermal energy when the bike stopped
  3. Because some of the thermal energy that the boy had was converted into thermal energy of the brake pads
  4. Because new energy was made in the form of thermal energy in the brake pads
Distribution of responses
Answer Choice
Overall
Grades
Gender
Primary Language
 
n = 6693
4–5
n = 112
6–8
n = 3797
9–12
n = 2784
Male
n = 3207
Female
n = 3359
English
n = 5978
Other
n = 576
A. 49%46% 45% 55% 50% 48% 50% 45%
B. 24%21% 26% 21% 22% 26% 24% 29%
C. 12%18% 13% 12% 13% 12% 12% 13%
D. 14%15% 15% 12% 15% 14% 14% 13%