Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation ~ Item NG065005 ~ Student Performance

A student is playing with a pendulum (a ball attached to the end of a string). He gives the ball a push and watches the ball as it swings from side to side. After a while, the ball stops swinging.

Why does the ball stop swinging?

The kinetic energy (motion energy) of the ball is transferred somewhere else, like the air, as the ball swings from side to side.
A little bit of the ball’s kinetic energy (motion energy) is used up each time it swings from side to side, but the kinetic energy is not transferred anywhere else.
Some kinetic energy (motion energy) is transferred somewhere else, like the air, and some motion energy is used up.
An object only has kinetic energy (motion energy) when a person makes it move, and the student is no longer pushing the ball.

Distribution of responses
Answer Choice		Overall	Grades			Gender		Primary Language
		n = 2011	4–5 n = 440	6–8 n = 873	9–12 n = 698	Male n = 907	Female n = 1058	English n = 1784	Other n = 176
A.	The kinetic energy (motion energy) of the ball is transferred somewhere else, like the air, as the ball swings from side to side.	28%	24%	24%	35%	28%	27%	28%	25%
B.	A little bit of the ball’s kinetic energy (motion energy) is used up each time it swings from side to side, but the kinetic energy is not transferred anywhere else.	40%	43%	41%	37%	41%	38%	40%	34%
C.	Some kinetic energy (motion energy) is transferred somewhere else, like the air, and some motion energy is used up.	18%	18%	19%	15%	18%	17%	17%	18%
D.	An object only has kinetic energy (motion energy) when a person makes it move, and the student is no longer pushing the ball.	15%	16%	16%	13%	12%	17%	14%	23%

Science Assessment

Item NG065005: A pendulum stops swinging because the motion energy of the ball is transferred somewhere else, like the air, as the ball swings from side to side.