Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation ~ Item RG035003 ~ Student Performance

A science teacher demonstrates how a glow stick works. He bends the stick, which breaks a container inside the glow stick. This allows two chemicals to react with each other. While the chemicals are reacting, light is given off by the glow stick. When the reaction stops, light is no longer given off.

The teacher tells the students that during the chemical reaction the atoms that make up the reactants separate from each other and then connect to form the molecules of the products. He asks the students to think about how the process of separating and connecting atoms relates to the changes in the energy of the glow stick. What happens to the energy of the glow stick when the reaction is occurring and light is being produced?

The amount of energy required to separate atoms of the reactants is greater than the amount of energy released when atoms connect to form the products.
The amount of energy required to separate atoms of the reactants is less than the amount of energy released when the atoms connect to form the product.
The amount of energy released when atoms of the reactants are separated is greater than the amount of energy required to connect atoms to form the products.
The amount of energy released when atoms of the reactants are separated is less than the amount of energy required to connect atoms to form the products.

Distribution of responses
Answer Choice	Overall	Grades			Gender		Primary Language
	n = 967	4–5 n = 0	6–8 n = 629	9–12 n = 338	Male n = 439	Female n = 501	English n = 846	Other n = 97
A.	29%	N/A	28%	31%	29%	29%	29%	29%
B.	25%	N/A	26%	24%	27%	24%	26%	23%
C.	31%	N/A	31%	31%	30%	33%	31%	32%
D.	15%	N/A	15%	14%	14%	15%	14%	16%

Science Assessment

Item RG035003: The amount of energy required to separate atoms of the reactants in a glow stick is less than the amount of energy released when the atoms connect to form the product.