ASPECt
Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation
Item RG040003: When a tuning fork slows down and eventually stops vibrating, some of the energy is transferred to the surrounding air.
A repairman uses a tuning fork, like the one shown below, to tune a piano. He hits the tuning fork against the edge of a table. The tuning fork begins to vibrate. The vibrating tuning fork makes a specific sound, and the repairman adjusts the piano until it makes the same sound when played. After a while, the tuning fork stops vibrating, and the sound stops.
What happens to the energy of the tuning fork as the vibrations of the tuning fork slow down and eventually stop?
- Some of the energy is destroyed by the sound.
- Some of the energy is transferred to the surrounding air.
- Nothing happens to the energy because sound is not related to energy.
- The energy runs out because the force that was given to the tuning fork runs out.
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 9601 |
4–5 n = 1620 | 6–8 n = 4259 |
9–12 n = 3722 |
Male n = 4430 |
Female n = 4912 |
English n = 8484 |
Other n = 822 |
||
| A. | Some of the energy is destroyed by the sound. | 7% | 10% | 7% | 6% | 8% | 7% | 7% | 9% |
| B. | Some of the energy is transferred to the surrounding air. | 36% | 27% | 33% | 43% | 38% | 35% | 36% | 33% |
| C. | Nothing happens to the energy because sound is not related to energy. | 11% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 13% |
| D. | The energy runs out because the force that was given to the tuning fork runs out. | 46% | 50% | 48% | 41% | 44% | 48% | 46% | 45% |