ASPECt
Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation
Item RG046003: The amount of gravitational potential energy in a system containing a rocket and the earth can be determined from the distance between the rocket and the earth, the mass of the rocket, and the mass of the earth.
A rocket is launched from earth and travels through outer space.
What information must be used to determine the amount of gravitational potential energy in the system containing the rocket and the earth at a particular point in time?
- The mass of the rocket and the mass of the earth
- The distance between the rocket and the earth
- The distance between the rocket and the earth and the mass of the rocket
- The distance between the rocket and the earth, the mass of the rocket, and the mass of the earth
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 3292 |
4–5 n = 0 | 6–8 n = 1694 |
9–12 n = 1598 |
Male n = 1528 |
Female n = 1689 |
English n = 2992 |
Other n = 204 |
||
| A. | The mass of the rocket and the mass of the earth | 16% | N/A | 17% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 16% | 11% |
| B. | The distance between the rocket and the earth | 18% | N/A | 21% | 15% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 28% |
| C. | The distance between the rocket and the earth and the mass of the rocket | 34% | N/A | 30% | 38% | 32% | 36% | 34% | 32% |
| D. | The distance between the rocket and the earth, the mass of the rocket, and the mass of the earth | 33% | N/A | 32% | 34% | 33% | 32% | 33% | 29% |