ASPECt
Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation
Item RG054003: A spring has more energy if it is compressed more.
Two children are racing toy cars. At the beginning of the race, they each push their car against a spring. The child with Car #1 pushes the spring in as far as the spring can go. The child with Car #2 pushes the spring in just a little bit. To have a fair race, the children use springs and cars that are exactly the same.
Which spring has more energy just before the children let go of the cars and why?
- The spring with Car #1 has more energy because it is pushed in more than the other spring.
- The spring with Car #2 has more energy because it can still be pushed in farther, but the other spring is already pushed in as far as it can go.
- Both springs have the same amount of energy because the springs are exactly the same.
- Neither spring has any energy because the springs are not moving before the children let go.
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 2485 |
4–5 n = 953 | 6–8 n = 755 |
9–12 n = 777 |
Male n = 1182 |
Female n = 1255 |
English n = 2218 |
Other n = 206 |
|
| A. | 69% | 72% | 64% | 70% | 69% | 68% | 69% | 67% |
| B. | 18% | 20% | 19% | 15% | 17% | 19% | 18% | 23% |
| C. | 8% | 5% | 11% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 8% | 6% |
| D. | 5% | 3% | 6% | 7% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 3% |