Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation ~ Item RG078003 ~ Student Performance

A person put a battery into a flashlight. She used the flashlight several times over the next few months. After a while, the flashlight no longer worked, and the person had to put a new battery in the flashlight to make it work again. What happened to the energy that was in the original battery?

Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was destroyed. Eventually all of the energy was destroyed and no longer exists.
Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was transferred to the surrounding environment. Eventually all of the energy became uniformly distributed in the surrounding environment and was no longer available to make the flashlight work.
Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was transferred to the surroundings. All of the energy remained as useful as it was before, but it was now located in a different place.
Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was transferred to the surroundings, and some of the energy was destroyed. The energy that was transferred to the surrounding environment was still as useful as it was before in other processes, but the energy that was destroyed no longer exists.

Distribution of responses
Answer Choice		Overall	Grades			Gender		Primary Language
		n = 2803	4–5 n = 0	6–8 n = 1390	9–12 n = 1413	Male n = 1307	Female n = 1421	English n = 2525	Other n = 193
A.	Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was destroyed. Eventually all of the energy was destroyed and no longer exists.	24%	N/A	27%	21%	25%	23%	23%	26%
B.	Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was transferred to the surrounding environment. Eventually all of the energy became uniformly distributed in the surrounding environment and was no longer available to make the flashlight work.	35%	N/A	32%	39%	35%	35%	36%	28%
C.	Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was transferred to the surroundings. All of the energy remained as useful as it was before, but it was now located in a different place.	23%	N/A	22%	24%	23%	23%	23%	27%
D.	Each time the person used the flashlight some of the energy from the battery was transferred to the surroundings, and some of the energy was destroyed. The energy that was transferred to the surrounding environment was still as useful as it was before in other processes, but the energy that was destroyed no longer exists.	18%	N/A	19%	17%	17%	19%	18%	18%

Science Assessment

Item RG078003: Each time a person used a flashlight some of the energy from the battery was transferred to the surrounding environment. Eventually all of the energy became uniformly distributed in the surrounding environment and was no longer available to make the flashlight work.