Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation ~ Item RG145002 ~ Student Performance

An inventor has an idea to have a light bulb power itself. She finds a light panel, which is a device that absorbs light and uses that light to produce electricity. She connects the light bulb to the light panel in a complete circuit. She turns the other lights in the room off so that the light bulb is the only source of light.

Her idea is that the light panel will capture light from the light bulb and produce electricity to keep the light bulb lit. Will her idea work?

Yes, but only if she uses a separate power source to begin the process because all processes require an input of energy to start
Yes, but only if the panel completely surrounds the light bulb so that the panel can absorb all of the light given off by the bulb
No, some energy will be transferred to the surrounding environment, and that energy will no longer be available to be used by the light bulb or panel.
No, some energy will be destroyed during the process, so there will eventually not be enough energy for the light bulb to work.

Distribution of responses
Answer Choice		Overall	Grades			Gender		Primary Language
		n = 4296	4–5 n = 791	6–8 n = 1770	9–12 n = 1735	Male n = 1923	Female n = 2242	English n = 3843	Other n = 307
A.	Yes, but only if she uses a separate power source to begin the process because all processes require an input of energy to start	35%	37%	37%	32%	36%	35%	35%	38%
B.	Yes, but only if the panel completely surrounds the light bulb so that the panel can absorb all of the light given off by the bulb	28%	33%	30%	24%	25%	31%	28%	25%
C.	No, some energy will be transferred to the surrounding environment, and that energy will no longer be available to be used by the light bulb or panel.	25%	18%	21%	33%	27%	24%	25%	27%
D.	No, some energy will be destroyed during the process, so there will eventually not be enough energy for the light bulb to work.	11%	12%	11%	11%	12%	10%	11%	10%

Science Assessment

Item RG145002: A device cannot power itself because some energy will be transferred to the surrounding environment, and that energy will no longer be available to be used by the device.