Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation ~ Misconception EGM044

Gravitational potential energy is the potential to fall; an object will lose all of its gravitational potential energy as soon as it starts to fall (Herrmann-Abell & DeBoer, 2010; Loverude, 2004).

Items that test for misconception EGM044 in this project (ASPECt) and key idea (Most of what goes on in the univers…)
Item ID Number	Item Description	How Often the Misconception was Chosen
NG015004	As a ball rolls down a ramp, the gravitational potential energy of the ball decreases and the motion energy of the ball increases because gravitational potential energy is transformed into motion energy.	24%
NG006005	When a pine cone falls from a tree, its gravitational potential energy decreases and its motion energy increases because its gravitational potential energy is transformed into motion energy.	11%
NG004004	Gravitational potential energy is transformed into motion energy as a rock falls from a cliff.	11%

Items that test for misconception EGM044 in this project (ASPECt) and other key ideas
EG089001	Two apples hanging from a tree will have different amounts of gravitational potential energy if one is hanging higher in the tree than the other.	31%
RG161002	Both a falling rock and a rock on a cliff have energy because all things have energy.	11%
RG084002	A pot that is hanging outside the second floor window has more energy then a pot hanging outside the first floor window because it is higher above the ground.	11%
RG179001	The gravitational potential energy of a falling rock at 50 meters is half of the gravitational potential energy at 100 meters because the amount of gravitational potential energy an object has is directly proportional to the height the object is above the ground.	11%
EG014003	The gravitational potential energy of an object decreases as it falls.	11%