Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Energy: Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation ~ Misconception EGM047

The gravitational potential energy of an object depends on the direction the object is traveling. For example, some students think that an object traveling upward has more gravitational potential energy than an object traveling downward even if they are the same mass and are at the same distance above the ground (Loverude, 2004).

Items that test for misconception EGM047 in this project (ASPECt) and key idea ()
Item ID Number	Item Description	How Often the Misconception was Chosen	Select This Item for My Item Bank
RG134002	An elevator carrying more mass will have more gravitational potential energy than an identical elevator carrying less mass because gravitational potential energy increases as mass increases.	22%
RG178001	When a bird and a piece of food are at the same height above the ground, the bird has more gravitational potential energy because the it has more mass than the food.	21%