Key Idea: The magnitude of two forces can be added together.
Students are expected to know that:
- Arrows can be used to represent forces acting on an object. The length of the arrows represents the strength of the forces, and the direction of the arrows represents the direction of the forces.
- Two forces acting on an object in the same direction at the same time are equivalent to a single force that is stronger than either of the two individual forces and is in the same direction as the two individual forces.
- Two forces acting on an object in opposite directions at the same time are equivalent to a single force that is weaker than the stronger of the two individual forces and is in the same direction as the stronger of the two individual forces.
- Two forces of the same strength acting on an object in opposite directions at the same time will cancel one another.
Boundaries:
- Students are expected to analyze situations involving no more than two forces acting on an object at the same time, that act along the object’s line of motion.
- Students are expected to combine forces qualitatively, but they are not expected to calculate net force.
| Item ID Number |
Knowledge Being Assessed | Grades 6–8 |
Grades 9–12 |
Select This Item for My Item Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
45% |
59% |
|
||
32% |
53% |
|
Misconception |
Student Misconception |
Grades |
Grades |
|---|---|---|---|
46% |
25% | ||
13% |
11% | ||
9% |
10% |
Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.
No NGSS statements are associated with this idea in the selected project.