2024 Force and Motion Unit Test Part 1

1. A student made a ramp by placing one end of a piece of wood on top of three textbooks. He rolled a toy truck down the ramp three times, measured the speed, and recorded the results in a data table.

• a. He should perform additional trials.
• b. He should decrease the height of the ramp.
• c. He should add weight to the back of the truck.
• d. He should change the material of the ramp to increase the friction.

2. A team of engineers is developing a new waterslide for a theme park. The riders of the slide will climb several flights of steps to reach the top of the slide and will sit in a round inner tube as they slide down. The engineers are testing a computer simulation to measure the kinetic energy that the riders will have on the slide. The kinetic energy will be based on the potential, or stored, energy and will depend on mass and speed. The engineers want to develop a way to transfer the most kinetic energy to the riders to make their trip down the slide as fast as possible.

• a. adding twists and turns to the slide
• b. decreasing the amount of water pushing the riders
• c. increasing the friction between the tube and the slide
• d. increasing the height of the slide

3. A student makes a balloon cart to investigate how combined forces create motion. The student creates a simple cart by attaching wheels to a small piece of cardboard. The student attaches a straw with a balloon on one end so that any air coming out of the balloon flows in one direction.

• a. The force of gravity exceeds the other forces acting on the cart.
• b. The forces pushing the cart forward were greater than the force of mass and gravity.
• c. The force on the cart from the air in the balloon and the friction on the tires is balanced.
• d. The cart experiences an unbalanced force from the air in the balloon and the friction on the tires.

4. Some friends are playing a game called croquet. One player uses their mallet to hit their ball into another ball. The first ball slows to a stop, and the second ball starts rolling.

• a. Jayden says that the force of the mallet only produced enough energy to move one ball at a time.
• b. Jen says that energy from the the mallet was transferred to the first ball and then to the second ball.
• c. Jackie says that the force of the mallet transferred a balanced force from the first ball to the second ball.
• d. Jose says that energy from the force of the mallet increased in strength as it went from one d. Jose says that energy from the force of the mallet increased in strength as it went from one ball to the other one.

5. Two objects on the air hockey table are pushed toward each other. The objects are of equal mass. We showed that when Objects A and B collide, the force exerted by Object A on Object B is______________ the force that Object B exerts on Object A.

• Greater than
• Less than
• Equal to

6. Students explain why they chose a specific material as a liner for the safety helmet. Which of the following best explains the physics behind choosing a specific material as a liner? Select all that apply (2 ANSWERS!)

• a. For any given object, a larger force causes a larger change in motion.
• b. An object’s motion will only change if the total force on it is balanced.
• c. The mass of an object determines its change in motion when subject to a force.
• d. The greater the mass of the object, the smaller the force needed to achieve any change in motion.
• e. The force exerted by one object on a second object always moves the second object in the opposite direction.

7. The shopping cart had more mass in Crash 2 than it did in Crash 1. In which crash did the skateboard experience a stronger force? Why? (Both carts experienced the SAME change in velocity)

• The skateboard did not experience a force; only the shopping cart experienced a force in the crashes.
• Crash 2; the force on the cart was stronger in this crash, so the force on the skateboard was also stronger.
• The diagram doesn’t tell you anything about the force on the skateboard. It only gives information about the force on the shopping cart.
• The skateboard experienced the same force in both crashes. The shopping cart changed speed by the same amount in each crash, so the force on the skateboard was the same each time.

8. Sandra pushed a wooden block and it slid across the floor. The wooden block gradually slowed down and stopped after moving 10 meters.Why did the block stop moving?

• The floor exerted a force that is opposite to the direction of the block’s motion (friction).
• The block ran out of force.
• The floor absorbs force from the block.
• All objects stop moving because their natural state is to be still.

9. Which puck(s) experienced the strongest force when hit (the green puck has less mass than the black and purple which have equal mass)? How do you know? (All three changed velocity by the same amount)

• All three hockey pucks experienced the same force because they changed speed by the same amount.
• The black hockey puck; it is more massive and has the fastest ending speed.
• The purple hockey puck; it takes a stronger force to slow down a more massive object than to speed it up.
• The black and purple hockey pucks; they have more mass than the green puck, but changed speed by the same amount.

10. Scientists created models that show a rocky asteroid crashing into a moon (less mass) and a planet (more mass). In both crashes, the asteroid was the same mass. Scientists want to know what happened to the asteroid. Use the information in the diagram to answer. In which crash did the asteroid experience a stronger force? How do you know?

• Crash 2; the force on the planet was stronger in this crash, so the force on the asteroid was also stronger.
• There was no force on the asteroid. Only the moon and planet experienced a force in each crash.
• The diagram doesn’t tell you anything about the force on the asteroid. It only gives information about the force on the planet and the moon.
• The force was the same in both crashes. The planet and moon changed speed by the same amount so that means the force on the asteroid was the same in both crashes.