Simple Experiment

Some students attach a balloon to a straw and then they tape the straw to the top of a toy car. The students inflate the balloon and release the car. The car travels 40 centimeters across the floor. What should the students do to determine whether the force of the air from a balloon is enough to push the car 40 centimeters across the the same floor in repeated trials?

• Test the car several times using an identical balloon filled with different amounts of air.

• Test the car several times using different-sized balloons filled with the same amount of air.

• Test the car several times using an identical balloon filled with the same amount of air.

• Test the car several times using different-sized balloons with different amounts of air.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A student uses a spring scale to pull a 50-gram block horizontally across a wood desk. Then the student pulls the block the same distance across surfaces of carpet, sandpaper, and glass. Which question is this investigation most likely designed to answer?

• How do blocks of different sizes react to force?

• How do different surfaces affect the amount of force needed to move a block?

• How do blocks affect spring scales?

• How does the mass of a block change when it is pulled across a desk?

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A student observes that the craters on the moon are different sizes. The student designs an experiment to study the formation of craters. The materials for the experiment are marbles and a pan of flour. The student makes a hypothesis that the size of the craters made on the surface of the flour will depend on the height from which the marble is dropped. Some of the steps in the student's experiment are described. Which of these is most likely Step 3 in the student's experiment?

• Drop the same marble from different heights into the pan of flour

• Drop marbles of different masses from the same height into the pan of flour

• Drop marbles of different sizes from different heights into the pan of flour

• Drop a single marble one at a time into the pan of flour

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A student designs an experiment to test the force of spring using a spring launcher and four spheres with the same diameter but with different masses. What other piece of equipment would be most useful for this experiment?

• A graduated cylinder to measure a volume of each sphere before the sphere is launched.

• A beaker to collect the spheres after they have been launched

• A stopwatch to measure how long it takes to load each sphere on the spring

• A meter stick to measure the height each sphere reaches after the sphere is launched

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

NGSS.MS-PS3-5

A student designs an experiment to test the effect of the width of a piece of elastic's ability to stretch. The student selects four pieces of elastic with different widths but the same length. The student then attaches blocks with different masses to the pieces of elastic. The results of the student's experiment are shown above. What should the student do to improve this experiment?

• Use blocks of equal mass on the four pieces of elastic

• Use blocks with enough mass to cause the four pieces of elastic to break

• Use more than four pieces of elastic and four blocks

• Use four pieces of elastic with different lengths but the same width

The students drop the same heavy ball onto identical blocks of soft clay from different heights. For each height they measure the depth of the dent the ball makes in the clay. Why is the depth of the dent different in each trial?

• The size of the ball changes

• The material of the ball changes

• The mass of the ball when it hits the clay changes

• The force of the ball when it hits the clay changes

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

NGSS.MS-PS3-5

The students drop the same heavy ball onto identical blocks of soft clay from different heights. For each height they measure the depth of the dent the ball makes in the clay. Why is the depth of the dent different in each trial?

• The size of the ball changes

• The material of the ball changes

• The mass of the ball when it hits the clay changes

• The force of the ball when it hits the clay changes

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

NGSS.MS-PS3-5

The location of an object.

• Speed
• Position
• Friction
• Gravity

Which word describes a push or pull on an object?

• Position
• Hypothesis
• Mass
• Force

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A polar bear slides down an ice covered hill. As he slides, he slows down. Eventually he comes to a stop. What force  acts on an object to slow or stop its motion?

• Speed
• Friction
• Gravity
• Direction

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2