Science Benchmark

A pot of cold water is heated on a stove burner until the water boils. Then, a spoon becomes warm after it is placed in the hot water. Which statement best explains what happened?

• Energy is lost because the spoon is not as hot as the burner.

• Energy is transformed and transferred, but is conserved.

• Energy is created as the spoon becomes warmer.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-4

NGSS.MS-PS3-5

Bonnie is preparing dinner for her family, and heat is transferred during several stages of the preparation. Which step involves transferring heat by convection?

• A pan is placed on a lit burner, and the pan becomes warmer.

• She places a spoon in hot water, and the spoon warms.

In a heat wave in June 2017, temperatures in some southwestern U.S. states reached 49⁰C (120⁰F). To help cope with these high temperatures, some residents wrapped their outside metal door handles in cloth. How did this help the situation?

• Cloth is an INSULATOR, so it conducts heat less than a conductor, such as a metal door handle.

• Cloth is a CONDUCTOR, so it conducts heat less than an insulator, such as a metal door handle.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS3-3

A student wrote steps to show the energy transformations involved in producing, eating, and digesting food. Which step shows an incorrect transformation?

• When an animal eats a plant, chemical energy in the plant changes to radiant energy from the sun.

• In the animal's body, chemical energy is converted into mechanical energy when it's used for muscle movement.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

Walt is taking an overnight backpacking trip. He picks up his backpack from the ground, puts it on his back and walks two miles on level ground before he stops and puts the pack down near a stream. He stands near the stream and fishes for dinner, but doesn't catch anything. “I guess I’ll have soup for dinner!” he thinks, and lights a fire to heat up his soup. At what point in the day did Walt do the most work, according to the scientific definition of the word?

• When the soup was cooking on the fire.

• When Walt was picking up and putting down the pack.

• When Walt was thinking about what to have for dinner.

From left to right, according to this diagram, the order of the cycle is:

• icing, cloud formation, rain, runoff

• freezing, melting, precipitation, condensation, evaporation

• Melting, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, freezing

• Freezing, evaporation, precipitation, condensation

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

Rocks can change form. For instance from solid to liquid.

• true

• false

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-4

Which of the following is not a cause of erosion that affects landforms?

• Precipitation

• wind

• fire

• sun

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

Which type of rock is formed by heating and pressure?

• sedimentary

• metamorphic

• igneous

Three types of precipitation are:

• heat, cooling, evaporation

• rain, evaporation, condensation

• rain, snow, hail

• collection, evaporation, condensation