STAAR Test Review Science Forces

A spring scale is a tool that measures the strength of force needed to move an object. The force is measured in Newtons (N). A student sets up two spring scales pulling wooden boxes of different masses across a table. Which question is the investigation most likely designed to answer?

• How does mass affect the force needed to move an object?

• How does the surface affect the force needed to move an object?

• How do wooden blocks affect spring scales?

• How does the mass of one block affect the mass of another block?

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A teacher drops a tennis ball and golf ball at the same height to see if they will land at different times. What force causes the tennis ball and the golf ball to land on the ground?

• magnetism

• air pressure

• gravity

• friction

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-4

A student designs an experiment to test the force of a catapult using four cubes with the same volume, but with different masses. What other scientific equipment would the student most likely use for this experiment?

• A metric ruler to measure the distance each cube travels after being launched.

• A stop watch to see how much time it takes to load each cube on the catapult.

• A beaker to measure the volume of each cube.

• A triple beam balance to measure the mass of each cube.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A teacher attaches a spring to a string and places it on a wheel and axel. A weight is added to the other end of the string and the spring begins to stretch out. The teacher then cuts the weight from the system. In which direction will the spring move once the weight is cut from the system?

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Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Pictured are two groups pulling on a rope with different forces. If the two groups continue to pull at this force, what will most likely happen?

• Group A and Group B will not move.

• Group B will move backward and Group A will move forward.

• Group A and Group B will move forward.

• Group A will move backward and Group B will move forward.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Students designed an investigation to determine how far a ball would travel when released at the top of two ramps of different heights. They set up the investigation shown. What should the lab team do to improve their investigation?

• Use Ball A on both ramps

• Use Ramp 2 for both balls

• Use Ramp 1 for both balls

• Place Ball B on Ramp 1 and Ball A on Ramp 2

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A student designed an investigation to determine the effect of a sphere's mass on the height it will reach when launched from a spring launcher. The student selects four spheres with different volumes and masses. The student launched each sphere and measured the top height each sphere reached.

What should the student do to improve this investigation?

• Use four different spring launchers

• Use four spheres with different masses but the same volume

• Use two additional spheres in order to gather more data

• Use spheres with different volumes but the same mass

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

A force that attracts two objects toward each other is called ____.

• gravity

• friction

• push

• mass

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-4

What is the force that opposes the motion of an object through a fluid?

• Gravity

• Friction

• Buoyancy

• Drag

Which of the following is an example of a contact force?

• Magnetic force

• Gravitational force

• Frictional force

• Electrostatic force