NAEP Science 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of electromagnetic radiation has the highest frequency and the most energy per photon?
- Radio waves
- Visible light
- X-rays
- Gamma rays (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Gamma rays
Gamma rays have the shortest wavelength and highest frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum, giving them the greatest energy per photon.
Question 2: A food web shows that grasses are eaten by mice, mice are eaten by snakes, and snakes are eaten by hawks. If a disease eliminates most of the snake population, what would most likely happen next?
- The hawk population would increase immediately
- The mouse population would increase and grass would decrease (Correct answer)
- The grass population would increase and mice would decrease
- The hawk population would be unaffected
Correct answer: The mouse population would increase and grass would decrease
With fewer predators (snakes), the mouse population would grow unchecked, leading to overconsumption of grasses and a decline in grass abundance.
Question 3: Which property of water allows it to travel from plant roots to leaves against gravity through a stem?
- Its low surface tension
- Cohesion and adhesion combined with transpiration pull (Correct answer)
- Its high specific heat capacity
- Its ability to dissolve nonpolar substances
Correct answer: Cohesion and adhesion combined with transpiration pull
Water molecules cling together (cohesion) and to xylem walls (adhesion), and evaporation from leaves (transpiration) creates negative pressure that pulls the water column upward.
Question 4: A star much more massive than the Sun will most likely end its life as a:
- White dwarf
- Planetary nebula
- Neutron star or black hole (Correct answer)
- Red giant only
Correct answer: Neutron star or black hole
Very massive stars exhaust their fuel rapidly, collapse violently in a supernova, and leave behind either a neutron star or, for the most massive, a black hole.
Question 5: According to the law of conservation of energy, which statement is TRUE?
- Energy can be created from matter in any chemical reaction
- The total energy in a closed system remains constant (Correct answer)
- Energy is always lost as heat and cannot be recovered
- Potential energy and kinetic energy are never interconverted
Correct answer: The total energy in a closed system remains constant
The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it only changes form, keeping the total energy of an isolated system constant.
Question 6: Which statement correctly describes the difference between mitosis and meiosis?
- Mitosis produces four genetically unique cells; meiosis produces two identical cells
- Mitosis produces two genetically identical cells; meiosis produces four genetically unique cells (Correct answer)
- Both produce four cells with the same chromosome number as the parent
- Both reduce the chromosome number by half
Correct answer: Mitosis produces two genetically identical cells; meiosis produces four genetically unique cells
Mitosis produces two diploid daughter cells genetically identical to the parent for growth and repair; meiosis produces four haploid cells with unique genetic combinations for reproduction.
Question 7: A student measures the pH of rainwater and finds it is 5.6. Normal rainwater is slightly acidic because:
- Oxygen dissolves in water and forms an acid
- Carbon dioxide dissolves in water to form carbonic acid (Correct answer)
- Nitrogen gas reacts with water to form nitric acid
- Ultraviolet radiation breaks water into acidic components
Correct answer: Carbon dioxide dissolves in water to form carbonic acid
Atmospheric CO₂ dissolves in rainwater and reacts to form carbonic acid (H₂CO₃), giving natural rainwater a slightly acidic pH of about 5.6.
NAEP Science 5
Which type of electromagnetic radiation has the highest frequency and the most energy per photon?