Topic 2 · What unequal forces do to motion — the question types, for your rulings

Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ c83cbd2 · 8 Oct 2026 review edits (review-lesson / review-questions, non-author) @ cca3af6

Topic 2 — What unequal forces do to motion — the PP100's question types, with their exemplars

What this page is. James reads a bank as its question TYPES first (vault: A bank is reviewed as its question types first, one exemplar each). Under the Grade 5 standing brief the bank is built straight away (50 items in content/G5T02_pp100_bank.py); this sheet is the way in. Each type line says what the stem asks, what the four options (or the accept list) are, and prints one exemplar in full. Tags follow depth of reasoning: easy = one fact or a one-step sort; medium = the rule applied to a fresh case, a reason picked, a drawn diagram read (James, 8 Oct 2026: reading a drawn instrument is medium, even typed); hard = two steps chained, a documented belief judged by its correct reason, a word produced from the rule.

Rulings already applied. Four options on every MCQ (fixed sets: the two-arrow verdict set "The forces are equal. / The forces are unequal: X is stronger. / The forces are unequal: Y is stronger. / Only one force acts on it."; the four changes "It speeds up. / It slows down. / It changes direction. / It keeps the same speed.", ordered and kept in order; the pairs set "the up and down pair / the left and right pair / both pairs / neither pair"; the compare set "X / Y / both the same / neither one moves"); no option bundles a verdict with its reason (every claim is "X is wrong: what is the correct reason?" with four single-statement reasons, and the 28 Sep tiers are applied as written — no verdict-and-reason item, so no exception is named here); every claim item names its register source and the lesson line that addressed the belief; typed items ask for one number of squares or the one word "mass"; "equal forces" and "unequal forces" are recognised by MCQ (two-word terms are never typed); every stem is a positive question; no lettered cases (forces are named by their makers or by position: the left pull, the right push); key tells 0 of 102 MCQs flagged; keys A 14 · B 15 · C 10 · D 5 across the 44 MCQs.

The bar list (things a generated item must never use): newtons or any unit of force (the drawings are counted in squares); "net force", "adding the forces", "the forces cancel" (the topic goes as far as "the difference between the two arrows"); "gravity pulls", "the force of gravity", "gravity is a force" (Earth pulls; the pull is the object's weight); "mass versus weight" in any form (mass is how much stuff is in a thing, nothing more); "the applied force" (a person's push or pull is a contact force); "has friction" (friction is a force one surface exerts on another); lettered cases (box A, box B); a sliding thing whose friction would change with its load (a box on a floor) in any FOR5-041 item — rolling and floating things only, so the push is the one thing that changes; the lesson scenes (rope toy and dog; hanging backpack; sled on snow; wagon empty or loaded; box of books; field day).

The thirteen types

Hard because — type 7 (hard): two steps, find the unequal pair among four arrows, then its difference; read both arrows, then the difference the change depends on. Type 8 (hard): a documented belief judged by its correct reason, held against the rule. Type 6 (hard): pick the unequal pair out of four forces, then read the stronger force's direction. Type 12: two ideas chained. Type 13: the word is produced from the rule.

One exemplar per type, in full

Type 1 (easy, FOR5-022). Here is a force drawing of a gate with a push on each side. [drawing: the gate; left push 3 squares, right push 6 squares] Which statement about the forces on the gate is true? — The forces are equal. / The forces are unequal: the left push is stronger. / The forces are unequal: the right push is stronger. / Only one force acts on it. Why: Two opposite forces of different strengths are called unequal forces. The right push is 6 squares long and the left push is 3 squares long. So the forces are unequal, and the right push is stronger. (nearest lesson-side instance: Lesson 1 (Equal or unequal? Read the force arrows), question 3, the door, two options — here the set is four and the stronger side is named)

Type 2 (easy, FOR5-022). Bodhi draws two forces on a box, and he draws one arrow longer than the other. What is he showing about that force? — It lasts longer. / It is stronger. / It acts on a heavier part. / It acts faster. (nearest: Lesson 1 (Equal or unequal? Read the force arrows), question 8, three options — re-cased as what the drawer is showing)

Type 3 (medium, FOR5-022). Here is a force drawing of a tire being pulled by two ropes, with four forces on it. [drawing: weight 4, the ground's push 4, left pull 6, right pull 2] Which pair of opposite forces is unequal? — the up and down pair / the left and right pair / both pairs / neither pair. (nearest: Lesson 1 (Equal or unequal? Read the force arrows), question 9, the bench, two options)

Type 4 (easy, FOR5-022). Two opposite forces of the same strength are called balanced forces. What is another name for them? — unequal forces / equal forces / contact forces / friction. (nearest: Lesson 1 (Equal or unequal? Read the force arrows), question 10, three options)

Type 5 (easy, FOR5-023). A hockey puck slides straight across the ice, and a stick taps it from the side with nothing pushing back against the tap. What happens to the puck's motion? — It speeds up. / It slows down. / It changes direction. / It keeps the same speed. (nearest: Lesson 2 (Predict how the motion changes when the forces are unequal), question 4, the kicked soccer ball — the golden set's Q9.1 adapted)

Type 6 (medium, FOR5-023). Here is a force drawing of a lawn mower that is moving to the right. [drawing: friction left 6, the push right 1, a MOVING cue right] What happens to the lawn mower's motion? — It speeds up. / It slows down. / It changes direction. / It keeps the same speed. (nearest: Lesson 2 (Predict how the motion changes when the forces are unequal), question 3, the bike)

Type 7 (hard, FOR5-022, typed). Here is a force drawing of a tire being pulled by two ropes, with four forces on it. Find the pair of opposite forces that is unequal. How many squares longer is the stronger arrow of that pair than the weaker one? Type the number. — 4 (4 squares, four). Why: The weight and the ground's push are both 4 squares long, so that pair is equal. The left pull is 6 squares long and the right pull is 2 squares long, so that pair is unequal. 6 − 2 = 4 squares, so the stronger arrow is 4 squares longer. (nearest: no lesson-side instance types a number; Lesson 1 (Equal or unequal? Read the force arrows), question 9 reads the same kind of drawing by MCQ)

Type 8 (hard, FOR5-023). Bodhi says only the stronger force matters, so the friction makes no difference to how much a moving object speeds up. Bodhi is wrong: what is the correct reason? — A bigger difference between the arrows makes a bigger change. / Friction is always the stronger of the two forces on a moving object. / Friction always makes a moving object speed up faster. / The weaker force only makes the object change direction. Source: register FOR5 SD-2 "Only the strongest force matters"; Lesson 2 (Predict how the motion changes when the forces are unequal)'s table and its line "The weaker force still matters…". (nearest: Lesson 2 (Predict how the motion changes when the forces are unequal), question 7, Celia's TRUE claim, bare yes / no)

Type 9 (medium, FOR5-041). Here are force drawings of an empty suitcase and the same suitcase packed full, each getting the same push. [drawing: two outlines, the same red arrow 4 squares on each] Which suitcase's motion changes less? — the empty suitcase / the full suitcase / both the same / neither one moves. (nearest: Lesson 3 (The same push on more mass makes a smaller change), question 6, the bin pair, two options)

Type 10 (medium, FOR5-041). Caleb gives the same push to an empty cooler and to the same cooler full of ice. Why does the full cooler speed up less? — Earth pulls it down and pins it to the ground. / The push on it is weaker. / It has more mass. / It is bigger on the outside. (nearest: Lesson 3 (The same push on more mass makes a smaller change), question 2, the shopping cart, three options)

Type 11 (easy, FOR5-041). An empty paint can and the same can full of paint sit on a shelf. Which can has more mass? — the empty can / both have the same mass / the full can / neither can has mass. (nearest: Lesson 3 (The same push on more mass makes a smaller change), question 9, the word for how much stuff is in a thing)

Type 12 (hard, FOR5-023). A cart moves at a steady speed with a pull of 4 squares and friction of 4 squares. Then the cart rolls onto carpet, where the friction grows to 6 squares while the pull stays 4 squares. What happens to the cart's motion on the carpet? — It speeds up. / It slows down. / It changes direction. / It keeps the same speed. (nearest: Lesson 2 (Predict how the motion changes when the forces are unequal), question 10, the nearly equal canoe — here equal becomes unequal and the direction is then read)

Type 13 (hard, FOR5-041, typed). A full toolbox and an empty toolbox get the same push, and the full toolbox speeds up less, because it has more stuff in it. Type the science word for how much stuff is in a thing. — mass (the mass, more mass, its mass, mas). Wrong answers with their own line: weight ("The full toolbox's weight is bigger too, but the ground pushes it up just as hard…"), friction, stuff. (nearest: Lesson 3 (The same push on more mass makes a smaller change), question 9 and PR-14, which recognise the word by MCQ)

Draw constraints (⟂) for the test builder

• PP-32 (the suitcase pair, type 9) ⟂ PP-33 (the cooler reason): the second's key is the first's why in other words — draw one per test.
• PP-48 (two balls of the same size, typed) ⟂ PP-37 (the plastic and steel balls, type 9): one scene shape — draw one per test (8 Oct review).
• PP-45 (the trunk, type 8) ⟂ Lesson 3 (The same push on more mass makes a smaller change)'s q5 shape: both key "more mass" against the pins-down reason; the bank item is the four-reason form (8 Oct review: its key moved from the floor-pushes-up sentence to the reason the trunk is hard to move).
• PP-20 (the tire's unequal pair, type 3) ⟂ PP-39 the tire difference (type 7 hard): the same drawing; the first answers the second's first step.
• PP-45 (the trunk, SD-3 pins down) ⟂ PP-35 (the office chair, Earth sideways distractor): each prints the other's correction — draw one per test.
• Adjudication, 8 Oct 2026 (both cold readers agreed every key; their pair flags): PP-20 ⟂ PP-39 (one tire drawing; the first answers the second's first step) · PP-41 ⟂ PP-43 (the claim's key is the difference rule; PP-43's stem no longer states it) · PP-47 ⟂ PP-48 (two typed "mass" items) · PP-08 ⟂ PP-09 (the two other-name items, each the other's answer) · PP-16 ⟂ PP-17 (two easy same-force compares) · PP-37 ⟂ PP-38 (two balls-of-different-mass compares) — draw one of each pair per test.
• The type 1 items share one option frame, so a test draws at most two of them.

Scene-kind inventory (every item's move, scene kind and nearest earlier item) — in the build record's "design-move inventory" table.