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When Things Collide is a free printable Grade 4 science worksheet on asking and predicting what happens to energy in a collision, aligned to Common Core standard 4-PS3-3. It prints 7 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 17 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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One paper per pupil

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

When Things Collide

4-PS3-3

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

When Marbles Meet

A record of one marble rolled into a still marble, from three release heights. STRIKING MARBLE AND STRUCK MARBLE Released from 5 cm: striker nearly stopped, struck marble rolled 6 cm Released from 10 cm: striker stopped, struck marble rolled 13 cm Released from 15 cm: striker stopped, struck marble rolled 21 cm The struck marble was still before every collision. Same two marbles, same track, same surface.

  1. 1. How far did the struck marble roll after the 10 cm release?
  2. 2. Where did the struck marble's movement come from?
  3. 3. What happened to the striking marble at 10 cm?
  4. 4. What happens to the struck marble as the release height rises?
2.A rolling marble hits a still marble and stops. What happened to its energy?
  • A.It was transferred to the marble it hit
  • B.It disappeared
  • C.It stayed in the first marble
3.Two identical marbles collide head on and both stop. Where did the energy go?
  • A.It was destroyed
  • B.Into the table's colour
  • C.Into sound, heat and squashing at the moment of contact
4.A collision makes a clicking sound. What does that tell you?
  • A.Some energy left as sound
  • B.Sound has no energy
  • C.The marbles gained energy
5.What would you measure to compare two collisions?
  • A.How loud you shout
  • B.The colour of the marbles
  • C.How far the struck object moves afterwards
6.Why keep the same track and surface for every trial?
  • A.To save time
  • B.So only the release height differs between trials
  • C.It does not matter
7.Before a collision the struck marble is still. What does that mean?
  • A.Any movement it has afterwards came from the collision
  • B.It was already moving
  • C.It cannot move

LessonPrint · 4-PS3-3 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — When Things Collide

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. 13 cm. 2. From the striking marble, which stopped as the struck marble started. 3. It stopped. 4. It rolls further each time.
  2. 2.It was transferred to the marble it hit
  3. 3.Into sound, heat and squashing at the moment of contact
  4. 4.Some energy left as sound
  5. 5.How far the struck object moves afterwards
  6. 6.So only the release height differs between trials
  7. 7.Any movement it has afterwards came from the collision

More practice for 4-PS3-3

Ask and predict what happens to energy when objects collide.

Teaching this next? When Things Collide is the 55-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 4 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 4-PS3-3 of the Next Generation Science Standards.