ANSWER KEYS

Reading One

Understanding Basic Concepts

1. What is matter?
○ Answer: Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.
2. Can you name three different states of matter?
○ Answer: Solids, liquids, and gases.
3. Give an example of something you can see and touch that is matter.
○ Answer: A rope.
4. What is an example of matter that you cannot see but can feel?
○ Answer: Air.

Properties and Measurement

5. What is the difference between mass and weight?

○ Answer: Mass is the amount of matter in an object, and weight is the force of gravity on
that object.
6. If you squeeze a piece of bread into a tight lump, what happens to its volume?
○ Answer: The volume decreases, but the weight stays the same.
7. What tools can you use to measure the volume of an object?
○ Answer: Graduated cylinders and rulers.
8. How can you measure the weight of an object?
○ Answer: By using a scale.

Describing Matter

9. How can you describe the different types of matter in a picture?

○ Answer: You can describe them by their properties, like whether they are solid, liquid, or
gas, and their specific traits like color or texture.
10. What is the melting point, and why is it important?
○ Answer: The melting point is the temperature at which a solid turns into a liquid. It is
important because it helps us understand how different materials behave under heat.

Solubility and Physical Properties

11. What does solubility mean?

○ Answer: Solubility is how well a substance can dissolve in a liquid.
12. How does sugar behave when you mix it in tea?
○ Answer: Sugar dissolves in the tea, making it taste sweet.
13. How is sand different from sugar in water?
○ Answer: Sand does not dissolve in water, while sugar does.

Metals and Their Properties

14. What are some properties of metals like copper and pumice?
○ Answer: Color, hardness, reflectivity, and buoyancy.
15. Why is copper used for electrical wires?
 ○ Answer: Because copper conducts electricity very well.
16. What happens to a piece of copper when placed near a magnet?
○ Answer: It does not get attracted to the magnet because copper is not magnetic.
17. Why might cast iron be a good choice for a cooking pot?
○ Answer: Because it conducts heat well, which helps in cooking food evenly.

Application and Examples

18. Why is it helpful to know the properties of matter?

○ Answer: It helps us identify materials and solve problems, such as choosing the right
material for a specific use.
19. How can the property of buoyancy help you understand why some objects float and others
sink?
○ Answer: Buoyancy explains how objects float if they are less dense than the liquid they
are in, like pumice floating in water.
20. Give an example of how you might use solubility in everyday life.
○ Answer: When making lemonade, you need to know that sugar will dissolve in water to
make the lemonade sweet.
Reading Two

1. Why does the school need to replace the chains on the playground swings?
Answer: The school needs to replace the chains because they might be rusty or not safe to use
anymore.
2. What is the design process?
Answer: The design process is a method used to find and develop a solution to a problem. It helps
people plan, create, and test their ideas.
3. What is the first step in the design process?
Answer: The first step is to define the problem, which means figuring out what needs to be fixed or
solved.
4. What does 'criteria' mean in the design process?
Answer: 'Criteria' are the standards or requirements that a solution needs to meet to be considered
good or successful.
5. What should you do after defining the problem?
Answer: After defining the problem, you should plan a solution by thinking about how to solve the
problem and what criteria and constraints to consider.
6. Why is making a model important in the design process?
Answer: Making a model is important because it helps you test your solution in a way that is similar to
real life to see if it works.
7. What does 'testing the model' involve?
Answer: Testing the model involves checking if it works under conditions similar to how it will be used
in real life. This helps to see if the solution is effective.
8. What is the purpose of evaluating and redesigning your solution?
Answer: The purpose is to check if the solution meets the criteria and constraints and to improve it if it
doesn’t work as expected.
9. What are some properties that a new chain might need to have?
Answer: A new chain might need to be strong, flexible, and easy to grip.
10. What are 'constraints' in the design process?
Answer: 'Constraints' are limits or restrictions that affect how the design can be created or used.
11. If your first solution doesn’t work, what should you do next?
Answer: You should examine why the solution didn’t work, redesign it if needed, and then test it again
to see if it improves.
12. What are two things you might test for when checking a new chain?
Answer: You might test if the new chain is strong enough and if it is flexible enough to handle use on
the swings.
Reading Three

15. What are clues in a mystery?

Answer: Clues are pieces of information that help us solve the problem or mystery.
16. What is evidence in science?
Answer: Evidence is information that supports answers to scientific questions or helps solve problems.
17. How can observing something help answer scientific questions?
Answer: Observing something provides evidence that can be used to support or prove scientific
claims.
18. Why can’t we see air or the particles in it?
Answer: Air particles are too small for our eyes to see.
19. What do scientists use to understand things that are too small to see?
Answer: Scientists use models to represent and explain things that are too small to see, like air
particles.
20. What is one way you can prove that air takes up space?
Answer: One way is to blow air into a balloon. The balloon expands because the air takes up space.
21. What happens to water vapor when it touches a cold surface?
Answer: Water vapor turns into small drops of water on the cold surface, which is called condensation.
22. What does it mean when sugar dissolves in water?
Answer: When sugar dissolves in water, it spreads out and mixes with the water so that it is not visible
anymore, but it is still there.
23. How can you show that lemonade contains more than just water?
Answer: You can show this by using the properties of sugar and lemon juice. For example, tasting or
testing for sugar and lemon juice can prove they are in the lemonade.
24. What evidence shows that salt is dissolved in water?
Answer: When the water evaporates, the salt remains behind as visible white crystals.
25. Why does a balloon expand when you blow air into it?
Answer: The balloon expands because the air you blow into it takes up space and pushes against the
balloon’s sides.
26. How does heat affect how matter dissolves in water?
Answer: Heat makes the particles of matter move faster, so they dissolve more quickly in water.
27. What can you observe to support the idea that water is made of small particles?
Answer: You can observe that when sugar dissolves in water, the sugar particles spread out and you
can’t see them, which supports the idea that water is made of small particles.
28. What happens to the sugar in lemonade when it dissolves?
Answer: The sugar separates into tiny particles that spread out and mix with the water, making the
sugar invisible but still present in the lemonade.
Reading Four

16. What is sand made of?

Answer: Sand is made of tiny pieces of rocks and shells that have been broken down by water, wind,
and ice.
17. What happens to matter during a physical change?
Answer: During a physical change, matter changes shape or form, but no new matter is created or lost.
The materials remain the same.
18. What is a physical change?
Answer: A physical change is when matter changes its shape or size but does not create any new type
of matter.
19. What happens to ice when it melts?
Answer: When ice melts, it changes from a solid state to a liquid state, but the amount of water
remains the same.
20. Why does ice float on water?
Answer: Ice floats on water because it has a lower density in its solid state compared to water in its
liquid state.
21. What is density?
Answer: Density is a measure of how much matter is in a certain amount of space.
22. How does water change from a gas back to a liquid?
Answer: Water vapor in the air can condense into small drops of water when the temperature drops.
23. What is evaporation?
Answer: Evaporation is the process when matter changes from a liquid to a gas, like when a puddle of
water dries up.
24. What happens to water when it freezes?
Answer: When water freezes, it changes from a liquid to a solid state, like making ice cubes.
25. How do we know that matter is conserved during physical changes?
Answer: Matter is conserved because the total amount of matter before and after the change stays the
same. For example, when a metal sheet is turned into coins, the total weight of the metal is the same
as before, even though some metal is turned into scrap.
26. What does it mean to conserve matter?
Answer: To conserve matter means that the amount of matter remains constant and no matter is
gained or lost during a physical change.
27. How does the process of metal casting work?
Answer: Metal casting involves melting metal to turn it into a liquid, pouring it into a mold, and then
cooling it back into a solid shape. The amount of metal stays the same throughout the process.
28. What evidence shows that matter does not change during physical changes?
Answer: Evidence includes examples like recycling cans or making coins. Even though the form or
shape of the matter changes, the total amount of matter remains the same.
29. Why do we use models to understand matter?
Answer: We use models to help us understand things that we cannot see directly, like the small
particles that make up matter.
30. What is a common example of matter changing from a solid to a liquid?
Answer: A common example is ice melting into water.
Reading Five

What is a mixture?
Answer: A mixture is a combination of different types of matter where each type remains unchanged and can
usually be separated back into its original parts.

What happens during a chemical change?

Answer: During a chemical change, two or more types of matter interact to form a new substance with
different properties, and the original ingredients cannot be easily separated again.

How is a salad different from bread in terms of mixtures and chemical changes?
Answer: A salad is a mixture where you can separate the original ingredients back out, while bread involves a
chemical change during baking, making it impossible to return to the original ingredients.

What is an example of a chemical change in iron?

Answer: An example is rusting. When iron reacts with water and oxygen in the air, it forms a new substance
called rust, which has different properties from the original iron.

What are some signs of a chemical change?

Answer: Signs of a chemical change include the formation of a gas, a change in odor, a change in color, a
change in temperature, and the formation of a precipitate.

What happens when a car engine burns fuel?

Answer: When a car engine burns fuel, it produces exhaust gas as a result of a chemical change where new
chemicals are formed.

How can you tell if baking bread involves a chemical change?

Answer: You can tell because baking bread results in the formation of gas bubbles and a change in odor, both
of which are evidence of a chemical change.

Why does copper change color over time?

Answer: Copper changes color because it reacts with air and water, undergoing a chemical change that
results in new substances and a change in color.

What is a precipitate?
Answer: A precipitate is a solid that forms from the combination of two solutions during a chemical change and
has new properties that cannot easily be returned to the original substances.

What is evidence of a chemical change when you light a match?

Answer: Evidence of a chemical change when lighting a match includes the change in temperature and the
production of light.

How does the matter in fireworks change during a display?

Answer: In fireworks, solid chemicals burn and change into gases, creating light and sound. Despite these
changes, the total weight of the matter before and after the fireworks is the same.

Why is matter conserved during a chemical change?

Answer: Matter is conserved during a chemical change because the total weight of all the matter before and
after the change remains the same; no matter is lost or gained.
Reading Six

What is chemistry?
Answer: Chemistry is the science of what matter is made of and how matter changes.

Who were Democritus and Leucippus, and what did they contribute to science?
Answer: Democritus and his teacher Leucippus were ancient Greeks who proposed that all matter is made of
tiny particles called atoms, which could not be cut any smaller.

What does the word "atom" mean?

Answer: The word "atom" comes from the Greek words meaning "not" and "to cut," so it means "not to cut,"
referring to the smallest unit of matter that cannot be divided further.

What did John Dalton add to the idea of atoms?

Answer: John Dalton added that atoms are not all the same; there are different kinds of atoms, and when they
join together, they form different types of matter.

How many different kinds of atoms have scientists found, and what are they called?
Answer: Scientists have found 118 different kinds of atoms, and they are called elements.

What is an element?
Answer: An element is matter made of only one type of atom. For example, gold is an element made up
entirely of gold atoms.

What happens when atoms join together?

Answer: When atoms join together, they form a chemical bond and create a molecule.

What is a molecule?
Answer: A molecule is a substance made of one or more kinds of atoms joined together by chemical bonds.

Give an example of a molecule and explain what it is made of.

Answer: Water is an example of a molecule. It is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bonded
together.

Why are molecules important for living things?

Answer: Molecules are important because they make up the matter we see every day and are essential for life
processes, such as building muscles and providing energy from the food we eat.

How do scientists use models to understand molecules?

Answer: Scientists use models to represent molecules because they help visualize and understand how
atoms are joined together in a molecule, even when the molecules are too small to see directly.

What can we learn from a model of a carbon dioxide molecule?

Answer: A model of a carbon dioxide molecule helps us understand how the atoms of carbon and oxygen are
bonded together to form carbon dioxide gas, which is important for processes like breathing and
photosynthesis in plants.