6th Grade: Current Science April 23

6th Grade:

Read the magazine articles and answer the questions below. Type your answers in a Word document and save it in YOUR folder. If you have time you may work on the crossword but it might be a little tricky because I do NOT want you to print it out.

Skillbuilders: Blood Thirst

Vocabulary Challenge
Match each numbered word or phrase with its correct description.

1.	bedbug	A.	a species of leech that physicians use as a medical device
2.	sanguivores	B.	a sucking tube
3.	candiru	C.	an opening through which an animal eliminates feces and urine
4.	Hirudo medicinalis	D.	blood-eating animals
5.	anesthetic	E.	an animal that sucks blood from the toes of birds
6.	protein	F.	a nutrient in blood
7.	anticoagulant	G.	a substance that dulls sensation
8.	proboscis	H.	an insect that sucks blood at night
9.	cloaca	I.	an anticlotting substance
10.	white-winged vampire bat	J.	a blood-eating catfish that lives in the Amazon River

Skillbuilders: In Living Color

Short Answer

1. What are pigments?

2. What substance was used to color ancient statues black?

3. Which form of electromagnetic radiation mentioned in the article is invisible to human eyes?

4. How does a UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy machine identify the original colors of ancient statues?

5. What device examines parts of an aircraft for hairline cracks? In what form does it reproduce those parts?

6. What material is the Alexander Sarcophagus made of, and what is depicted on it?

Skillbuilders: Phantom Menace?

True or False
Read each statement, and decide whether it is true (T) or false (F).

1. Humidity is the water content of air.

2. The prefix alto-is used to describe low clouds.

3. A contrail is a line of frozen water vapor that is left behind an aircraft.

4. Contrails are very similar to cumulonimbus clouds.

5. A cirrostratus cloud is a high cloud.

6. Aerosols are liquid or solid particles suspended in the air.

7. Contrails are much more numerous than they used to be because air traffic has increased.

8. Altostratus clouds are puffy and cotton-like in appearance.

9. A control is a test that is similar to another test except for one variable.

10. High clouds reach an altitude of about 20,000 feet.

Skillbuilders: Going the Distance

Fill in the Blanks
Write the word or words that best complete each sentence.

1. The ____________ is an organ that produces enzymes needed for the digestion of food.

2. ____________ are drugs that fight bacterial infections.

3. The ____________ tubes lead from the windpipe to the lungs.

4. People use their respiratory system to ____________.

5. A person who has cystic fibrosis has inherited ____________ faulty copies of the CFTR gene.

6. In people who have cystic fibrosis, the airways and lungs become clogged with a thick, sticky ____________.

7. ____________ are proteins that help chemical reactions take place.

8. Cystic fibrosis patients are advised to take supplements that help them absorb ____________ from digested food.

9. People who have cystic fibrosis live roughly ____________ as long as people with the disease did three decades ago.

10. Tubes in the pancreas are called ____________.

Skillbuilders: Speed Trap

Crossword

Current Science

Across

3. a novel written by Charles Dickens (two words)

5. a moon of Jupiter

7. nerve cell

9. a synthetic elastic fabric

11. a person who hauls musical equipment from one concert to another

12. a moon of Saturn

13. a spacecraft that is orbiting Saturn and its moons

14. a volcano on Mars (two words)

19. a gas in the atmosphere of 12 Across

20. a character in 3 Across (two words)

21. a piece of equipment that broadcasts sound

Down

1. a symptom of 16 Down

2. a volcano that spews ice, ammonia, and methane

4. a Galápagos Island reptile (two words)

6. the measure of energy provided by food

7. how information is stored in the brain (two words)

8. a disease caused by a vitamin D deficiency

10. strong, rigid materials used widely in the aerospace industry (two words)

15. molten rock

16. a disease caused by a vitamin C deficiency

17. a shape-shifting car

18. a dish containing rice and some type of cereal that is boiled in milk or water