Name: ______Date: ______Class: ______

Before Reading: In the before column mark each statement as True or False.

During or after reading: Circle the correct answers in the After column based on reading the article. In the space below each statement, write evidence from the text that supports the correct answer to the statement.

Before / Statements / After
T / F / Silk is a very delicate and weak natural fibre. / T / F
T / F / Silk can be used to make lenses and diffraction gratings. / T / F
T / F / The usefulness of silk in optics is due to its transparency. / T / F
T / F / Researchers are using radio-frequencies and embedding food with silk antennae as a method of testing food safety. / T / F
T / F / Enzymes are carbohydrates that participate in chemical reactions in living things. / T / F
T / F / Silk may be used to ensure food has not gone bad. / T / F

After reading this article, two other questions I have about this topic are:

1.

2.

TEACHER ANSWER PAGE

Before / Statements / After
T / F / Silk is a very delicate and weak natural fibre. / T / F
Yet scientists have found ways of using silk, the strongest natural fibre, to develop new ways of manipulating light and making food safer.
T / F / Silk can be used to make lenses and diffraction gratings. / T / F
Silk is transparent and can be shaped in various different ways, making it even more useful for optics. For example, scientists have shaped it into small lenses and diffraction gratings that bend light and separate the different colours of the rainbow.
T / F / The usefulness of silk in optics is due to its transparency. / T / F
Silk is transparent and can be shaped in various different ways, making it even more useful for optics.
T / F / Researchers are using radio-frequencies and embedding food with silk antennae as a method of testing food safety. / T / F
In fact, researchers are trying to use these methods to embed food with passive antennas as a way of testing if the food is safe to eat.
T / F / Enzymes are carbohydrates that participate in chemical reactions in living things. / T / F
Fast Fact: Enzymes are proteins that allow important chemical reactions to take place in living things.
T / F / Silk may be used to ensure food has not gone bad. / T / F
As food spoils, the silk antenna embedded within the food will also deteriorate, and the antenna's resonance frequency will change. By placing a small device that measures resonance frequency near the food, it becomes easy to tell if the food has gone bad!

Link to Learning Strategy / Link to Article