Thomas Edison: How One Life Changed the World

Questions

1. Sequence Which of these happened first?

   Edison opened one of the first power stations, in New York City Edison was made a member of a British society of arts Edison demonstrated a light bulb that could glow for many hours Edison opened a laboratory for inventing in Menlo Park, New Jersey
2. Sequence Which of these happened last?

   Edison demonstrated a light bulb that could glow for many hours Edison opened a laboratory for inventing in Menlo Park, New Jersey Edison invented the phonograph, which recorded and played back sound Edison opened one of the first power stations, in New York City
3. Details In what year did this happen? "Edison demonstrated a light bulb that could glow for many hours."

   1889 1876 1847 1879
4. Timeline math How many years passed between these two events? First: "Edison invented the phonograph, which recorded and played back sound." Later: "He demonstrated a light bulb that could glow for many hours."

   3 32 1 2
5. Timeline math About how old was Edison in 1877?

   77 30 35 42
6. Vocabulary In the passage, what does "laboratory" mean?

   a kind of invisible light that can pass through the body to make pictures of bones a statement in mathematics that has been proved true the tiny, heavy center of an atom a room or building for experiments and research
7. Character traits Which word best describes Thomas Edison?

   lazy hardworking forgetful careless
8. Evidence Which detail from the passage shows that Edison was hardworking?

   He kept working through months of failed experiments in a hot, cramped laboratory. He and his team tested thousands of materials before finding one that made a light bulb last. As a child he collected plants and became known as the 'plant doctor' for helping sick plants grow. He designed experiments with special flasks to prove where germs came from.
9. Main idea What is this passage mostly about?

   how to become a scientist the life and work of Ada Lovelace the life and work of Thomas Edison the life and work of Alexander Graham Bell
10. Text structure How does the author organize the middle of the passage?

    as a list of steps to follow by comparing two people in time order, from earlier events to later ones as a problem and its solution
11. Author's purpose Why does the author end with the final paragraph?

    to explain how to do an experiment to tell a funny story to describe where the person grew up to show that his work still matters today

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