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Why Noodles Take Longer to Cook on a Mountain

5th grade nonfiction passage about boiling water at high places: 217 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction boiling water at high places 217 words

Why Noodles Take Longer to Cook on a Mountain

Imagine camping high on a mountain and boiling water to make noodles. The pot bubbles hard, but the noodles stay chewy for a long time. At home near sea level, the same noodles would be soft in just a few minutes. The water looks as if it is boiling in both places, so what is different?

The difference is air pressure. Air has weight, and at sea level a tall column of it presses down on everything below. High on a mountain, there is less air above you, so the pressure is lower. Water boils when its particles are moving fast enough to break free as steam against the pressure on its surface. With less pressure on a mountain, the particles break free more easily, and the water starts to boil sooner.

That sounds helpful, but it causes a problem. The water starts boiling before it gets as hot as it would at sea level. Bubbling water cannot get hotter than its boiling point, even if you turn the flame up higher. So the noodles are cooking in cooler water, and they need much more time to soften.

A pressure cooker does the opposite. Its tight lid traps steam and raises the pressure inside the pot. Water then boils at a higher temperature, and food cooks faster.

Questions

  1. Where are the campers boiling their noodles? in the text

  2. Why is the air pressure lower on a mountain? in the text

  3. How is the boiling water on a mountain different from boiling water at sea level? in the text

  4. Why does a bigger flame not make the noodles cook faster? think about it

  5. Why do the noodles stay chewy for so long? think about it

  6. How does a pressure cooker help food cook faster? in the text

Words to know

pressure
the push of something pressing on a surface
particle
a tiny piece of matter
steam
water that has turned into a hot gas
boiling
heated until bubbles rise and steam forms
soften
to become less hard
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 204 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

Picture camping high on a mountain. You boil water to cook noodles. The pot bubbles hard, but the noodles stay chewy for a long time. At home near sea level, the same noodles would be soft in a few minutes. The water looks like it is boiling in both places. So what is different?

The difference is air pressure. Air has weight. At sea level, a tall column of air presses down on everything below. High on a mountain, there is less air above you, so the pressure is lower. Water boils when its tiny particles move fast enough to break free as steam. With less pressure on a mountain, they break free more easily. The water starts to boil sooner.

That sounds good, but it causes a problem. The water starts to boil before it gets as hot as it would at sea level. Bubbling water cannot get hotter than its boiling point, even if you turn up the flame. So the noodles cook in cooler water. They need much more time to soften.

A pressure cooker does the opposite. Its tight lid traps steam and raises the pressure in the pot. Water then boils at a higher temperature, and food cooks faster.

▲ This passage · 217 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.9

Imagine camping high on a mountain and boiling water to make noodles. The pot bubbles hard, but the noodles stay chewy for a long time. At home near sea level, the same noodles would be soft in just a few minutes. The water looks as if it is boiling in both places, so what is different?

The difference is air pressure. Air has weight, and at sea level a tall column of it presses down on everything below. High on a mountain, there is less air above you, so the pressure is lower. Water boils when its particles are moving fast enough to break free as steam against the pressure on its surface. With less pressure on a mountain, the particles break free more easily, and the water starts to boil sooner.

That sounds helpful, but it causes a problem. The water starts boiling before it gets as hot as it would at sea level. Bubbling water cannot get hotter than its boiling point, even if you turn the flame up higher. So the noodles are cooking in cooler water, and they need much more time to soften.

A pressure cooker does the opposite. Its tight lid traps steam and raises the pressure inside the pot. Water then boils at a higher temperature, and food cooks faster.

■ Harder · 231 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.4

Imagine camping high among the peaks and boiling a pot of water to make noodles. The water bubbles vigorously, yet the noodles remain chewy for an astonishingly long time. Back home near sea level, the very same noodles would turn soft in just a few minutes. The water appears to be boiling in both locations, so what could account for the difference?

The explanation is air pressure. Air has weight, and at sea level a tall column of it presses down on everything beneath. High on a mountain, there is considerably less air overhead, so the pressure is lower. Water boils once its particles are moving fast enough to break free as steam against the pressure bearing down on its surface. Because the pressure is weaker on a mountain, the particles escape more easily, and the water begins to boil sooner.

That might sound advantageous, but it creates a difficulty. The water starts boiling before it reaches the temperature it would reach at sea level. Bubbling water cannot climb above its boiling point, no matter how high you turn up the flame. Consequently, the noodles are cooking in cooler water, and they require far more time to soften.

A pressure cooker accomplishes the opposite. Its tightly sealed lid traps steam and raises the pressure inside the pot, so the water boils at a higher temperature and the food cooks more quickly.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put pressure, particle, steam, boiling and soften on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 4 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Why Noodles Take Longer to Cook on a Mountain"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 217 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.8. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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