Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

A Wind Tunnel Technician Makes Air Visible

5th grade nonfiction passage about wind tunnel testing: 200 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction wind tunnel testing 200 words

A Wind Tunnel Technician Makes Air Visible

You cannot see air, even though it pushes on everything that moves through it. A wind tunnel technician finds ways to show what the air is doing. The job helps engineers design faster, safer, and more efficient things.

A wind tunnel is a long tube with a powerful fan. The fan blows air past an object, and the object stays still. This is a clever trick. A model car held in a tunnel feels almost the same push from the air as a real car driving down a road. It is also much cheaper and easier to test a small model than a full machine.

To make air visible, the technician may release a thin stream of smoke near the model. The smoke follows the air, so everyone can watch it curve around the shape. Tiny threads taped to the surface work too, since they show which way the air flows. Sensors under the model measure how hard the air pushes on it.

Many things are tested this way. Airplane wings, race cars, bicycles, and even tall buildings have all been placed in wind tunnels. If a design causes too much drag, engineers change the shape and test it again.

Questions

  1. What does a wind tunnel technician try to show? in the text

  2. What blows air through a wind tunnel? in the text

  3. How does smoke help the technician? in the text

  4. What do the sensors under the model measure? in the text

  5. Name two things that have been tested in wind tunnels? in the text

  6. Why is it useful to test a small model instead of a full machine? think about it

  7. What might engineers do if a design has too much drag? think about it

Words to know

technician
a worker with special training in a skill or tool
engineer
a person who designs and builds machines or structures
model
a smaller copy of a real thing
sensor
a tool that detects and measures something
drag
the force of air that slows something down
Share

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 · 179 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.1

You cannot see air. But air pushes on everything that moves through it. A wind tunnel technician finds ways to show what air is doing. This helps engineers make faster, safer things.

A wind tunnel is a long tube with a strong fan. The fan blows air past an object. The object stays still. This is a clever trick. A model car in a tunnel feels almost the same push as a real car on a road. And it is cheaper to test a small model than a full machine.

To make air visible, the technician may let out a thin stream of smoke near the model. The smoke follows the air. Everyone can watch it curve around the shape. Tiny threads on the surface work too. They show which way the air flows. Sensors under the model measure how hard the air pushes.

Many things are tested this way. Airplane wings, race cars, bicycles, and tall buildings have been in wind tunnels. If a design has too much drag, engineers change the shape. Then they test it again.

▲ This passage · 200 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.1

You cannot see air, even though it pushes on everything that moves through it. A wind tunnel technician finds ways to show what the air is doing. The job helps engineers design faster, safer, and more efficient things.

A wind tunnel is a long tube with a powerful fan. The fan blows air past an object, and the object stays still. This is a clever trick. A model car held in a tunnel feels almost the same push from the air as a real car driving down a road. It is also much cheaper and easier to test a small model than a full machine.

To make air visible, the technician may release a thin stream of smoke near the model. The smoke follows the air, so everyone can watch it curve around the shape. Tiny threads taped to the surface work too, since they show which way the air flows. Sensors under the model measure how hard the air pushes on it.

Many things are tested this way. Airplane wings, race cars, bicycles, and even tall buildings have all been placed in wind tunnels. If a design causes too much drag, engineers change the shape and test it again.

■ Harder · 218 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.5

Air cannot be seen, even though it pushes against everything that travels through it. A wind tunnel technician devises ways to reveal what the air is doing. This work helps engineers design vehicles and structures that are faster, safer, and more efficient.

A wind tunnel is a long tube equipped with a powerful fan. The fan drives air past an object while the object remains motionless. This is an ingenious trick. A model car held inside a tunnel experiences almost the same push from the air as a real car traveling along a road, and it is far cheaper and simpler to test a small model than a full-sized machine.

To make the air visible, the technician may release a thin stream of smoke close to the model. The smoke follows the air, so everyone can watch it bend around the shape. Tiny threads taped to the surface serve the same purpose, because they indicate the direction in which the air is flowing. Sensors beneath the model measure how forcefully the air pushes against it.

A wide variety of things are tested in this manner. Airplane wings, race cars, bicycles, and even tall buildings have all been placed inside wind tunnels. If a design creates too much drag, engineers alter its shape and test it once more.

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 technician, engineer, model, sensor and drag 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 6 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 "A Wind Tunnel Technician Makes Air Visible"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 200 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.1. 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 seven. 5 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.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.