The Nose, by the Numbers: teacher key

Boogers and Snot, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. Cilia are a tenth the width of a hair and clean the nose five times an hour. Meet the numbers, the colors and the microbes that make your snot work.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. About how long are cilia?
   • 5 to 7 micrometers (answer)
   • 5 to 7 inches
   • 5 to 7 millimeters
2. How much water was in the coating mucin formed in MIT lab tests?
   • 10 percent
   • 50 percent
   • 90 percent (answer)
3. Why might a person with a cold pass it on before feeling sick?
   • Cilia stop for a few days
   • A person with a cold can spread it a few days before symptoms begin (answer)
   • Mucus turns green first
4. Where do nose hairs grow?
   • In the sinuses
   • Only in the front part (answer)
   • Deep in the lungs
5. Which color often shows up at the start of an infection?
   • Black
   • Brown
   • Yellow (answer)
6. What is a microbiome?
   • A community of microbes (answer)
   • A kind of cilia
   • A sneeze

Words

• micrometers: tiny lengths
• mucin: gel protein
• microbiome: microbe community
• vestibule: nose front
• sinuses: head spaces