Front Line of Defense: teacher key

Boogers and Snot, grade 8 edition, written for 8th grade. Mucus, microbes and antibodies work together as the body's front line. See what slows the cilia, what scientists still do not know, and how a stuffy side can wake you.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does a cold virus do to the cilia?
   • Speeds them up
   • Slows them, sometimes for weeks (answer)
   • Removes them
2. Why does mucus need water?
   • The cilia need hydrated airways to work properly (answer)
   • Water makes mucus taste salty
   • Water turns mucus green
3. What do experts say about how much mucus the nose and sinuses make?
   • It is exactly 1 liter
   • Nobody knows the exact amount (answer)
   • It is almost none
4. Why might someone lying on their right side wake up?
   • Gravity stuffs the lower nostril, and the nasal cycle has already stuffed the other side (answer)
   • The cilia stop for the night
   • Histamine falls
5. What can pulling out nose hairs cause?
   • Stronger cilia
   • A bad infection (answer)
   • Less mucus
6. What does hydrated mean?
   • Full of water (answer)
   • Very hot
   • Covered in dust

Words

• hydrated: full of water
• mucin: gel protein
• microbiome: microbe community
• histamine: allergy chemical
• infectious: able to spread