Counting and Habits: teacher key

Burps and Farts, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. How often does a person pass gas? Sources disagree, and that is the interesting part. See what the numbers say and what gas is made of.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What is a scientist who studies flatulence called?
   • A gas fitter
   • A flatologist (answer)
   • A digestologist
2. What do the sources say about how often people pass gas each day?
   • Every source gives the same number
   • They all say exactly 20 times
   • Their counts differ (answer)
3. About how much of a fart is made of the gases that cause odor?
   • About 50 percent
   • About 1 percent (answer)
   • About 99 percent
4. What does variability mean on these pages?
   • A way to count
   • A kind of gas
   • How much things differ (answer)
5. What happens if you hold a fart in?
   • The gas builds up inside until it finds a way out (answer)
   • The gas disappears
   • The gas turns into a burp that smells
6. Which of these is an everyday way to swallow extra air?
   • Drinking through a straw (answer)
   • Breathing slowly
   • Looking at the sky

Words

• belch: a burp
• flatulence: passing gas
• flatologist: gas scientist
• variability: how much differs
• legumes: beans and peas
• gastroenterologist: gut doctor