Measuring a Dive: teacher key

Peregrine Falcons, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. A peregrine falcon dives too fast and too far away to measure easily, so scientists built experiments. Read how they did it and what they found.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. How tall was the dam wall in the study?
   • 6 meters
   • 60 meters (answer)
   • 600 meters
2. What was the highest speed measured in the dam-wall study?
   • 150 meters a second
   • 320 meters a second
   • 22.5 meters a second (answer)
3. What did Tucker find about turning the head?
   • It works like an air brake (answer)
   • It makes a falcon faster
   • It has no effect
4. Why did the authors train falcons to dive in front of a dam?
   • Falcons like water
   • Free-flying falcons are hard to measure exactly (answer)
   • Dams are quiet
5. What path do peregrines follow toward distant prey?
   • A straight line
   • A zigzag
   • A curved path called a logarithmic spiral (answer)
6. What does drag mean here?
   • Air resistance that slows the falcon (answer)
   • A kind of food
   • A bird call

Words

• fovea: sharp-sight spot
• drag: air resistance
• stereo: two-camera
• raptor: bird of prey
• colonized: moved into