The great paper towel test · Grade 3

The passage and its 6 questions

Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions in full sentences.

• Ravi spilled a glass of juice at lunch, and the paper towel he grabbed turned into a soggy mess. "Some towels must soak up more than others," said his friend Zainab.
• "Let's find out which one is best."
• Their question was simple: which of three paper towels soaks up the most water? Ravi predicted the thickest towel, a smooth one, would win. To make it a fair test, they changed only one thing: the kind of towel. They cut every towel into a square the same size. They poured exactly 100 milliliters of water into three matching bowls. Each square stayed in its bowl for exactly ten seconds.
• Then they lifted the towels out and measured the water left behind. The thin towel soaked up 15 milliliters. The thick, smooth towel soaked up 30. But the bumpy, quilted towel soaked up 45 milliliters! Ravi's prediction was wrong.
• They repeated the test two more times and got almost the same results. "So bumps beat thickness," said Zainab. "Maybe the bumps make extra spaces to hold water." Ravi grinned. "That sounds like our next experiment!"
• 1. What question did Ravi and Zainab want to answer?
• 2. Name two things they kept the same to make the test fair.
• 3. What does the word 'predicted' mean in paragraph 2?
• 4. Why did they repeat the test two more times?
• 5. Copy the sentence that tells whether Ravi's prediction was right.
• 6. Summarize the passage in 25 words or fewer.