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Grade 9 Challenge: Think Like a Scientist Worksheet with Answers
Grade 9 (US) · Year 10 (UK) · Class 9 (India) · Science
Unit 6: Going FurtherChallenge PuzzlesChallenge
Surprising questions and thought experiments that test real scientific reasoning. This free high school worksheet has 12 questions and a full answer key. Print it or save it as a PDF — every answer is checked by code, not guessed.
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Practice Sheetaethelsystems.comChallenge: Think Like a Scientist
Grade 9 · Science
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Class
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Learning goal: Challenge Puzzles
Directions: Read each question carefully and write your answer on the line.
- 1
Ice floats in water. What does that tell you about its density?
- 2
Does a kilogram of feathers weigh more than a kilogram of iron?
- 3
Why does a metal ship float when a metal nail sinks?
- 4
You are in a closed room with a candle, a match and a lamp. What do you light first?
- 5
Why does a spinning ice skater spin faster when she pulls her arms in?
- 6
Why do you see lightning before you hear thunder?
- 7
If you could fold a sheet of paper 42 times, roughly how thick would it be?
- 8
Why does your breath make fog on a cold window?
- 9
Why is the sky blue?
- 10
If Earth stopped spinning, how long would one day (sunrise to sunrise) be?
- 11
A ball is thrown straight up. What is its speed at the very top?
- 12
On the Moon (no air), a hammer and a feather are dropped together. Which lands first?
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Free printable worksheets with answer keys · aethelsystems.com/worksheets/science/9/challenge_science_thinking
Answer key — Challenge: Think Like a Scientist (Grade 9)
- 1.ice is less dense than liquid water
- 2.no — they weigh the same
- 3.the ship's shape displaces enough water; its average density is less than water
- 4.the match
- 5.conservation of angular momentum
- 6.light travels much faster than sound
- 7.far enough to reach the Moon (about 440,000 km)
- 8.water vapor in your breath condenses on the cold glass
- 9.air scatters short blue wavelengths of sunlight more than red
- 10.about one year
- 11.zero (for an instant)
- 12.they land at the same time
Answer key (click to show)
- 1.ice is less dense than liquid water
- 2.no — they weigh the same
- 3.the ship's shape displaces enough water; its average density is less than water
- 4.the match
- 5.conservation of angular momentum
- 6.light travels much faster than sound
- 7.far enough to reach the Moon (about 440,000 km)
- 8.water vapor in your breath condenses on the cold glass
- 9.air scatters short blue wavelengths of sunlight more than red
- 10.about one year
- 11.zero (for an instant)
- 12.they land at the same time
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