CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY SCIENCE 6 UNIT 2: MATERIALS: PROPERTIES AND CHANGES

Name ___________________________________ Date _____________

Unit 2 Language worksheet 1

Vocabulary building
Choose words from the box to complete the sentences.

irreversible evidence melting point reversible rate products

physical reactants property boiling point

1 The temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid is called its _______________.

2 A _______________ of a substance is something that makes it different from other substances.

3 The temperature at which particles throughout a liquid become a gas is called its ______________.

4 A change is _______________ if the substance can be changed back to the way it was before.

5 A change is _______________ if the substance cannot be changed back to the way it was before.

6 In a _______________ change, a substance does not change into a different substance.

7 The _______________ of dissolving increases if we heat a solution.

8 The substances that react together in a chemical reaction are called _______________.

9 The new substances that form in a chemical reaction are called _______________.

10 The way we know that a chemical reaction has happened is called _______________.

Cambridge Primary Science 6 – Fiona Baxter & Liz Dilley © Cambridge University Press 2021 1
 CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY SCIENCE 6 UNIT 2: MATERIALS: PROPERTIES AND CHANGES

Name ___________________________________ Date _____________

Unit 2 Language worksheet 2

Language development
Does water always boil at 100 °C? The answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
Read about different temperature scales and answer the questions.

Who invented the temperature scale?

A temperature scale is a system for measuring temperature.

Fahrenheit invented the first thermometer, but scientists could not agree on a
temperature scale for the thermometer. Fahrenheit invented a new scale. He
decided that the coldest temperature he could make by mixing different
substances was 0 °. On Fahrenheit’s temperature scale, water freezes into
ice at 32 ° and boils at 212 °. This scale is still used in some countries, including
the USA.

Celsius was also interested in measuring temperature. He suggested a

temperature scale from 0 ° to 100 °, with water boiling at 0 ° and ice
melting at 100 °. Other scientists told him it was strange for hot things
to have a lower temperature than cold things, so Celsius reversed his
scale. He made 0 ° the temperature at which ice melts and 100 ° the
temperature at which water boils. This is the scale that we use
today. We measure the temperature in degrees Celsius (°C).

Kelvin and other scientists were researching the lowest temperature possible.
Kelvin invented a temperature scale to measure things that are so cold that
their particles do not move at all, and everything, including air, freezes solid.
This temperature is 0 ° on Kelvin’s scale. He called this temperature ‘absolute
zero’. It is the same temperature as –273 ° degrees on the Celsius scale.
On the Kelvin scale, water freezes at 273 ° and boils at 373 °.
Only scientists use the Kelvin scale.

Cambridge Primary Science 6 – Fiona Baxter & Liz Dilley © Cambridge University Press 2021 2
 CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY SCIENCE 6 UNIT 2: MATERIALS: PROPERTIES AND CHANGES

Questions
1 Why do you think scientists needed to invent a temperature scale, instead of just
deciding if things were hot or cold?

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2 a Which instrument did Fahrenheit invent?

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b What do we use the instrument for?

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3 a How did Celsius first arrange his scale?

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b How did he later change it?

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c Which word in the reading tells you that he changed the scale?

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4 a Why did Kelvin invent the Kelvin scale?

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b What is ‘absolute zero’?

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5 a What similarity can you see in Kelvin’s and Celsius’s temperature scales?

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Cambridge Primary Science 6 – Fiona Baxter & Liz Dilley © Cambridge University Press 2021 3
 CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY SCIENCE 6 UNIT 2: MATERIALS: PROPERTIES AND CHANGES

b How are the two scales different?

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6 Which temperature scale do you think is easiest to use? Say why.

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7 The Celsius temperature scale is sometimes called by another name.
Find out what the other name is.

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Cambridge Primary Science 6 – Fiona Baxter & Liz Dilley © Cambridge University Press 2021 4