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One day Benjamin Franklin was eating dinner at the house of a friend. The lady of the house, when she poured out the coffee, found that it was not hot.

She said, "I am sorry that the coffee is cold. It is because the servant forgot to scour the coffeepot. Coffee gets cold more quickly when the coffeepot is not bright."

This set Franklin to thinking. He thought that a black or dull thing would cool more quickly than a white or bright one. That made him think that a black thing would take in heat more quickly than a white one.

He wanted to find out if this were true or not. There was nobody who knew, so there was nobody to ask. But Franklin thought that he would ask the sunshine. Maybe the sunshine would tell him whether a black thing would heat more quickly than a white thing.

But how could he ask the sunshine?

There was snow on the ground. Franklin spread a white cloth on the snow. Then he spread a black cloth on the snow near the white one. When he came to look at them, he saw that the snow under the black cloth melted away much sooner than that under the white cloth.

That is the way that the sunshine told him that black would take in heat more quickly than white. After he had found this out, many people got white hats to wear in the summer time. A white hat is cooler than a black one.

Some time when there is snow on the ground, you can take a white and a black cloth and ask the sunshine the same question.

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Directions

Study the lesson for one week.

Over the week:

  • Read the story multiple times.
  • Review the synopsis.
  • Study the vocabulary words.
  • Learn the concepts.
  • Complete the enrichment activities.
  • Study the review questions.

Synopsis

A woman remarked to Benjamin Franklin that coffee in a coffee pot cools more quickly if the pot is dull or dark. Franklin tested whether dark things cool more quickly than bright things. Franklin spread a white cloth on the snow. Next, he spread a black cloth next to the white cloth. Franklin waited and observed that the snow under the black cloth melted much sooner than the snow under the white cloth.

Vocabulary

Coffee Pot: A covered container with a spout, in which coffee is made or served.
Heat: The quality of being hot; high temperature. To make or become hot or warm.
Cool: Of or at a fairly low temperature. Become or cause to become less hot.
Sunshine: Direct sunlight unbroken by cloud, especially over a comparatively large area.

Concepts

When Franklin covered the snow with black and white cloths and measured how fast the snow melted, he performed a scientific experiment.

Facts about experiments:

  1. An experiment is a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.
  2. A hypothesis is a guess of what will happen.
  3. Franklin hypothesized that the snow under the black cloth would melt faster than the snow under the white cloth.
  4. The result of Franklin's experiment supported his hypothesis.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Narrate the Story

  • After reading or listening to the story, narrate the story events aloud using your own words.

Activity 2: Test the Story

  • Recreate Franklin's black cloth and white cloth experiment.
  • If snow is unavailable, use ice cubes or other frozen items in the place of snow.
  • On a sunny day, place two ice cubes outside directly in the sunlight.
  • Place a black cloth over one ice cube and a white cloth over the other.
  • Make a hypothesis and guess which ice cube will melt fastest.
  • Check the ice every few minutes.
  • Was your hypothesis correct? Which ice cube melts fastest and why?

Activity 3: Color the Story   

  • Click the crayon above, and complete page 14 of 'History Coloring Pages for First Grade.'

Review

Question 1

What did Franklin spread out on the ground?
1 / 3

Answer 1

He spread two cloths on the ground, one white and the other black.
1 / 3

Question 2

Which melted faster, the snow under the black cloth or the snow under the white cloth?
2 / 3

Answer 2

The snow under the black cloth.
2 / 3

Question 3

Why did the snow under the black cloth melt more quickly?
3 / 3

Answer 3

Dark things cool and heat more rapidly than light things.
3 / 3

  1. What did Franklin spread out on the ground? He spread two cloths on the ground, one white and the other black.
  2. Which melted faster, the snow under the black cloth or the snow under the white cloth? The snow under the black cloth.
  3. Why did the snow under the black cloth melt more quickly? Dark things cool and heat more rapidly than light things.

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