Childrens Comprehension Test

Read through this little poem about the colour of the flame of different chemical elements. Try to pay close attention because at the end you will be asked some questions which you must answer trying not to look back at the text unless you have to!

The Colours of Chemistry

If barium burns with a flame apple green
And silver and gold shall always gleam
If lithium burns pink and strontium red
What colour will zinc burn, or tin - or lead?

If streetlights glow orange they cannot be
Formed of any of the aforementioned three
The colours of a flame hold an important key
When talking about a substances chemistry

If flames could tell a story as they burn
What useful information might we learn?
Flickering fingers flare fleetingly for
Once they oxygen's gone, the flame is no more.

Questions

Now try and answer these questions; if you can write the answers without referring back to the text but the most important element is to get them right.

1) Which three chemical elements can orange streetlights not be composed of?

2) What 'shall always gleam'?

3) Which science is mentioned in the poem?

4) Which line of the poem is alliterative?

5) What leads to the flame being no more?

Once you're done, check back against the text to see if you got the answers right.