Questions for Silent Spring, Chapters 1-6                               Name   ________________
                                                                                                    Date  _________________
Science Standard
       Be able to explain that Rachael Carson’s book, Silent Spring, explained how pesticides were causing serious pollution and killing many organisms. Understand that it was the first time anyone had publicly shown how poisons affect anything in nature. Note in particular that the book detailed how the pesticide DDT had gotten into the food chain. Understand that as a result of Silent Spring, there are now hundreds  of national, state, and local laws that regulate pesticides.
 

Chapter 1    Chapter Title  _____________________________

1.    Why did the author title the book “Silent Spring”?

2.    Since you are deaf and cannot hear the sound of birds, how would you title the book? Explain why would you use the title you invented.

3.    In your own words, write about the ending of the 1st chapter? How does it end?

4.    “The people had done it themselves.” What does that mean to you?


Chapter 2  Chapter Title  _____________________________

1.    How does the Strontium 90 end up in human bones?

2.    Explain with your own words, “For time is the essential ingredient; but in the modern world there is no time.”

3.    How, do you think, would humans adapt to the changing environment?

4.    What approach does the author provide to deal with the pesticides?

5.    Why do we “allow the chemical train to fall as though there were no alternative whereas in fact there are many”?

6.    Make a list of words that end with “-cide” or with “-icide.”


Chapter 3   Chapter Title  _____________________________

1.    What are the harmful side effects of pesticides, including arsen? Explain what pesticides are.

2.    What is the similarity between “chlorinated hydrocarbons” and organic phosphorus insecticides”?

3.    What is the function of acetylcholine, the chemical transmitter?

4.    Weed killers, how are these misused? What are the negative side effects on plants, animals, including humans?

5.    What are elixirs of death? Choose one elixir of death and describe its harmful influence on the biosphere?

6.    How do the organic phosphorus insecticides work?


Chapter 4   Chapter Title  _____________________________

1.    How is our water polluted?

2.    How does the polluted groundwater put at risk our drinking water?

3.    What happened at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal of the Army Chemical Corps?

4.    What happened to the Great Lake in California? Explain the effects of insecticides on the water and the surrounding environment? How were the bigger animals contaminated? What was the poisoning chain like?



Chapter 5    Chapter Title  _____________________________

1.    What is the role of microbes in the soil?

2.    What is the importance of microbes in the soil?

3.    How do the insecticides impact the soil balance?

4.    How did the heptachlor destroy the soil?


Chapter 6   Chapter Title  _____________________________

1.    Why can human not live without the plants on Earth?

2.    How does the sage function?

3.    What kinds of relationship the sage has? What living organisms adjusted to its climate?

4.    What are the negative effects of the safe destruction?