full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Carrie Nugent: Adventures of an asteroid hunter

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I am holding something rklaaebmry old. It is older than any hmaun artifact, odelr than life on Earth, older than the continents and the oceans between them. This was formed over four billion years ago in the eerasilt days of the solar system while the pnaltes were still forming. This rsuty lump of nickel and iron may not appear special, but when it is cut open ... you can see that it is different from earthly metals. This partten reveals metallic crystals that can only form out in space where molten metal can cool extremely slowly, a few degrees every million years. This was once part of a much larger ocejbt, one of millions left over after the planets formed. We call these objects asteroids.

Open Cloze


I am holding something __________ old. It is older than any _____ artifact, _____ than life on Earth, older than the continents and the oceans between them. This was formed over four billion years ago in the ________ days of the solar system while the _______ were still forming. This _____ lump of nickel and iron may not appear special, but when it is cut open ... you can see that it is different from earthly metals. This _______ reveals metallic crystals that can only form out in space where molten metal can cool extremely slowly, a few degrees every million years. This was once part of a much larger ______, one of millions left over after the planets formed. We call these objects asteroids.

Solution


  1. object
  2. human
  3. earliest
  4. remarkably
  5. rusty
  6. planets
  7. older
  8. pattern

Original Text


I am holding something remarkably old. It is older than any human artifact, older than life on Earth, older than the continents and the oceans between them. This was formed over four billion years ago in the earliest days of the solar system while the planets were still forming. This rusty lump of nickel and iron may not appear special, but when it is cut open ... you can see that it is different from earthly metals. This pattern reveals metallic crystals that can only form out in space where molten metal can cool extremely slowly, a few degrees every million years. This was once part of a much larger object, one of millions left over after the planets formed. We call these objects asteroids.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
solar system 2
million years 2
study asteroids 2


Important Words


  1. artifact
  2. asteroids
  3. billion
  4. call
  5. continents
  6. cool
  7. crystals
  8. cut
  9. days
  10. degrees
  11. earliest
  12. earth
  13. earthly
  14. extremely
  15. form
  16. formed
  17. forming
  18. holding
  19. human
  20. iron
  21. larger
  22. left
  23. life
  24. lump
  25. metal
  26. metallic
  27. metals
  28. million
  29. millions
  30. molten
  31. nickel
  32. object
  33. objects
  34. oceans
  35. older
  36. open
  37. part
  38. pattern
  39. planets
  40. remarkably
  41. reveals
  42. rusty
  43. slowly
  44. solar
  45. space
  46. special
  47. system
  48. years