Beaty Andrea - Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants

OTHER BOOKS BY
ANDREA BEATY AND
DAVID ROBERTS

Iggy Peck, Architect

Rosie Revere, Engineer

Ada Twist, Scientist

Rosie Reveres Big Project Book for Bold Engineers

Iggy Pecks Big Project Book for Amazing Architects

Ada Twists Big Project Book for Stellar Scientists

Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters

Ada Twist woke to the smell of breakfast. She jumped out of bed and followed her nose to the kitchen where her father was cooking eggs with onions. He was also boiling two dozen eggs for egg salad.

There you are! he said. Hugs in a second. Eggs first!

Everyone knows that chickens come first! said Ada.

Her dad laughed. It was the same joke Ada made every time her dad cooked eggs for breakfast. They were being goofy, but the age-old question still made her wonder: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Someday, thought Ada, Ill do an experiment to find out!

Hugs come first over here! said Adas mom, who was sitting at the table by two coffee mugs.

Ada hugged her mother. The smell of her moms sweet perfume mingled with the bitter scent of steaming-hot coffee. The mix was one of the best smells in the world to Ada. She smiled.

My turn, said Mr. Twist, setting the bowl of eggs and onions on the table.

Ada took a step toward him but stopped suddenly. The strong, bitter aroma of coffee above her moms mug filled her nostrils. But her dads mug of coffee had no smell at all. Ada leaned closer and sniffed again.

Nothing.

Ada pulled out her notebook and jotted a question: Why does Moms coffee have a smell but not Dads?

Adas dad smiled and hugged her.

Did you already find a mystery before breakfast? he asked.

Ada grinned. Questions filled her mind as she looked at the coffee mugs. The day had just begun, and she already had a mystery to solve. As a scientist, nothing made her happier.

Ada pulled the tape measure out of her pocket. She always kept one handy. She measured the distance from her nose to the top of her mothers coffee mug. She bent closer and closer to the mug, sniffing, measuring, and taking notes. She could smell the coffee from her moms mug from twelve centimeters away. She repeated the steps with her dads coffee mug. But she could not smell anything from his mug until her nose was only four centimeters away. Even then, the scent was faint.

Your coffee is broken, Dad! said Ada. It doesnt smell!

Keep investigating, said Mrs. Twist. Youll figure it out.

Ada knew that using all her senses was a great way to gather data.

Ada looked carefully at the mugs. Steam rose over her moms mug like wispy smoke. Ada placed her right hand over the steam and her palm became damp. She placed her left hand over her dads mug. Her left hand stayed dry.

Finally, Ada touched her moms mug. It was hot. Her dads mug was icy cold and a little damp.

Zowie! said Ada.

Her dad laughed and picked up his mug and took a drink.

Its iced coffee, he said. But the ice melted so it looks like the hot stuff.

And speaking of hot, said Mrs. Twist, can we eat while our eggs are still hot stuff?

While Ada ate, more questions swirled around in her mind. What makes hot coffee hot? What makes steam? Why does it go up? Why was Dads mug damp on the outside? Why does hot coffee smell more than cold coffee? Do other things smell stronger when they are hot than when they are cold?

Every question gave her two more questions.

And each of those questions led her to four!

Just then, Adas brother, Arthur, came into the kitchen carrying his tennis racket and his tennis shoes. As he passed Ada, a toe-curling stink whacked her right in the nose.

Zowie! thought Ada.

An idea popped into her brain. She could do an experiment!

I wonder she said, and she tapped her chin.

A look of panic crossed Arthurs face. A similar look crossed her cat, Bunsen Burners, face. Bunsen darted out of the room. Arthur pointed at Ada.

Adas doing that tapping thing! said Arthur, who had seen that look on her face before.

It usually led to something messy happening.

Or worse.

Hey, Arthur! Ada said eagerly. Do you want to help me do some science?

No! said Arthur. And dont use my stuff! Remember what Mom and Dad said?

Arthur loved his sister and he loved science experiments, too. But he didnt love Adas experiments when they used his stuff. He was still getting pudding out of his Lego blocks from the time Ada tested what made things sticky. After that, his parents made rules about how Ada could conduct her experiments, but sometimes she forgot. Rule No. 1 was: Dont take Arthurs things without his permission.

Of course, I remember, said Ada. I wrote it down. See?

Ada flipped open her notebook and held it up for him.

I always write down important things so I wont forget, Ada said.

Arthur frowned and plopped into a chair. As he ate his breakfast, he watched Ada warily. But Ada was too busy working to notice. She scribbled notes and grinned. She loved having a question to explore. It was a mystery! A riddle! A puzzle! A quest! This was the moment that Ada loved best.

It was science time!

Ada spent the next two hours reading her science books. She needed to know more about air and gases and about heat and smells. Research helped her understand what scientists had already figured out. It gave her some answers to her questions and then led to other questions to explore.

AIR! Whats Up with That?
by Dr. Penelope H. Dee, PhD

Air is the clear gas that surrounds the Earth. It is a mix of many other gases, dust particles, and water molecules. Most of air is nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and other trace gases, including carbon dioxide and helium, which make up less than a tenth of 1%.