Famous discoveries told as stories
Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 7 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 35 of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · wrong ✗
Leo: "Fleming made penicillin into a medicine the very next week". What's true?
- 1. It was never made into a medicine — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 2. Fleming made it from a bath sponge — score 3
- 3. Others took over ten years to make it a medicine — ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. He's right, it took just one week from dish to pill — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 35, line 6: «In 1928 Alexander Fleming noticed that mould on a forgotten dish killed bacteria; the mould made penicillin, and other scientists took over ten years to turn i…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «medicine» (+4); the same thing acted on «penicillin» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · right ✓
A cartoon alchemist turns a lead pipe into gold with a potion. What's true?
- 1. It works only with very old lead — score 3
- 2. It works if the potion is strong enough — no support
- 3. It works on a full moon only — no support
- 4. Chemistry cannot change lead into gold — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 7, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 35, line 12: «For centuries alchemists tried to turn lead into gold; they failed, because chemistry cannot change one element into another, but they invented many lab tools…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «change» (+4); the same doer «chemistry» (+4). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · wrong ✗
"Archimedes ran naked down the street shouting Eureka, that's history innit". What's true?
- 1. It is certain, it was filmed at the time — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It may be a legend; the water idea is real — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. He shouted it in English — no support
- 4. It never happened, and he had no bath — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · wrong ✗
If Mendeleev hadn't left gaps in his table, what would have been harder?
- 1. Naming oxygen and hydrogen — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Predicting elements nobody had found yet — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Writing on cards — no support
- 4. Counting up all of the known elements one by one — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · wrong ✗
A burnt log seems to "disappear" into a small pile of ash. What would Lavoisier say?
- 1. Burning makes matter vanish forever — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The rest went into the air as gas; nothing is lost — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. It really disappeared into nothing — no support
- 4. The ash weighs exactly the same as the log — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · right ✓
Gran: "fizzy drinks were invented by a drinks factory". Who really made the first soda water?
- 1. Joseph Priestley, a scientist — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
- 2. Mendeleev, with his cards — score 4
- 3. Alexander Fleming, by accident — score 4
- 4. Marie Curie, in Paris — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 35, line 10: «Joseph Priestley found how to put gas into water and made the first soda water, using gas from a brewery; he also discovered oxygen, as Carl Scheele did on his…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «make» (+2); the same doer «joseph» (+2); the same thing acted on «first soda water» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · right ✓
Miners long ago lit their way with open flames. Why was that so dangerous?
- 1. Open flames made the coal disappear — no support
- 2. The light scared the pit ponies away — no support
- 3. The flame could set off gas in the mine — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. The flames made the air too cold — no support
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 4, line 17: «A flame is glowing hot gas; its yellow light comes from tiny specks of hot soot.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «flame» (+3); the same thing acted on «hot gas» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · wrong ✗
"Rosalind Franklin got loads of credit for DNA right away". What's true?
- 1. She was the only one who worked on it — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. She got the Nobel Prize all by herself — no support
- 3. Her part was overlooked at first — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. She discovered penicillin as well — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · wrong ✗
Your mate: "rubber's always been bouncy and fine, nobody had to invent anything". What's true?
- 1. Rubber came from oil, so no change — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Before Goodyear rubber went sticky or cracked — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Rubber has never changed at all — no support
- 4. Rubber was invented in a factory — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · right ✓
Why is it worth telling the true story of a discovery, not just the legend?
- 1. The facts may differ from the famous tale — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. True stories are always shorter — no support
- 3. Only legends teach real science — no support
- 4. Legends are always completely true in every detail — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · right ✓
"Marie Curie's old notebooks are just paper, read them anywhere". What's true?
- 1. They are still radioactive and kept with care — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 2. They glow in the dark like torches — no support
- 3. They are ordinary paper, safe anywhere — no support
- 4. They were all burnt long ago — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 35, line 5: «Marie Curie discovered two new elements, polonium and radium, separating tiny amounts of them from tonnes of ore; her notebooks are still radioactive and are k…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2); the same doer «notebooks» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the substance whose discovery is attributed to the observation by Alexander Fleming of mould upon a neglected culture dish in 1928.
- 1. Oxygen — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Radium — no support
- 3. Soda water — no support
- 4. Penicillin — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the contribution of Antoine Lavoisier?
- 1. He photographed the structure of DNA — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He isolated polonium and radium from ore — no support
- 3. He demonstrated by weighing that matter is conserved in reactions — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. He arranged the elements upon cards into a table — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
It is given that Dmitri Mendeleev left vacant positions within his periodic table. Ascertain the purpose of the said vacancies.
- 1. To indicate elements known to be poisonous — no support
- 2. To separate metals from gases — no support
- 3. To mark elements discovered by alchemists — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 4. To accommodate elements not yet discovered — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 35, line 8: «Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the elements into the periodic table, left gaps for elements not yet found and predicted them; they were found later.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «find» (+2); the same thing acted on «elements» (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the endeavours of the alchemists.
- 1. They failed to transmute lead into gold but devised many laboratory techniques — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 2. They invented the miners' safety lamp — no support
- 3. They discovered the structure of DNA — no support
- 4. They succeeded in transmuting lead into gold — score 3
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 35, line 12: «For centuries alchemists tried to turn lead into gold; they failed, because chemistry cannot change one element into another, but they invented many lab tools…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «gold» (+4); the same thing acted on «lead» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2); a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chemistry/35-famous-discoveries-stories/