MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills (01) Practice Test

Communication and Literacy Skills (01) Practice Test: ReadingRead the passage below, written in the style of a college science textbook.Then answer the five questions that follow.Wind Chill1 Life in a cold climate gets considerablycolder whenever the wind blows. Even a lightwind can take the pleasure out of a walk on asunny winter day. At such moments, the windseems to blow away all the sun's warmth.Known as wind chill, this cooling sensationmakes the air feel more frigid than it actuallyis. The reason for this phenomenon is thatthe wind is blowing away body heat, therebycreating an effective temperature that is indeedcolder for living organisms than what thethermometer reads.2 On a calm day, the human bodycan partially insulate itself from coolertemperatures around it by warming up alayer of air next to the skin. This is calledthe boundary layer. When the wind blows,it pulls the "boundary layer" away from thebody; it also evaporates any moisture on theskin, which draws additional heat from thebody. In warm weather, this can bringwelcome, if temporary, relief from the heat.But on a cold day, wind chill can causeextreme discomfort and might even becomedangerous if one's body temperature dropstoo low.3 The speed of the wind is the maindeterminant of the chill's intensity. Whencombined with air temperature and the amountof heat lost by one square meter of skin in anhour, wind speed can be used to calculate the"wind chill factor." This is the effectivetemperature that a person feels on a windyday. As data presented in the accompanyingchart illustrate, the faster the wind blows, thecolder the air will feel striking the bare skin ofpeople exposed to it.4 It must be emphasized that wind changes aperson's "sensible temperature," not the actualtemperature of the air. An individual standingin wind feels colder than a person protectedfrom the wind because the person in thewind loses body heat more rapidly. It is thesensation caused by the loss of body heat thatis the wind chill. Thus, only living beingsthat generate and lose body heat experiencewind chill. A car or a lamppost outdoors ona cold, windy day will cool only to the actualtemperature indicated by the thermometer, andnot to the temperature created by the windchill.5 In a cold climate, it is very importantthat people know the wind chill factor whenplanning to be outdoors for any length of time.The wind chill speeds up the rate at which thebody loses heat; heat loss, in turn, can resultin life-threatening conditions such ashypothermia and frostbite. A howling windon a frigid day can be especially dangerous fortall, slim people, who lose heat much morerapidly than shorter, heavier people do. Buteveryone should be aware of the risks and takeappropriate steps to guard against the effectsof extreme wind chill. This means dressingwarmly in clothing designed to protect theboundary layer and keep in the heat.21