Put Yourself in This Scene
A group of friends heads to the nearby state

how hard they would hit the water. They

park on a hot summer day. The lake there

know that the energy with which they hit the

has a swimming area with a lifeguard. It’s the

water has something to do with mass and

perfect place to cool off. The swimming area

the way gravity makes things increasingly

has a floating platform with diving boards,

gain speed as they fall toward Earth. But how

too. The deck of the platform is about three

a body hits the water seems to be important,

feet above the surface of the water. The low

too, at least in terms of whether or not it

diving board is about five feet above the

hurts. Will Arya, at 100 pounds, really hit the

water.

water with less energy than Julian at 120?

“Come on, let’s bounce off
the diving board. I’m so hot.
I can’t wait,” says Julian.
“I think I’m just going to
jump off the deck,” says
Arya, who tends to be more
cautious than Julian. “I don’t
want to slap the water that
hard.”
“What difference does it
make?” replies Julian. “The
water’s plenty deep. You’re
lighter than I am, anyhow, so
you won’t hit the water hard
even if you aren’t the most
graceful diver.”
The two friends debate the
different factors at play in

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They’re still talking it over when a third voice

think about science topics that you read or

chimes in, from atop the high dive. “You guys

hear about. Our world has 24–7 news, social

are ridiculous. I’m going to jump from up here!” media, and too may websites to count. The
Reggie is perched atop the high dive, a good
twelve feet above the surface of the water.
“It’s not a problem,” he proclaims. “At any
of these heights, there’s no real difference
in how hard any of us will hit the water. Just
jump in however you want. You’ll be fine.”

amount of information we must sort through
is overwhelming, and all the information
is not reliable. In the internet age, sources
of information are often obscure or not
trustworthy. It is good to process information
with a healthy degree of skepticism.

Reggie always needs to be the one that takes We will make our way back to the topic of
things just a bit higher, faster, and farther

diving by the end of the book. Along the

than everyone else. He makes his jump—and

way, the series of reading selections and

an impressive splash when his 85-pound

the writing exercises that go with them

cannonball smacks the water.

will help you flex your mental muscles and

Who’s right? What factors really are in play
here? Is it about distance? Mass? Or does a
painless jump have more to do with the shape
the diver takes as the body enters the water?

sharpen your science literacy skills. The
ability to read about science, understand
the information, and tell truth from fallacy
or misrepresentation is important. Science
literacy helps you as an individual and as a

That’s what this book is about—scientific

consumer, and it shapes the ways you affect

literacy, which means knowing how to

the community in which you live.
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