The Match
Written by Studio AM.
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Before convenient matches, starting a household fire could take time and effort. Some families kept coals glowing overnight, banking them in ash so they burned slowly until morning. If the fire died, someone struck flint against steel over dry tinder; it could take many tries. Some families sent a child next door to carry home a live coal in a pan. Fire was borrowed like sugar.
In 1826, English chemist John Walker was experimenting with combustible mixtures. When he scraped a coated mixing stick against the hearth, the stick burst into flame. One quick pull had made fire. He developed the discovery into "friction lights" and began selling them in 1827. He did not patent them.
The match made a small flame easier to produce. A lamp could be lit the moment it grew dark, a stove the moment you grew hungry, with no coals to guard and no neighbor to ask. A family no longer had to rely on keeping yesterday's fire alive in order to start another.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What is the passage mainly about?
The answer is B: How the match turned fire from something kept alive into something made at will.
The passage contrasts preserving coals with producing a new flame using a match.
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Question 2 of 4
Why did households go to such trouble to keep a fire alive all night?
The answer is A: Starting a fire from nothing was harder than keeping one burning.
Keeping coals glowing saved the effort of starting a new fire with flint, steel, and tinder.
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Question 3 of 4
In this passage, "banking" most nearly means
The answer is D: covering coals in ash to keep them burning slowly
The sentence explains banking as covering coals with ash so they burn slowly through the night.
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Question 4 of 4
How did John Walker discover the friction match?
The answer is C: He scraped a paste-covered mixing stick against the hearth, and it caught fire.
The coated stick caught fire when he scraped it, during his experiments with combustible materials.
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