4th Grade Science Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which example shows weathering breaking rock into smaller pieces?
A river carries loose sediment downstream.
A river drops sediment where it enters a lake.
Plant roots grow into a crack and slowly split a rock.
Melted rock cools and becomes solid.
2. Water droplets form on the outside of a cold glass. Where did most of this liquid water come from?
Oxygen in the air froze onto the glass.
Liquid water passed directly through the solid glass.
The glass changed into liquid water as it cooled.
Water vapor in the air cooled and condensed on the glass.
3. A class records the air temperature outside every hour to observe how it changes during the day. Which tool should the class use?
A rain gauge
A thermometer
A wind vane
An anemometer
4. A flagpole's shadow is shorter at noon than it was early in the morning. What is the best explanation?
The flagpole becomes shorter as the day gets warmer.
The Sun appears higher in the sky, so the light strikes the flagpole from a steeper angle.
The wind pushes most of the shadow into the ground.
Earth moves much closer to the Sun at noon.
5. Why does the Moon appear bright when viewed from Earth?
The Moon reflects light from the Sun.
The Moon produces light in the same way as the Sun.
Earth's oceans shine directly onto the Moon.
The Moon stores daylight and releases it at night.
6. What causes the regular change from day to night on Earth?
Earth travels around the Sun once each day.
Clouds move across the sky and block all sunlight at night.
The Sun travels around Earth once each day.
Earth rotates on its axis, turning different places toward and away from the Sun.
7. Maya wants to test whether bean plants grow taller with more sunlight. Which investigation gives her the fairest comparison?
Place similar plants in different light and measure one after a week and the other after a month.
Place one plant in sunlight and give it more water than the other plant.
Use two different kinds of plants and place both in the same sunlight.
Use similar plants with equal soil and water, but place them in different amounts of sunlight.
8. Which organs take oxygen from the air and move it into the blood?
The kidneys
The stomach
The lungs
The bones
9. Heavy rain is washing soil away from a bare hill. Which action would best reduce this erosion over time?
Remove the remaining plants from the hill.
Loosen the soil before each rainstorm.
Plant grasses whose roots can help hold the soil in place.
Pour additional water down the steepest part of the hill.
10. Two identical toy cars roll down the same ramp. The second car starts from a higher point. Why will it probably travel farther?
The higher starting point gives the car more energy of motion as it rolls down.
The higher starting point removes all friction from the wheels.
The higher starting point makes the car heavier.
The higher starting point causes gravity to stop acting on the car.
11. Which characteristic is usually inherited rather than learned?
The language a person speaks
The ability to ride a bicycle
A person's natural eye color
A person's favorite kind of music
12. An ice cube melts into liquid water on a plate. What happened to the ice cube?
It gained heat and changed from a solid to a liquid.
It lost heat and changed from a solid to a liquid.
It gained heat and changed from a liquid to a gas.
It became a different substance with new chemical properties.
13. A bulb, battery, and wires are connected, but the bulb does not light because one wire is disconnected. What change will most likely light the bulb?
Reconnect the wire so electricity has a complete path through the circuit.
Replace one wire with a piece of string.
Move the bulb farther away from the battery without reconnecting it.
Remove the battery from the setup.
14. Consider this food chain: grass → grasshopper → frog → hawk. If the number of grasshoppers suddenly decreases, which change is most likely to happen first?
The grass immediately disappears because nothing eats it.
The frogs have fewer grasshoppers available for food.
The frogs have more food available to them.
The hawks begin making their own food from sunlight.
15. What role do many fungi play in an ecosystem?
They act as pollinators that carry pollen between all flowers.
They act as producers that make food using sunlight.
They act as predators that hunt most living animals.
They act as decomposers that break down dead material.
16. Lena wants to find out whether a sheet of paper can block a magnet from attracting a paper clip. Which test is best?
Test one magnet with a paper clip, then test a stronger magnet without paper.
Keep the magnet the same distance from the clip, test without paper, and then place one sheet between them.
Move the magnet farther from the clip and add several sheets of paper at the same time.
Place paper between the objects but replace the paper clip with a plastic button.