Penicillin

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/penicillin

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered Penicillin?September 3, 1928
2. How heavy is Penicillin?Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
3. What is the discoverer?Alexander Fleming
4. What is the class of antibiotic?Beta-lactam
5. What is penicillin and how was it discovered?Penicillin is a medicine that comes from a mold called Penicillium. Alexander Fleming found it in 1928 when he saw mold stop bacteria from growing in a petri dish.
6. Why is penicillin called a superhero medicine?It is called a superhero medicine because it can cure infections that used to kill many people, like pneumonia and wounds on soldiers during World War II.

Antibiotic Resistance: The ability of bacteria to survive exposure to antibiotics that would normally kill them.
Beta-lactamase: An enzyme produced by some bacteria that inactivates beta-lactam antibiotics like penicillin.
Peptidoglycan: A complex polymer that forms the primary structural component of bacterial cell walls.
Penicillin-Binding Proteins (PBPs): Bacterial enzymes that penicillin targets, crucial for cell wall construction.