Vocabulary
This word means "to remove something completely" — Canada did it to the penny.
Eliminate
Complete the Third Conditional: If you ______ (stand) under the pile of money, you would have been crushed.
Had stood
The total estimated amount of physical cash in the world right now
Over $10 Trillion
True or False: Most wealth is physical money.
❌
The fictional duck who swims in a giant room full of gold.
Scrooge McDuck
A synonym for "riches" or "assets" — most of the world's is not physical cash.
Wealth
Complete with the correct modal: He ______ (can / avoid) the wave of coins if he had built a wall.
Could have avoided
The weight of more than 200 billion US pennies (in tons).
Over 500,000 tons
Name two types of non-physical wealth mentioned in the text
Land, houses, bank accounts, businesses, intellectual property, cryptocurrency
The height comparison used for the pile of cash.
Taller than the Statue of Liberty 🗽
The thick, sweet liquid involved in the 1919 Boston disaster.
Molasses
Complete the Conditional: If he ____(invent) the money spell earlier, he ______ (be) rich now
Had invented/ would be
What happened in Boston in 1919?
IYKYK
Why wouldn’t owning all the cash necessarily help you?
You couldn’t spend it yourself
What would happen to you when the coin pile collapses?
You’d be engulfed and killed by a wave of coins
This verb means "to give someone money or a gift to influence their decision illegally."
Bribe
Use inversion for emphasis: Never ______ (people / agree) on one single version of money.
Have people agreed
What percentage of the pile’s weight comes from US coins and bills?
20%
Explain in your own words why "money is an idea."
Its value depends on people agreeing it has value
One way to try to survive the collapse of the money pile.
Build a wall to contain the coins before summoning them
A legal rule that determines how buildings can be constructed — mentioned in NYC context
Building code
Complete with the correct tense and voice: By the time the coins collapsed, the wall ______ (already / build)
Had already been built
What is the most expensive thing you owe? 🤡
💪🏻
What problem could be worse than death according to the text?
Building code violation
How does the molasses flood relate to the money scenario?
Both create fast, destructive waves that sweep everything away