NCERT Class 10 English – Footprints Without Feet – Chapter 5: Footprints without Feet
Exercise Questions: Short Answers & Simple Explanations
Q1. How did the invisible man first become visible?
Answer: He became visible after wearing clothes.
Explanation: Griffin put on clothes, a hat, dark glasses, and bandages, which made his body appear normal again.
Q2. Why was he wandering the streets?
Answer: Because he was invisible and had no home or money.
Explanation: After leaving the lab, Griffin had nowhere to live and roamed aimlessly.
Q3. Why does Mrs Hall find the scientist eccentric?
Answer: He kept to himself, avoided conversation, and paid in advance.
Explanation: His strange appearance and secretive behaviour made Mrs Hall suspicious.
Q4. What curious episode occurs in the study?
Answer: Money was stolen from the clergyman’s desk with no one visible.
Explanation: Griffin, being invisible, took the money without being seen.
Q5. What other extraordinary things happen at the inn?
Answer: Furniture moved on its own and people heard strange voices.
Explanation: Griffin’s invisible presence caused these strange events, shocking the villagers.
Q6. “Griffin was rather a lawless person.” Comment.
Answer: He used his powers for theft and trouble.
Explanation: Instead of helping people, Griffin misused his invisibility for crime.
Q7. How would you assess Griffin as a scientist?
Answer: Brilliant but misdirected.
Explanation: Griffin discovered invisibility but used it for selfish and harmful purposes.
Q8. Would you like to become invisible? What advantages and disadvantages do you foresee, if you did?
Answer: No, because it can lead to misuse and isolation.
Explanation: Invisibility might give freedom but also cause problems in living a normal life.
Q9. Are there forces around us that are invisible, for example, magnetism? Are there aspects of matter that are ‘invisible’ or not visible to the naked eye? What would the world be like if you could see such forces or such aspects of matter?
Answer: Yes, forces like gravity, air, and magnetism are invisible.
Explanation: If we could see them, the world would look completely different and full of moving energy patterns.
Q10. What makes glass or water transparent (what is the scientific explanation for this)? Do you think it would be scientifically possible for a man to become invisible, or transparent?
Answer: Light passes through glass and water without scattering much.
Explanation: Making a man invisible would be extremely difficult, but science fiction often imagines such possibilities.