Science Vocabulary

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Science Vocabulary

• Flashcards

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Acid Rain

• Rain that is polluted due to pollution and causes
  harm to plants and animals.

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Adaptation

• The ability of a plant or animal to change in
  order to survive

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Balance

• Everything working together in order to have a
  proper ecosystem

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Biomes

• Areas in the world with similar climates, animals
  and plants.

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Climate

• The average weather taken over a period of time

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Community

• the set of all populations that inhabit a certain
  area

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Competition

• When 2 or more animals fight for food, water, or
  shelter
• Occurs more with overpopulation

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Conservation

• Limiting the use of energy, water, etc. in order
  to protect the environment

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Consumers

• Animals that eat other plants and animals
• 3 types

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Decaying

• The process of decomposition after something dies
• Returns nutrients to the earth

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Decomposers

• Organisms that break down dead plants and animals
• Return nutrients to the earth

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Deserts

• A biome located near the equator with a very hot
  and dry climate

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Ecosystems

• An area where biotic factors (plants and animals)
  and abiotic factors (land) live and depend on
  each other

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Endangered Species

• A type of animal that is almost exztinct
• Caused by hunting, pollution, competition, etc.

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Energy

• Comes from the sun
• Helps plants and animals live and is transferred
  through the food web

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Environment

• all living and non-living things that occur
  naturally on Earth

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Extinct

• the death of every member of a species

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Food Chains

• The passing of energy through producers,
  consumers and decomposers

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Food Webs

• weaves together many food chains and shows the
  passing of energy from species to species

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Deciduous Forests

• A biome in which the weather and climate are
  temperate, there are 4 seasons and many types of
  plants and animals

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Grasslands

• Biome with large rolling hills and small animals
  adapted to hide in the grass

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Habitat

• A particular environment inhabited by similar
  species and plants

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Habitat Reduction

• The destroying of a habitat by humans
• Eliminates plants and animals

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Individual

• A single animal or plant as distinguished from a
  species, community, or group.

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Interdependence

• The dependence of every form of life on other
  living things and on the natural resources in its
  environment, such as air, soil, and water.

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Interaction

• Action on each other reciprocal action or effect
  .

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Latitude

• The angular distance north or south of the
  earth's equator, measured in degrees along a
  meridian, as on a map or globe.

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Limiting Factor

• An environmental factor that limits the growth,
  abundance, or distribution of a population of
  organisms in an ecosystem.

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Living Space
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Niche

• The function or position of an organism or
  population within an ecological community.

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Organisms

• An individual form of life, such as a plant,
  animal, or fungus a body made up of organs,
  organelles, or other parts that work together to
  carry on the various processes of life.

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Overpopulation

• Excessive population of an area to the point of
  overcrowding, depletion of natural resources, or
  environmental deterioration.

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Pollutants

• Something that pollutes, especially a waste
  material that contaminates air, soil, or water.

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Population

• A group of individuals of the same species
  inhabiting a given area.

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Predator

• An animal that lives by capturing and eating
  other animals.

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Prey

• An animal hunted and killed for food by another
  animal.

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Producer

• An organism that serves as a source of food for
  other organisms in a food chain. Producers
  include green plants, which produce food through
  photosynthesis.

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Ecosystem

• A system formed by the interaction of a community
  of organisms with their physical environment.

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Prairie

• An extensive area of flat or rolling grassland,
  especially the large plain of central North
  America.

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Marsh

• An area of soft, wet, low-lying land,
  characterized by grassy vegetation and often
  forming a transition zone between water and land.

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Desert

• A dry, often sandy region of little rainfall,
  extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation.

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Herbivores

• An animal that feeds only on plants such as cows,
  grasshoppers and deer.

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Carnivores

• An animal that feeds chiefly on the flesh of
  other animals. Carnivores include predators such
  as lions and alligators, and scavengers such as
  hyenas and vultures.

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Omnivores

• An animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable
  substances.

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Insecticide

• A chemical used to kill insects. Nearly all
  insecticides have the potential to significantly
  alter ecosystems many are toxic to humans and
  others are concentrated in the food chain.  

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Increase

• To make or become greater in size, degree, or
  frequency.

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Decrease

• To grow or cause to grow gradually less or
  smaller, as in number, amount, or intensity.

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Algae

• Plants which grow in water or moist ground, and
  which have no true stems, roots, or leaves.

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Plankton

• The small drifting plants and animals on the
  surface layer of a sea or lake that serve as food
  for fish and other larger organisms.

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Bacteria

• A large group of one-celled organisms that, in
  some cases, cause disease. They are the most
  abundant lifeforms on Earth, and are found in all
  living things and in all of the Earth's
  environments. Bacteria usually live off other
  organisms.

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Fungus/Fungi

• A plant without leaves, flowers, or roots, that
  reproduce by spores, including moulds, yeasts,
  and mushrooms.

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Condensation

• The stage of the water cycle in which water in
  vapor (gas) form cools and converts to liquid
  form.

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Evaporation

• The stage of the water cycle in which water in
  liquid form warms and converts to vapor (gas)
  form.

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Potential
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Precipitation

• Any form of water, such as rain, snow, sleet, or
  hail, that falls to the earth's surface.

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Polar Climate

• A climatic zone located in the polar latitudes
  marked by conditions too cold and harsh to
  support vegetation.

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Temperate Climate

• Characterized by moderate temperatures, weather,
  or climate neither hot nor cold.

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Erosion

• The wearing away of rocks or soil by the action
  of water, ice, or wind.

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Weathering

• Any of the chemical or mechanical processes by
  which rocks exposed to the weather undergo
  changes in character and break down.

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Dam

• A barrier constructed across a waterway to
  control the flow or raise the level of water.

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Delta

• The flat area at the mouth of some rivers where
  the main stream splits up into several branches .

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Sand Dune

• A ridge of sand created by the wind found in
  deserts or near lakes and oceans.

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Formation

• a series of rocks or clouds of a particular
  structure or shape

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Meander

• A stream consisting of successive meanders
  (curves or bends). Meandering streams develop in
  relatively flat areas, such as a floodplain.

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Valley

• An elongated lowland between ranges of mountains,
  hills, or other uplands, often having a river or
  stream running along the bottom.

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Glacier

• A huge mass of ice slowly flowing over a land
  mass, formed from compacted snow in an area where
  snow accumulation exceeds melting

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Plateau

• a usually extensive land area having a relatively
  level surface raised sharply above adjacent land
  on at least one side

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Tributaries

• A stream that flows into a larger stream or other
  body of water.

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Slope

• An elevated geological formation.

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Flood Plain

• A low plain adjacent to a river that is formed
  chiefly of river sediment and is subject to
  flooding.

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Submerged

• Beneath the surface of the water "submerged
  rocks.

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Disposing
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Aerial View

• A bird's-eye view is a view of an object from
  above, as though the observer were a bird, often
  used in the making of blueprints, floor plans and
  maps.

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Nutrients

• Any substance that can be metabolized by an
  animal to give energy and build tissue.

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Sea Breezes

• A wind from the sea that develops over land near
  coasts. It is formed by increasing temperature
  differences between the land and water which
  create a pressure minimum over the land due to
  its relative warmth and forces higher pressure,
  cooler air from the sea to move inland.

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Permafrost

• Permanently frozen soil, found in taiga and
  tundra
• Limits plant growth

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Reforestation

• The restocking of existing forests and woodlands
  which have been depleted with native tree stock.

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Reclamation

• Making land suitable for human use, usually
  through irrigation or drainage.

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Recycle

• to put a used substance through a particular
  process so that it is fit to use again (paper,
  plastic, metal)

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Survival

• A natural process resulting in the evolution of
  organisms best adapted to the environment.

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Tropical Rain Forest

• The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall
  trees in a region of year-round warmth.

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Tundra

• Any of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of
  the arctic regions

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Deciduous Forest

• Temperate deciduous forests are forests in cool,
  rainy areas they have trees that lose their
  leaves in Fall and re-grow them in Spring.

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Inertia

• The tendency of objects to keep doing what they
  are doing, whether it be moving or staying at rest

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Momentum

• The product of an objects mass and speed that
  affects the motion of an object
• The tendency of objects to keep doing what they
  are doing, whether it be moving or staying at rest

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Friction

• The resistance of a surface to relative motion,
  as of an object sliding or rolling over it

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Work

• Physical effort directed toward achieving some
  result labor

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Unbalanced force

• When two or more forces operate on a body and
  change the rest or the motion of that body

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Mass

• A measure of the quantity of matter in an object

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Simple Machines

• Any device that changes forces or directions of
  force

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Wheel

• Any machine having a circular shape

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Inclined Plane

• A simple machine used to raise or lower a load by
  rolling or sliding

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Wedge

• A piece of wood or metal in a three-dimensional,
  triangular shape with a thin edge that is forced
  between objects to split, lift, or reinforce them

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Screw

• A fastener driven into a surface by applying
  pressure to the head while turning it

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Lever

• Simple machine which has a bar and pivots (moves)
  around a fulcrum to move force from one point to
  another

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Axle

• A supporting bar or shaft on which a wheel or
  wheels turn

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Gear

• a part, as a disk, wheel, or section of a shaft,
  having cut teeth of such form, size, and spacing
  that they mesh with teeth in another part to
  transmit or receive force and motion.

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Pulley

• A wheel or set of wheels which grooved edges over
  which a rope or chain can be drawn in order to
  change the direction of a pulling force and allow
  you to lift more

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Compound Machine

• A device that combines two or more simple machines