Tn Academic Vocabulary Eighth Grade Science Terms

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acceleration

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Pronunciation: ik-"sel-&-'rA-sh&n, ak-
Function: noun
1 : the act or process of accelerating : the state of being accelerated
2 : the rate of change of velocity with respect to time; also : change in velocity

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biome

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Pronunciation: 'bI-"Om
Function: noun
: a major type of ecological community <the grassland biome>

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Biotic and abiotic factors

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Biotic factors: living or having lived
Abiotic factors:non-living, never having lived

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Chemical equation

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group of symbols representing a chemical reaction.

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Continental drift and plate tectonics

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Continental drift refers to the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other.
Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων, tektōn "builder" or "mason") is a theory of geology that has been developed to explain the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's crust.

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Dichotomous key

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Identification of plants and animals in biology is frequently aided by using a dichotomous key, a (usually written) device constructed from a series of highly organized statements arranged into couplets.

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DNA

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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the development and functioning of living organisms.

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Dominant and recessive traits

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Dominant traits: Dominant traits are traits that always appear and that we see
Recessive traits: Recessive traits are traits that disappear or recede into the background and only show up in a few generations

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earthquake

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A movement within the Earth's crust or mantle, caused by the sudden rupture or repositioning of underground rocks as they release stress.

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Endo/exothermic

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Endothermic: Accompanied by the absorption of heat
Exothermic: describes a process or reaction that releases energy in the form of heat.

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Energy resources

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Coal, oil, gas, gas hydrates, geothermal, oil shale, uranium

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Genetic engineering

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Genetic engineering, genetic modification (GM) and gene splicing are terms for the process of manipulating genes, generally if the process is outside the organism's natural reproductive process.

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Genotype and phenotype

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The genotype is the specific genetic genome of an individual, in the form of DNA
Phenotype: The phenotype of an individual organism is either its total physical appearance and constitution or a specific manifestation of a trait, such as size, eye color, or behavior that varies between individuals.

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Genus and species

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Biology. A taxonomic category ranking below a family and above a species and generally consisting of a group of species exhibiting similar characteristics. In taxonomic nomenclature the genus name is used, either alone or followed by a Latin adjective or epithet, to form the name of a species.
Species: Biology.
A fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding.

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Gravitation (universal law)

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The mutual attraction between two masses.

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Igneous and metamorphic rocks

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Igneous rocks: Rock formed by the solidification of molten material that originated within the earth.
Metamorphic rocks: Sedimentary rocks which have undergone alteration, generally by the action of heat, subsequently to their deposition and consolidation.

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inertia

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The reluctance of a body to change its state of rest or of uniform velocity in a straight line. Inertia is measured by mass when linear velocities and accelerations are considered and by moment of inertia for angular motions (that is, rotations about an axis)

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Law of conservation of mass

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Naturally occurring solid element or compound, exclusive of biologically formed carbon components. Has definite composition or range of composition and orderly internal atomic arrangement (crystalline structure), which gives unique physical and chemical properties, including tendency to assume certain geometrical forms known as crystals.

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momentum

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Mass times velocity

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Monohybrid cross

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A monohybrid cross, in genetics, is the mating between two heterozygous individuals. Generally, dominant characteristics are represented with a capital letter, A, and recessive characteristics are represented by a lower case letter,

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mutation

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The act or process of being altered or changed.
An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.
Genetics.
A change of the DNA sequence within a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the parental type.
The process by which such a change occurs in a chromosome, either through an alteration in the nucleotide sequence of the DNA coding for a gene or through a change in the physical arrangement of a chromosome.
A mutant.

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Newton’s 3 laws of motion

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The three laws proposed by Sir Isaac Newton to define the concept of a force and describe motion, used as the basis of classical mechanics.

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pH

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The negative logarithm (base 10) of the hydrogen-ion activity. It denotes the degree of acidity or of basicity of a solution. At 25 degrees C, 7 is the neutral value. Acidity increases with decreasing values below 7, and basicity increases with increasing values above 7. ASM, 1

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Punnett square

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The Punnett square is a diagram designed by Reginald Punnett and used by biologists to determine the probability of an offspring having a particular genotype.

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Rock cycle

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A sequence of events involving the formation, alteration, destruction, and reformation of rocks as a result of such processes as magmatism, erosion, transportation, deposition, lithification, and metamorphism. A possible sequence involves the crystallization of magma to form igneous rocks that are then broken down to sediment as a result of weathering, the sediments later being lithified to form sedimentary rocks, which in turn are altered to

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speed

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Physics. The rate or a measure of the rate of motion, especially:
Distance traveled divided by the time of travel.
The limit of this quotient as the time of travel becomes vanishingly small; the first derivative of distance with respect to time.
The magnitude of a velocity.

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velocity

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Rapidity or speed of motion; swiftness.
Physics. A vector quantity whose magnitude is a body's speed and whose direction is the body's direction of motion.

The rate of speed of action or occurrence.
The rate at which money changes hands in an economy

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volcano

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Landform developed by accumulation of magmatic products near central vent.