Bechtel, Joshua R
- Kernersville Middle School
- Vocabulary
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Freshwater Vocab
Vocab Words for Water
Hydrosphere- all the water found on, above and under Earth’s surface
Estuary- A place where freshwater from a river meets and mixes with salt water from the ocean
Turbidity- a measure of how clear the water is
Reservoir- A natural or artificial lake that stores water for human use
River basin/watershed- an area of land that drains into a stream, river, lake, or other body of water
Dissolved gases- to become part of a liquid that is unseen but present in the liquid, such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide
pH- a measure of how acidic or how basic a liquid is
Nitrates- are the chemicals found in fertilizes, pesticides, and food preservatives; not good for water if water contains high amounts of it
Phosphates- are the chemicals found in some house hold cleaners, not good for water if the water contains high amounts of it
Bio-indicators- an organism used to monitor the health of a river, based on tolerant and intolerant organisms
Universal Solvent- a liquid that will dissolve anything with a charge (polarity)
Ground water - water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock
Potability – water that is fit or suitable for drinking
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Earth History Vocab
Geology Evolution Vocab
- Relative Dating/Age – the age of a rock or fossil when compared to another rock or fossil
- Absolute Dating/Age – the actual age of a rock or fossil, or how long ago it formed
- Law of Superposition – in undisturbed layers of sedimentary rocks, older layers of rock beneath younger rock layers
- Radioactive Dating – a way to measure the age of a material by comparing the amount of decayed radioactive element present in the item
- Half-Life – the amount of time required for half of the radioactive material to decay in an item
- Geology – the study of Earth’s history, processes, and structures
- Geologic time scale – a timeline that organizes major events in the Earth’s history
- Fossil – the preserved remains or evidence of an organism that lived in a past age
- Index fossil – a fossil that is useful for dating geologic layers because the organism only lived for a short period of time
- Ice core – a cylinder of ice removed from an ice sheet
- Intrusion- the forcing of molten rock into an earlier rock formation
- Extrusion – rock formation form when weathering erodes newer rock, exposing older rock
- Fault – a break or crack in the Earth’s surface along which movement occurs
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Alternative Energy Vocab
Alternative Energy Vocabulary
Biomass - any material from living things that can be used as an energy source
Energy - the ability to make things move or change
Geothermal energy - heat energy from within earth that can be used to heat buildings and produce electricity
Hydropower - the energy of moving water
Nonrenewable energy resource - a source of energy that is used much faster than it can be replaced by nature
Nuclear energy - energy stored in the nucleus of an atom
Renewable energy resource - a source of energy that can be replaced by nature as it is used or that cannot be used up
Solar battery - a device that stores electrical energy produced by a solar cell during the day
Solar energy - energy from the sun
Solar reflector - a device that gathers sunlight and reflects it onto fluid-filled pipes
Stewardship - the following of practices that protect earth's resources
Thermal energy - the energy of the moving particles that make up all matter
Wind energy - the energy of moving air
Photovoltaic cell - a device that can change light energy into electricity; also called a solar cell
Fossil fuels - a source of energy that formed from the remains of organisms that lived millions of years ago
Global warming - a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants.