Rocks & Minerals
This mineral, made of silicon dioxide, is the most abundant mineral in Earth’s continental crust.
What is quartz?
This type of bond forms when atoms share pairs of electrons.
What is a covalent bond?
This is the closest star to Earth other than the Sun.
What is Proxima Centauri?
This quantity, equal to mass times velocity, describes an object’s motion and is conserved in collisions.
What is momentum?
These plant structures regulate gas exchange by opening and closing on leaf surfaces.
What are stomata?
This green mineral, often used in jewelry, is the gem variety of the mineral olivine.
What is peridot?
This gas is produced when acids react with carbonates, such as vinegar with baking soda.
What is carbon dioxide?
This constellation contains the North Star at the end of its “handle.”
What is Ursa Minor?
This fundamental force is carried by photons and governs electric and magnetic interactions.
What is electromagnetism?
This cellular structure contains digestive enzymes that break down waste materials.
What is a lysosome?
This metamorphic rock forms from shale under moderate heat and pressure and is characterized by its wavy, layered texture.
What is schist?
The atomic number of an element tells you the number of these particles in its nucleus.
What are protons?
These dense remnants of massive stars are so compact that a teaspoon of their material would weigh billions of tons.
What are neutron stars?
This principle explains how airplanes generate lift: as airspeed increases, pressure decreases.
What is Bernoulli’s principle?
This molecule carries the genetic code from DNA to ribosomes during protein synthesis.
What is mRNA?
This mineral scale ranks hardness from 1 to 10, with talc at the softest and diamond at the hardest.
What is the Mohs hardness scale?
This law states that mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.
What is the Law of Conservation of Mass?
This term describes the shadowed region behind a planet where the Sun’s light is completely blocked during an eclipse.
What is the umbra?
This type of energy is stored when an object is stretched or compressed, like in a spring.
What is elastic potential energy?
This process creates genetically identical offspring from a single organism without gamete fusion.
What is asexual reproduction?
This type of igneous rock forms when magma cools rapidly at or near the Earth’s surface, resulting in very small crystals.
What is extrusive (or volcanic) igneous rock?
This class of substances tastes bitter, feels slippery, and has a pH greater than 7.
What are bases?
This law states that the square of a planet’s orbital period is proportional to the cube of its distance from the Sun.
What is Kepler’s Third Law?
This effect causes light to bend when it travels around a massive object, predicted by Einstein’s general relativity.
What is gravitational bending or gravitational lensing?
This system of the brain coordinates balance, posture, and fine motor control.
What is the cerebellum?