Geology & Meteorology
Abbreviated cu, these puffy, dense clouds are good for periods of shade
What is cumulus?
Any reptile with a bony shell encasing its body is one of these
What is a turtle?
11 is the atomic number of this silvery white chemical element with symbol Na
What is sodium?
The field of celestial mechanics studies the motions of heavenly bodies, principally under the influence of this force
What is gravity?
The ice on comets stays frozen beyond the solar system's "frost line", which lies close to the orbit of this 5th planet
What is Jupiter?
Traveling up to 5 miles per second, "P" waves are the faster of the 2 main waves associated with these seismic events
What are earthquakes?
In the classification of animals, this division comes between kingdom & class
What is phylum?
This symbol for the chemical element comes from the word for "iron" in Latin
What is Fe?
When 2 light nuclei combine to form a single heavier nucleus, it's called this process
What is fusion?
The Earth-centric theories of this astronomer of the 2nd century A.D. were largely taken as fact until the 1500s
Who is Ptolemy?
Oxygen makes up about 21% of Earth's atmosphere; this element dominates at 78%
What is nitrogen?
In mammals this muscle that aids in respiration separates the heart & the lungs from the abdominal cavity
What is diaphragm?
The atomic number of an element is determined by the number of these in one atom of it
What are protons?
Relatively cheap ferritic steel has the added advantage of having this "attractive" & useful quality
What is magnetism?
On this innermost planet, a solar day lasts twice as long as its year & is equal to about 176 earth days
What is mercury?
300 million years ago, a giant ocean called Panthalassa surrounded this landmass with the same first 3 letters
What is pangaea?
In 2016 NASA detected this key-to-life element in a comet's tail, suggesting that comets may have brought it to Earth
What is carbon?
It's the only elemental metal that's liquid at room temperature, which it can be used to measure
What is mercury?
He published the landmark treatise "Opticks" in 1704
Who is Isaac Newton?
Before his 1543 book begins, this man tells Pope Paul III, "I should, on the contrary, assert that the Earth moves"
Who is Copernicus?
With a high level of charged particles, this atmospheric layer that begins about 30 miles up makes radio possible
At the Natural Science Society in Brno in 1865, this amateur botanist lectured on his work in genetics
Who is Gregor Mendel?
The first people to use the term "atom" were the ancient Greeks & in their language, it refers to this quality
What is indivisibility?
In physics, it's a substance that technically can be gas or liquid & that conforms to the shape of the vessel holding it
What is a fluid?
This outermost region of the Sun's atmosphere is warmish--2 million kelvin
What is corona?