Matter & Energy
What is a phase change?
What is a change from one state of matter to another.
What is tension?
What is a pulling force
What are green house gasses?
What is gases that trap heat in Earth's atmosphere
What is biodiversity?
What is a variety of living things in an ecosystem
What is a hypothesis?
An educated prediction based on prior knowledge
What is renewable energy? Give 2 examples.
What is an energy source that can be naturally replaced. Water + Wind + Sun
What is torsion?
What is a twisting force
What is permafrost?
What is permanently frozen ground
What is a producer?
What is a controlled experiment?
An experiment where only one variable is changed.
What is density?
What is the mass per unit volume of a substance.
What is elasticity
What is the ability to return to its original shape after being stretched or compressed
What is climate?
What is long term weather patterns of a region
What is abiotic and biotic? Give an example of both
Abiotic: non living
Biotic: living
What does it mean to investigate?
To conduct research or collect information.
A student places an empty metal can near a heater. After several hours, the can is slightly larger than it was before.
Using the Particle Model of Matter, explain what happened to the particles and why the size of the can changed.
The particles gained energy from heating. They moved faster and spread farther apart. Because the particles were farther apart, the metal expanded and the can became slightly larger.
A student squeezes a foam ball with their hand. The ball changes shape while it is being squeezed but returns to its original shape when released. What forces are being applied? Is the change elastic or plastic?
A community notices that forest fires are becoming more common than they were 30 years ago.
Explain how climate change may be contributing to this change.
Higher temperatures and drier conditions make forests easier to ignite and allow fires to spread more quickly.
A farmer decides to remove all predators from a field because they eat small animals. What would happen to the environment?
Prey populations could grow too large, disrupting food chains and reducing ecosystem balance and biodiversity.
A student wants to know whether the amount of sunlight affects plant growth. What is the independent and dependant variable?
A northern community currently uses diesel generators for electricity. Community leaders are considering switching to hydroelectric power.
Identify one advantage and one disadvantage of switching to hydroelectric power. Then explain whether you think the community should make the change.
Two students stand on skateboards facing each other. Student A pushes Student B. Both students move away from one another. Explain why this happens?
Both students move because forces act on both objects during the interaction. This demonstrates Newton's Third Law because every action force has an equal and opposite reaction force.
A northern community has noticed that winters are becoming warmer and the length of time that nearby lakes remain frozen is decreasing. What could they do to help out with climate change?
The community could help reduce climate change by planting more trees and using public transportation instead of driving whenever possible. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Using public transportation reduces the amount of fossil fuels burned by cars, which lowers greenhouse gas emissions. These actions can help slow climate change and reduce the impacts of warmer winters and shorter periods of ice cover on lakes.
Explain the process of photosynthesis in detail.
1. The plant draws up water and sunlight
2. The leaves take co2 and release o2
3. Sunlight gives chloroplasts energy to make sugar foodA group of students tests paper airplane designs. They change the wing size, paper type, airplane shape, and throwing force all at the same time. Is this a good experiment?
Too many variables were changed at once, making it impossible to know which variable caused the results.