Matter & Energy
The amount of matter in an object that doesn’t change, no matter where you are in the universe.
What is mass?
The force that pulls objects toward Earth’s center.
What is gravity?
This short-term condition of the atmosphere includes rain, sun, and wind.
What is weather?
These cracks in the Earth’s surface are where most earthquakes happen.
What are faults?
This jelly-like material inside cells holds the organelles in place.
What is cytoplasm?
A prediction you make before testing an experiment.
What is a hypothesis?
What is the chemical formula for water?
H2O
The type of energy you feel as heat and can’t see, even though it's emitted by the Sun.
What is infrared radiation?
This invisible force can attract or repel objects without touching them.
What is magnetism?
The Earth sphere that includes all the water—liquid, solid, and vapor.
What is the hydrosphere?
The process that breaks down rocks using wind, water, or ice.
What is weathering?
These tiny green structures in plant cells help them make food using sunlight.
What are chloroplasts?
The variable in an experiment that the scientist changes on purpose.
What is the independent variable?
What is the name of the table that organizes all known elements?
What is the Periodic Table?
This explains why a bowling ball has more mass than a beach ball, even if they’re the same size.
What is density
When forces on an object are equal and opposite, this is the result.
What is no motion or constant motion (balanced forces)?
The stage in the water cycle where liquid water turns into water vapor.
What is evaporation?
This type of rock forms when melted rock cools and solidifies.
What is igneous rock?
The three main parts of the cell theory.
What is: all living things are made of cells; cells are the basic unit of life; all cells come from other cells?
These help scientists test ideas, often when real-world testing isn’t possible.
What are models?
What is the smallest particle of an element that still has that element’s properties?
What is an atom?
The process where electrical energy turns into light and thermal energy in a lightbulb.
What is energy transformation (or energy conversion)?
The total force acting on an object when all individual forces are combined.
What is net force?
The type of heat transfer that moves energy through air or water currents.
What is convection?
The theory that explains why continents move and earthquakes occur.
What is plate tectonics?
The system scientists use to group living things based on shared characteristics.
What is classification (or taxonomy)?
An explanation supported by evidence that can change with new data.
What is a scientific theory?
Which part of the atom has a positive charge?
What is a proton?
A change that creates a new substance with different properties, unlike melting or boiling.
What is a chemical change?
These repeating disturbances move energy through solids, liquids, gases, or even space.
What are waves?
The fast-moving air current in the atmosphere that influences weather patterns.
What is the jet stream?
This part of Earth’s interior is made of hot, flowing rock and causes plate movement.
What is the mantle?
This process explains how traits that help survival become more common in a species over time.
What is natural selection?
This ensures that scientific results are valid and not just a one-time event.
What is replication (or repeating the experiment)?
What do we call a pure substance made of only one kind of atom?
What is an element?