Nature of Science
A scientist wants to test if changing the amount of daily sunlight affects the height of a tomato plant. In this experiment, what is the independent variable?
The amount of daily sunlight.
f you place a cold metal spoon into a hot bowl of soup, describe the direction that thermal energy travels between the two objects.
Thermal energy travels from the hot soup to the cold spoon (from hot to cold)
What celestial object has the single greatest influence on driving global weather patterns, ocean currents, and climate conditions on Earth?
the sun (solar energy)
Which structural layer of the Earth is the thinnest, forms our outer surface, and is broken up into the moving pieces we call tectonic plates?
Crust (lithisophere)
What fundamental universal force is responsible for holding planets in their orbits around the Sun, keeping moons orbiting planets, and binding stars together inside galaxies?
gravity
What question should a scientist ask themselves to figure out what the dependent variable is in an experiment?
"What am I measuring or observing as a result of the change?"
"What is the data being collected?"
Describe what happens to both the kinetic energy and the overall spacing of molecules when a liquid is cooled down until it freezes into a solid.
The kinetic energy decreases (molecules slow down), and the molecules come closer together
You are building a model of local coastal winds. If the air above the ocean is cool and sinking, while the air over the beach is warm and rising, what type of local breeze is created?
A sea breeze (winds blowing from the sea toward the land)
Alfred Wegener compiled fossil and rock evidence showing that all continents were once joined in a supercontinent called Pangaea. Why did the scientific community initially reject his hypothesis of Continental Drift?
He could not explain or prove the physical mechanism/process that was strong enough to move giant solid landmasses across the ocean floor.
(he could not prove convection currents at the time)
Contrast the structural composition (what they are made of) and size (large vs. small) of the Inner Planets with the Outer Planets of our solar system.
Inner planets are small and made of rock (terrestrial), while outer planets are large and composed mostly of gases/ice (gas giants)
A student writes down the following observation during a lab: "The liquid turned a bright blue color and began to bubble." Is this an example of quantitative or qualitative data, and why?
Qualitative data, because it describes characteristics/properties using descriptive words rather than numbers.
A block of an unknown substance with a density of 3 g/cm3 is placed in water. Will the block sink or float in the water (water's density is 1 g/cm3)?
sink, 3 g/cm3 is more dense than 1 g/cm3
If a high-pressure system moves into your town tomorrow morning, what kind of weather conditions should you tell your classmates to expect?
Clear, sunny, and fair skies
What is the driving process responsible for moving Earth's tectonic plates, and in which specific layer of the mantle does it take place?
convection currents; asthenosphere
If an astronaut travels from Earth to Mars, which property will change due to the weaker gravity of Mars, and which property will remain exactly the same because the physical amount of matter hasn't changed?
Their weight will change; their mass will remain exactly the same.
If you need to precisely measure exactly 45 mL of water for an experiment, which scientific tool should you use, and what unit will it read?
graduated cylinder, milliliters (mL)
Inside a lava lamp, what causes the wax at the bottom to rise toward the top? Explain using the terms temperature and density.
The heat source warms up the wax at the bottom; as its temperature increases, the molecules spread apart, making the wax less dense than the surrounding liquid so it rises.
Why do coastal cities usually experience milder, less extreme temperature changes between day and night compared to inland deserts?
HINT: Explain by describing how land heats up differently than water
Land heats up and cools down much faster than water; water holds onto its heat longer, which stabilizes the temperature of nearby coastal areas.
When a dense oceanic plate collides with a less-dense continental plate, what specific geological process occurs, and what structural feature is formed at the bottom of the ocean floor? What is likely to form on land?
Subduction occurs (the oceanic plate sinks beneath the continental plate), forming a deep-ocean trench. A volcano is likely to form on land.
A small space rock survives its hot and burning trip through Earth's atmosphere and slams directly into the ground. What specific vocabulary term do astronomers use to classify this rock after it impacts the surface?
meteorite
In an experiment testing how different water temperatures affect how fast a sugar cube dissolves, list at least two variables that must be kept constant to ensure a fair test.
amount of water
size/mass of the sugar cube
type of cup
amount of stirring
In the chemical equation 2 H2 + O2 --> 2 H2O, what are the starting substances called, and what has to happen to form a new substance?
They are the reactants; a chemical change occurred because the original chemical bonds broke and the atoms rearranged to form an entirely new substance (H2O) with different properties.
Explain how air moves to create wind in terms of temperature, density, and pressure differences.
Warm air is less dense and rises, creating an area of low pressure. Cold air is denser and sinks, creating high pressure. Wind is created when cooler, high-pressure air rushes in to replace the rising, low-pressure warm air.
How do divergent plate boundaries differ from transform plate boundaries in terms of how the plates interact and what happens to Earth's crust?
At divergent boundaries, plates pull away from each other and form new crust (mid-ocean ridges); at transform boundaries, plates slide past each other horizontally, neither creating nor destroying crust - only causing earthquakes.
Explain the difference between Earth's rotation and Earth's revolution, noting what cycles/time period each motion is responsible for causing.
Rotation is the earth spinning on its axis, causing night/day (takes 24 hours)
Revolution is the earth orbiting around the Sun. When combined with the tilt of the axis it takes 365 days