fcat science vocabulary

FCAT Science Vocabulary

Valerie Ledford Moss Park Elementary

June 2007

Ecosystem Vocabulary

• Life cycle- The circular path that life takes from being born to dying

• Protist- A single cellular organism that is the base of the food chain in an aquatic biome

• Organism- A living thing


• Photosynthesis- The process where green plants use carbon dioxide (which humans breathe out) to produce sugars as food and oxygen as a by product (which humans breathe in)

The process….CO2 + sunlight + nutrients from soil = sugar + oxygen


• Ecosystem- An area with specific climate and environmental factors to have a specific set of organisms that live there

• Population- A specific group of organisms living in one area at one time


• Food Chain- A simple version of what eats what in an ecosystem- this is a transfer of energy to the organism that the arrow is pointing to


• Food Web- A web that shows the flow of energy in an ecosystem by showing what organism eats what


• Energy Pyramid- A pyramid that represents the amount of energy at each level of a food chain


• Predator- An animal that hunts and kills food

• Prey- An animal that is hunted

• Carnivore- An animal that kills and eats meat


• Herbivore- An organism that only eats plant matter

• Omnivore- An organism

that eats both meat and plant matter

Ecosystem Vocabulary • Producer- A green plant that

produces food through photosynthesis

• Consumer- An organism that eats another organism for food (everything but green plants)

• Decomposer- An organism that gets energy by breaking down dead or decaying matter and returning the nutrients to the soil


• Structural Adaptation- A physical trait of an animal that helps them survive (like wings or sharp teeth)

• Behavioral Adaptation- A behavior that helps the animal survive (like flying south for the winter to escape bad weather)

Earth Vocabulary • Water Cycle- The cycle of water from precipitation,

evaporation, and condensation and back again

• Precipitation- Liquid coming from the clouds in rain, snow, sleet, etc.

• Condensation- When liquid begins to collect together in clouds and changes from a gas to a liquid again

• Evaporation- The upward movement of liquid as it turns to gas

Earth Vocabulary

Earth Vocabulary

• Pollution- Placing unnatural materials in an area and affecting the populations in the area

• Conservation- Saving natural resources

Earth Vocabulary

• Igneous Rock- Rock made by cooled magma from volcanic lava

• Sedimentary Rock- Rock made by layers of rock

• Metamorphic Rock- Another type of rock turned into a metamorphic rock by extreme heat and pressure

Earth Vocabulary

• Erosion- The process where water wears away at rock and carries it to another area

• Deposition- The process where the eroded material is deposited

• Weathering – The process where wind, water, chemicals, etc. break down rock but does not move it

Earth Vocabulary

• Volcano- An earth process where lava seeps up from inside the earth and shoots out of an area of built up rock

• Earthquake- A process where the plates on the earth’s surface slide against one another producing movement on land or water

Physical Science Vocabulary

• Matter- Anything that takes up space

• Element- The basic building blocks of matter

• Atom- Smallest piece of an element that has the same properties as the element


• Density- How tightly packed molecules are in matter

• Mass- The amount of space an object takes up; Is often determined by weighting the object, however, weight requires taking gravity into account

• Volume- The amount of space within an object


• Compound- Formed of multiple elements and cannot be separated simply

• Mixture- Matter gets mixed together but can be separated (ex. cereal)

• Solution- A liquid mixture


• Physical Change- When a change happens to matter that changes the way it looks but keeps it the same matter (cutting a cake )

• Chemical Change- This type of change changes the matter (baking a cake- the ingredients mix to form a new substance)

Force and Motion Vocabulary

• Force- A push or pull that creates movement

• Gravity- A force that the Earth exerts that pulls things toward the Earth

• Friction- A force caused by rubbing; it transforms movement into heat energy

• Inertia- The tendency of any object to resist motion


• Wheel and Axle- Made of a circular object and a bar that reduces the force required to do work

• Inclined Plane- Basically a ramp

Energy Vocabulary

• Energy- The ability to do work or cause a change in motion

• Kinetic Energy- Energy of motion; An object has this if it is moving

• Potential Energy- Energy stored in an object because of position or a spring

Energy Vocabulary • Energy Transfer- The change from one form of

energy to another (ex. transferring the chemical energy in a battery to light energy when you turn on the flashlight)

• Change of State- Adding or removing heat energy to change an object from a solid to a liquid , a gas to a liquid, a liquid to a solid, etc.

• Heat Energy- The amount of movement in an object’s molecules

Energy Vocabulary

• Chemical Energy- Energy stored in the bonds of molecules; Can be released by digestion or adding heat

• Mechanical Energy- Energy of motion

Space Vocabulary

• Galaxy- A huge system of stars, dust, and gas held together by gravity (We are in the Milky Way galaxy)

• Solar System- A part of a galaxy

Space Vocabulary

• Moon- Something that orbits a planet

• Moon Phase- Is the way the moon looks to us based upon its relationship to the sun and Earth

Space Vocabulary• Star- A big ball of gas (The sun is

a star)

• Equator- An invisible line that divides the Earth into two sections (hemispheres)

• Axis- The invisible line around which the Earth spins

• Orbit- The path a planet or moon takes around another object like the sun

Seasons

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