Science Test 9 review
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Created by:
daniellaramos on March 12, 2012
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47 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 punctuated equilibrium hypothesis | Theory that suggests that new kinds of organisms arise as a result of drastic environmental changes |
| living fossil | still alive today and hasnt changed at all for around a million years |
| australopithecus afarensis | fossil named "Lucy" |
| mechanics | the branch of physics dealing with the study of objects in motion |
| speed | -distance travelled, or the length of the path along which the object has moved -the rate at which a wave travels through a medium |
| acceleration | The rate at which velocity changes |
| inertia | the tendency of matter to resist change in motion |
| second law of motion | states that the acceleration of an object is directly related to the strength of the force and inversely related to the object's mass |
| geologic column | arrangement of rock layers supposedly charting the course of earth's history with the earth's earliest history at the bottom |
| stalactite | large, icicle-like mass of calcium carbonate |
| wave | a periodic back-and-forth motion that transmits energy |
| longitudinal wave | particles of the transmitting medium oscillate back and forth in the same direction that the wave moves |
| transverse wave | particle of the transmitting medium move back and forth at right angles to the direction in which the waves are traveling |
| crest | high point of a wave |
| trough | low point of a wave |
| hertz | the unit of frequency |
| law of reflection | states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection |
| pitch | the effect of frequency on the way a our ear perceives sound |
| supersonic | speeds above the speed of sound |
| overtones | other sounds produced at higher frequencies than the fundamental |
| exfoliation | the process in which layers or sheets of rock gradually break off |
| drainage basin | the land drained by a river system |
| drumlin | a smoothly rounded hill formed by a melting glacier |
| abrasion | erosion by friction |
| mass wasting | downslope movements of rock and soil caused by gravity |
| sea stack | isolated column of rock produced when a sea arch collapses |
| erosion | process when rock fragments may be carried away by physical processes such as wind or running water |
| principle of uniformity | states that the natural laws in operation today have existed throughout the earth's history |
| vector | a quantity that has magnitude and direction |
| Sir Isaac Newton | discovered the laws of motion and gravitation |
| third law of motion | for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction |
| first law of motion | a body remains at rest or in motion with a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force |
| Doppler effect | change in frequency caused by an object's motion |
| medium | the substance, such as water or air, through which a wave transfers its energy |
| reflection | the change in the course of a wave as a result of a collision with an object |
| refraction | the bending of the path of a wave as a result of a change in wave speed |
| diffraction | the spreading out of a wave after it passes through a narrow opening |
| frequency | the number of complete waves that pass a given point in a second |
| amplitude | the maximum distance that particles are displaced by a wave |
| infrasonic | sounds with pitches below the audible range |
| ultrasonic | sounds with pitches above the audible range |
| decibel | unit of sound intensity |
| strong nuclear force | -strongest of the fundamental forces -acts to bind protons and neutrons together into an atomic nucleus |
| electromagnetic nuclear force | fundamental force that affects only those particles that have an electric charge |
| weak nuclear force | fundamental force that affects all elementary particles |
| constructive interference | when two crests or two troughs of interfering waves coincide (strengthens) |
| destructive interference | when a crest of one wave coincides with the trough of another wave (cancels) |
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