Evolution and History of the Earth
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Created by:
micayllao11 on May 31, 2011
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20 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Scientific Fact | a truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true and verifiable by others. |
| Hypothesis | A prediction and an explanation for the occurrence of an observation |
| Scientific Theory | A set of principles used to explain a group of facts. It has been repeatedly tested and is widely accepted. A theory can be used to make predictions about the natural world |
| Scientific Law | A phenomenon of nature that has been proven to invariably occur whenever certain conditions exist or are met |
| Belief | A personal mental attitude of acceptance of a proposition without any evidence to guarantee its truth. |
| Natural Selection | Differential reproductive success of phenotypes resulting from interaction with the natural environment. |
| Phylogeny | The evolutionary history of a species. |
| Biodiversity | Number and relative abundance of species in a biological community. Example: Seven species of grass plants in the same prairie |
| Species | A group of individuals with similar anatomical characteristics and capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring |
| Variation | Differences in characteristics among individual species. Example: The length of the abdomen in 1 species of adult beetle varies an average of 1.5 mm |
| Adaptation | Any alteration of structure, behavior, or function that makes an organism more reproductively successful. |
| Extinction | Coming to an end or dying out of a species, for example: The dodo bird (Raphus cucullatus). |
| Biological Evolution | Changes in life forms over time. |
| Speciation | The evidence of new species evolving |
| Geology | study of the earth |
| Sedimentary rock | Rock that forms when sediments are compacted and cemented together |
| Plate Tectonics | The theory that explains how large pieces of the lithosphere, called plates, move and change shape |
| Isotopes (of elements) | one of two or more atoms that have the same atomic number but different number of neutrons |
| Half Life (of isotopes) | the time required for one half of the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disinagrate |
| Radioactive decay (radioactivity) | the spontaneous decay of certain unstable atomic nuclei |
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