KS2 Science Vocabulary
This vocabulary is useful for children when studying for KS2 Science SATs.
Terms
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- Fabric
- Made from fibres spun and woven together.
- Stigma
- At the top of the carpel, where pollen lands.
- Melt
- When a solid warms up and turns into a liquid.
- Filter
- Separate solid bits from a liquid.
- Table
- Used to record results from an investigation in columns and rows to allow them to be easily read.
- Pure
- Not mixed with anything else.
- Orbit
- The path an object takes around another object in space.
- Thermometer
- Something we use to measure temperature.
- Observation
- The act of noting and recording something.
- Gravity
- Force that pulls us towards the centre of the earth.
- Ear drum
- The part of the ear that vibrates to allow us to hear sound.
- Solid
- One of the states a material can be in - Keeps its shape and you can hold it.
- Contract
- When a muscle gets shorter.
- Vibration
- The way something moves to make it produce a sound.
- Sphere
- The shape of the Earth.
- Vertebrate
- Animal with a back bone.
- Oxygen
- A gas in the air that our bodies need to keep us alive.
- Side effect
- Something that happens as well as something that was supposed to happen.
- Prey
- An animal killed and eaten by a predator.
- Condensation
- When water vapour cools and turns into a liquid.
- Life cycle
- The stages an organism goes through right from fertilisation to death.
- Photosynthesis
- Making food from carbon dioxide and water - needs chlorophyll and sunlight.
- Balanced diet
- A diet that gives the body the right amounts of all types of food.
- Virus
- A type of microbe.
- Pollination
- Getting pollen from a flower to the stigma on another flower.
- Incisors
- Teeth that cut food.
- Reversible
- A change that can be made to go the other way.
- Tension
- The amount of pull in the length of a string - How tight it is.
- Pitch
- How high or low a sound is.
- Stem
- Holds a plant upright.
- Force
- A push or pull
- Respiration
- Using oxygen to turn food into energy.
- Mixture
- Two or more substances mixed together - that can be separated.
- Solidify
- When something turns into a solid.
- Temperature
- How hot or cold something is.
- Micro-organism
- A very tiny living thing.
- Cells
- Tiny bits that all living things are made from.
- Puberty
- When the body changes and develops between 10 and 18 years old.
- Particles
- Really really tiny bits that everything is made from.
- Skull
- The bones that protect the brain.
- States
- Solid, liquid and gas are the three ***** something can be in.
- Producer
- An organism in a food chain that makes its own food.
- Property
- A quality of a material, like 'hard', 'shiny', 'conducts electricity' etc.
- Fertilisation
- When sperm joins with egg - or pollen joins with ovule.
- Component
- Something that does a job in a circuit. e.g. bulb, buzzer, or motor.
- Minerals
- Needed by plants to help them grow.
- Liquid
- A state a material can be in. Can change shape, flow but not change volume.
- Circuit Diagram
- A diagram with symbols that shows all of the components in a circuit and how they are connected.
- Carbohydrate
- Food that gives the body energy.
- Spine
- The backbone.
- Room temperature
- The temperature indoors, usually 20 degrees C
- Organ
- Part of the body with a special job to do.
- Light source
- Something that gives out its own light.
- Cell
- Forms part of a battery in a circuit.
- Muscles
- These pull on bones to make you move.
- Upthrust
- The force which pushes back up from water, air or a solid surface.
- Dilute
- A solution with a high percentage of water in it.
- Balanced forces
- Two equal forces acting in opposite directions that cancel each other out.
- Excretion
- Plants or animals getting rid of waste substances.
- Mirror
- Something that reflects light very well.
- Evaporation
- When a liquid warms up and starts to turn into a gas - not the same as boiling.
- Ovary
- Where eggs are made.
- Starch
- A type of carbohydrate - eg. In pasta.
- Rotate
- To go round and round on an axis.
- Tuning
- Changing the length or the tension of a string to change the pitch of the sound it makes.
- Carbon dioxide
- A gas that's found in the air.
- Opaque
- Does not let light through.
- Organism
- Living thing, animal or plant.
- Style
- The bit that holds up the stigma.
- Relax
- When a muscle gets longer.
- Electrical insulator
- Something that won't let electricity pass through it.
- Canines
- Pointed teeth that tear food.
- Ribs
- The bones in the chest that protect the heart and lungs.
- Pulse
- The rhythm of the heart beating.
- Surface area
- The measurement of the outer surface of an object.
- Decant
- Letting solids settle to the bottom and pouring off the liquid very carefully.
- Friction
- The force that gives us grip.
- Symbol
- Used in a circuit diagram instead of a picture to represent a component.
- Sepal
- Protects the petals when the flower is still in the bud.
- Gas
- One of the three states a material can be in. Can flow and change volume.
- Carnivore
- Animal that only eats other animals.
- Measurement
- The dimension, quantity, or capacity determined by measuring.
- Vein
- Takes blood back to the heart.
- Light ray
- Light travelling - always in a straight line.
- Reproduction
- Making a new generation.
- Nutrition
- Plants and animals getting food so that they can grow.
- Shadow
- When light is blocked by something opaque.
- Thermal insulator
- Something that won't let heat pass through it easily.
- Battery
- More than one cell in a circuit - where the electricity comes from.
- Forcemeter
- Another name for a Newton meter - Used to measure force.
- Sunrise
- When the Earth moves round so that an area, previously in darkness, is lit by the Sun.
- Chlorophyll
- The green stuff in plants that allows it to carry out photosynthesis.
- Root
- Part of a plant under the ground that takes in water.
- Stamen
- The male part of the flower.
- Sunset
- When a part of the Earth, previously lit by the Sun is plunged into darkness due to the Earth's rotation.
- Food chain
- A diagram which shows the flow of energy from organism to organism.
- Freeze
- When a liquid gets cold and turns into a solid.
- Electrical conductor
- Something that lets electricity pass through.
- Pollination
- Getting pollen to the stigma.
- Impermeable
- Something that doesn't let water through.
- Reflection
- When light bounces off a smooth shiny surface.
- Consumer
- Something in a food chain that consumes food.
- Periscope
- Device with two mirrors that lets you see over the top of things.
- Pulse rate
- How many times the heart beats in a minute.
- Chemical change
- A change that cannot be undone.
- Spin
- The same as rotate.
- Germ
- A non scientific word for microbe.
- Weight
- The force pulling down on something due to gravity.
- Repel
- Push apart
- Solution
- A mixture of solid and liquid. You can't see the solid, but it is still there.
- Irreversible
- A change that can't be undone.
- Dissolve
- This is when a solid mixes into a liquid and just leaves a new liquid.
- Newton meter
- A spring balance used to measure force.
- Material
- What something is made of.
- Predator
- Animals that eat other animals.
- Newton
- The unit we measure force in.
- Variation
- Differences in living things.
- Thermal conductor
- Something that lets heat pass through it easily.
- Tight
- When a string has a lot of tension you would describe it as...
- Sound
- Made by something vibrating.
- Thermal conductor
- Something that lets heat pass through.
- Solar system
- The Sun, the Earth and the other planets.
- Herbivore
- An animal that only eats plants.
- Pollen
- The male part of a plant that goes to make a new seed.
- Protein
- A food that builds muscle.
- Key
- A set of questions that help you identify an unknown plant, animal or material.
- Sugar
- A type of carbohydrate, e.g. honey.
- Undissolved
- Excess solid that hasn't dissolved.
- Boiling temperature
- Temperature at which a liquid changes into a gas.
- Vacuum
- Where there is no air.
- Magnetic
- A material that's attracted to a magnet.
- Air Resistance
- The air pushing back against you when you move through it.
- Axis
- An imaginary line through the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole.
- Artery
- Blood vessel carrying food and oxygen to the body cells.
- Switch
- Allows you to make a gap in a circuit and close it again to control the flow of electricity.
- Carpel
- The female part of the flower.
- Tendon
- Joins muscle to bone.
- Complete
- What a circuit must be to allow the flow of electricity.
- Water cycle
- Water in the air condenses and falls as rain and flows to the sea where the sun evaporates it... again and again...
- Irreversible
- A change that cannot be made to go the other way.
- Classification
- Grouping similar organisms together.
- Habitat
- Where an organism lives.
- Water resistance
- Water pushing you back as you try to move through it.
- Dispersal
- Spreading seeds far away from the parent plant.
- Permeable
- Allows water to go through it.
- Germination
- When a seed starts to grow.
- Air
- A mixture of gases including oxygen.
- Adapted
- Suited to the environment where the organism lives.
- Food web
- A lot of food chains linked up.