General Science
Terms
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- Humus
- The decayed remains of once-living creatures.
- Catastrophism
- The view that most of earth's geological features are the result of large-scale catastrophes such as floods, volcanic eruptions, etc.
- Blind studies
- Experiments in which the participants do not know whether or not they are a part of the control group.
- Mechanical advantage
- The amount by which force or motion is magnified in a simple machine.
- Diameter
- The length of a straight line that travels from one side of a circle to another, while passing through the center of a circle.
- Double-blind studies
- Experiments in which neither the participants nor the people analyzing the results know who is in the control group.
- Weathering
- The process by which rocks are broken down by the forces of nature.
- Control (of an experiment)
- The variable or part of the experiment to which all others can be compared.
- Uniformitarianism
- The view that most of earth's geological features are the result of slow, gradual processes that have been at work for millions or even billions of years.
- Dendrochronology
- The process of counting tree rings to determine the age of a tree.
- Unconformity
- A surface of erosion that separates one layer of rock from another.
- Simple machine
- A device that reduces the amount of force needed to perform a task or changes the direction of a force.
- Papyrus
- A primitive form of paper, made from a long-leafed plant of the same name.
- Experimental variable
- An aspect of an experiment which changes during the course of the experiment.
- Absolute age
- The calculated age of an artifact when a specific dating method is used to determine when the artifact was made.
- Geology
- The study of earth's history as revealed in the rocks that make up the earth.
- Artifact
- Objects made by humans such as tools, weapons, containers, etc.
- Erosion
- The process by which sediments and rock fragments are carried away by wind or rain.
- Life science
- A term that encompasses all scientific pursuits related to living organisms.
- Minerals
- Inorganic crystalline substances found naturally in the earth.
- Radiometric dating
- Using a radioactive process to determine the age of an item.
- Hypothesis
- An educated guess that attempts to explain an observation or answer a question.
- Circumference
- The distance around a circle, equal to 3.1415 times the circle's distance.
- Archaeology
- The study of past human life as revealed by preserved relics.
- Theory
- A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data.
- Scientific law
- A theory that has been tested by and is consistent with generations of data.
- Counter-example
- An example that contradicts a scientific conclusion.
- Known age
- The age of an artifact as determined by a date printed on it, or a reference to a artifact in a work of history.
- Force
- A push or pull that changes the motion of an object.
- The Principle of Superposition
- When artifacts are found in rock or earth that is layered, the deeper layers hold the older artifacts.
- Aristotle's dictum
- The benefit of the doubt is to be given to the document itself, not assigned by the critic to himself.
- Paleontology
- The study of life's history as revealed in the preserved remains of once-living plants and animals.
- Science
- A branch of study dedicated to the accumulation and classification of observable facts in order to formulate general laws about the natural world
- Spontaneous generation
- The idea that living organisms can be spontaneously formed from non-living substances.