Basic Science Words
Terms
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- Quantitative
- observations that involve measurements and numbers (""My brother is 30cm shorter than my sister,"" is a quantitative observation.)
- Chemical Change
- a change in the chemical composition of a substance to produce a new material with new properties (An example of a chemical change is wood turning to ash and smoke when it burns.)
- Prototype
- an original type that serves as a model for later examples
- Chemical Reaction
- a chemical change in which one or more substances are changed into one or more new substances
- Chemical Properties
- characteristics of a substance that determine how it will react with other substances
- Convection
- the transportation of heat from one place to another by the movement of a liquid or gas (A classroom is warmed by a hot air blower due to convection.)
- Conductor
- a material (like a metal) through which electricity and heat flow easily
- Conduction
- the transportation of heat or electricity from one place to another directly through an object (A frying pan is warmed by a hot stove due to conduction.)
- Qualitative
- observations that do not involve measurements and numbers (""My brother is shorter than my sister,"" is a qualitative observation.)
- Coordinate
- a set of numbers that determines the location of a point in space
- Quark
- one of the two basic building blocks of matter (Scientists have discovered six different kinds of quarks: Top, Bottom, Up, Down, Strange and Charm.)
- Compound
- a substance composed of two or more elements, such as water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), or table sugar (C12H22O11)
- Colloidal Suspension
- a material that has properties of more than one state of matter, such as Jell-o
- Independent Variable
- the manipulated variable; the variable that is changed on purpose in an experiment
- Electric Current
- movement of electricity, measured in charges per second (just as river current is measured in liters per second)
- Data
- a group of measurements, facts or statistics
- Cryogenics
- the science of very low temperatures, far below the freezing point of water
- Injector
- the first section of an accelerator, where electrons are torn away from atoms and accelerated to an energy sufficient for them to be injected into the cavities of the accelerator
- HTML
- an acronym for HyperText Markup Language; the programming language or code used for the creation of internet web pages
- Dependent Variable
- the responding variable; the variable that may change as a result of a change in the independent variable
- Energy
- the capacity to do work
- Teamwork
- joint action by a group to complete a given task
- SURA
- the acronym for Southeastern Universities Research Association (Jefferson Lab is managed by SURA.)
- Element
- any substance that cannot be broken up into simpler substances by chemical means (Currently 115 elements have been observed and are displayed on the Periodic Table of Elements. Gold, silver, iodine, oxygen and nickel are examples of elements.)
- Electron
- a tiny particle with a negative charge which orbits an atom's nucleus
- Electromagnet
- a wire coil around a metal core (usually iron) that acts like a magnet when an electric current flows through it
- Helium
- a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas (Helium becomes a liquid near absolute zero. Liquid helium is used to cool Jefferson Lab's accelerator components.)
- Grid
- a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines forming squares of uniform size on a map or chart
- Fahrenheit
- a temperature scale at which water freezes at 32° and boils at 212°
- Circuit
- a closed path through which an electric current flows
- Computer
- a programmable machine that inputs, processes and outputs data
- Continuous
- steady; uninterrupted
- Gas
- a state of matter with no definite shape or volume, like air
- Gluons
- particles that hold quarks together
- Graph
- information represented in the form of a picture, diagram or drawing
- Hypothesis
- an educated guess that can be tested or investigated
- Experiment
- a series of actions carried out to test a theory, demonstrate a fact or find out what happens
- Interact
- act with each other
- Kelvin
- a temperature scale that begins at absolute zero, where there is no molecular movement (Water freezes at 273 K and boils at 373 K.)
- Engineer
- a person who uses science and math to design, build or operate equipment, structures and systems (A person who receives a college degree in engineering might be an electrical, mechanical, industrial, chemical, environmental, biochemical or aeronautical engineer.)
- Laboratory
- a place equipped for scientific research, experiments or testing
- LINAC
- an abbreviation for Linear Accelerator
- Force
- a push or pull (There are four basic forces: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear.)
- FEL
- stands for Free Electron Laser; a tunable laser made by wiggling a beam of electrons (Jefferson Lab's FEL is the most powerful in the world.)
- Magnet
- a piece of iron or other material that attracts other pieces of iron or steel
- Matter
- something that has mass which can exist in the form of a solid, liquid, gas or plasma
- Internet
- a worldwide network of computers linked together for the purpose of exchanging information (also sometimes called the Information Superhighway or Cyberspace)
- data analysis
- organizing and examining the collected data using narratives, charts, graphs or tables
- Radiation
- the transportation of heat from one place to another by waves or particles (The Earth is warmed by the Sun due to radiation.)
- Linear Accelerator
- a machine used in physics experiments that makes particles go faster in a straight line
- Scatter
- to go in many directions
- identify the problem
- a scientific problem to be solved
- Scientist
- a person who uses observation, experimentation and theory to learn about a subject (Biologists, physicists, chemists, geologists and astronomers are all scientists.)
- Insulator
- a material through which electricity or heat does not flow easily (like many plastics, glasses and ceramics)
- Lepton
- one of the two basic building blocks of matter (An electron is a lepton.)
- Ion
- an atom or molecule that has an electric charge because it has either gained or lost electrons
- Jefferson Lab
- a nuclear physics research facility built to explore quarks in the nucleus of the atom, located in Newport News, Virginia
- Liquid
- a state of matter with definite volume but no definite shape, like water
- Mass
- the measure of the amount of matter an object has in it; measured in grams or kilograms
- Magnification
- the process of making something look bigger
- experimentation
- the process of testing a hypothesis by collecting data under controlled, repeatable conditions
- research
- the process of collecting information and data about a topic being studied
- Science
- the study of the natural world
- Scientific Method
- the 'tool' that scientists use to find the answer to questions (The Scientific Method allows scientists to solve complicated problems by taking a series of smaller steps:
- Resistance
- a measurement of how much a material opposes the flow of electricity (Wood has high resistance so it is a poor conductor of electricity. Copper has low resistance, so it is a good conductor of electricity.)
- Solid
- a state of matter with definite shape and volume, like ice
- conclusion
- a summary of the results of the experimentation and a statement of how the results relate to the hypothesis
- Speed
- a measurement of distance traveled over time (example: 100 kilometers per hour)
- Spreadsheet
- a computer program used for organizing and analyzing data (Spreadsheets are arranged in rows and columns. A cell is a box in a spreadsheet where a row and column meet. The names of the row and column determine the name of the cell. For example, in the spreadsheet shown below, column C and row 2 meet at cell C2, the shaded box. The value in C2 is 1.23.)
- Temperature
- a measure of heat energy in an object, body or environment (Temperature can be measured using Fahrenheit, Celsius or Kelvin scales.)
- Technician
- a person who is an expert in doing certain technical jobs
- Superconductivity
- the flow of electric current without any resistance in certain metals at temperatures near absolute zero (The superconductors used at Jefferson Lab are cavities made of niobium that are cooled to 2 K by liquid Helium.)
- Voltage
- electrical force or pressure (measured in volts)
- Velocity
- an object's speed and direction of motion
- Theory
- a general principle that explains or predicts facts or events
- Weight
- a measure of the gravitational force pulling objects to the earth, moon or other celestial body (The more mass a planet has, the greater the gravitational pull of that planet will be. An object weighs more on the earth than it does on the moon because the earth has more mass than the moon.)
- Proton
- a positively charged particle found in the nucleus of an atom
- Property
- any characteristic or attribute of an object or substance
- Probe
- an object or device used to investigate the unknown
- Negative
- having a minus charge (Negative charges are attracted to positive charges and are repelled by other negative charges.)
- Median
- the middle number in a set of ordered data (The median of {1,1,1,2,4,6,6} is 2 since 2 is the middle number when all of the numbers are placed in order. If there are an even number of numbers, the median is the mean of the two middle numbers.)
- Mean
- the sum of the items in a set of data divided by the number of items in the set; the average (The mean of {1,1,1,2,4,6,6} is 3 since (1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 6) ÷ 7 = 3.)
- Molecule
- two or more elements that are chemically joined (Water is a molecule made from two atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of Oxygen.)
- Microscope
- an optical instrument that uses a combination of lenses to produce magnified images of very small objects
- Meson
- particle made of a quark and an antiquark that is thought to bind protons and neutrons together inside the nucleus of an atom
- Mixture
- a substance composed of two or more components, each of which retain its own properties (A salad is a mixture of vegetables.)
- Mode
- the data item that occurs the most often in a set of data (The mode of {1,1,1,2,4,6,6} is 1 since 1 is the number that appears most often.)
- Nuclear Physics
- the science of studying the nucleus of the atom
- Nitrogen
- a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas which makes up 78% of the air (Nitrogen is a gas at room temperature and becomes a liquid at about 77 K, -196°C or
- Neutron
- a neutral particle made of three quarks found in the nucleus of an atom
- Neutral
- having no charge
- Positive
- having a plus charge (Positive charges are attracted to negative charges and are repelled by other positive charges.)
- Orbit
- the path an object follows as it travels around another object
- Observation
- the use of one's senses to learn something new
- Nucleon
- a proton or a neutron
- Nucleus
- the central part of an atom, which makes up 99.9% of the atom's mass
- Physical Change
- a change that affects the size, shape or color of a substance but does not affect its composition
- Pole
- the place on a magnet where the magnetic field is strongest
- Particle
- a very small piece or part; an indivisible object
- Plasma
- a very hot, gas-like state of matter
- Physics
- the study of matter, energy and force
- Accelerate
- to speed up
- Antimatter
- matter that is exactly the opposite in every way from its matter counterpart: antiquark/quark; positron/electron
- Atom
- the smallest unit of a chemical element, made up of a nucleus surrounded by electrons
- Quadrant
- one quarter of the coordinate plane (The x and y
- Accelerator
- a machine which accelerates charged particles to high energies
- Charge
- the amount of electricity carried by a body (A charge can be negative, like an electron, or positive, like a proton. Objects with opposite charges attract one another, while objects with like charges repel one another.)
- Celsius
- a temperature scale on which water freezes at 0° and boils at 100°
- CEBAF
- former name of Jefferson Lab; stands for Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility
- Beam
- a ray of light; a group of particles traveling together along a well-defined path