Daily Science and Vocabulary

  
   ~~~DAILY SCIENCE~~~

Day 1:  What is science?
Day 2:  Diagram the scientific method.
Day 3:  What was the most important scientific discoverY or invention? Explain
your answer.
Day 4:  For a cell phone, list 3 intended benefits and 3 unintended 
consequences.
Day 5:  Yolanda breaks her arm and must wear a cast for 6 weeks.  Is the cast 
assistive or adaptive bioengineering or both?  Explain.
Day 6:  Thomas Huxley wrote: "Science is nothing but trained and organized 
common sense."  Relate this quote to the scientific method.
Day 7:  Explain the difference between classification and taxonomy.
Day 8:  Name the 6 kingdoms and give 2 characteristics of each.
Day 9:  Use dichotomous key to ID 5 animal tracks.
Day 10: If mermaids really existed, would they be classified as mammals or as 
fish?  Why?
Day 11: Construct a cladogram using data provided.
Day 12: A cereal box has a mass of 300g.  Its dimensions are 20cm x 30cm x
5cm.  What is the box's volume?  Its density?
Day 13: List at least 5 ways an animal can avoid becoming prey to a predator?
Day 14: Explain the difference between fragmentation and regeneration.
Day 15: Are humans predators or prey?  Explain your answer.
Day 16: What adaptations would organisms living in your refrigerator need to 
thrive and to reproduce?
Day 17: The cockroach originated over 250 MYA and still thrives worldwide. A 
giant 2 meter tall deer appeared <1 MYA and became extinct ~11,000 YA.  Why 
did one survive while the other perished?
Day 18: A predator repeatedly avoids prey that is red in colour.  Explain why 
the predator would exhibit this behaviour.
Day 19: Is it a fossil?  (ID 12 items)
Day 20: "The present is the key to the past."  How can studying the present
reveal the story of Earth's history?
Day 21: Describe the fossil record of your own life that might be found 65
million years from now. [List at least 5 items that might be found. List at
least 5 items that would decay and disappear.]
Day 22: Geologic Time (Pre-Lab):  1) How many million are in a billion? 2)
Timeline 4.56 m long represent 4.56 billion yrs. a) How long would 1 billion
yrs be on a timeline? b) How many yrs would 100 cm represent? c) How many yrs
would 1 cm represent?  3) Draw a line that is 1 cm long.
Day 23: Paleontologists think modern humans have lived on Earth for ~150,000 -
200,000 yrs.  If we imagine the history of Earth to be the length of one
calendar year, on which date and time do you think modern humans arrived?
Day 24: Why is the sky blue?
Day 25: If you were asked to describe an orange to someone who had never seen 
or tasted an orange, what would you tell that person?
Day 26: Mercury (II) oxide is a bright red or orange-red compound.  It's
odourless and is a crystalline solid at room temperature.  This compound
decomposes to form mercury and oxygen gas when exposed to light or is heated
to 500 degrees Celsius.  It dissolves in nitric acid or hydrochloric acid, but
it's insoluble in water.  [Underline chemical properties, circle physical
properties.]
Day 27: D = m/V   m = DV   V = m/D   density of lead = 11.35 g/cm3   density
of mercury = 13.55 g/cm3    Work problems 1-3, page 191.
Day 28: Compare and contrast homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures.  Give 3
examples of each.
Day 29: The density of a fresh egg is about 1.2 g/ml and the density of a
spoiled  egg is about 0.9 g/ml.  Which egg would float in water?  Would you
eat that egg?



  ~~~VOCABULARY~~~


ENGINEERING: process of creating technology

HYPOTHESIS: an explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific 
problem that can be tested

SCIENTIFIC METHOD: orderly technique for scientific thought - observation of 
nature, formulate question, formulate hypothesis, experiment/research/observe 
(test), analyze, conclude/communicate

TECHNOLOGY: use of scientific knowledge to solve practical problems and 
needs, especially in industry and commerce

LAW:  statement of fact meant to describe an action or set of actions, 
generally accepted as universal and true, and can sometimes be expressed in 
terms of a single mathematical equation.

MODEL:  pattern, plan, representation, or description designed to show the 
structure or workings of an object, system, or concept

THEORY:  explanation of a set of related observations or phenomena based upon 
porven hypotheses and verified multiple times by detached groups of 
researchers

BIOENGINEERING: application of engineering to living things, such as humans 
and plants

ADAPTIVE BIOENGINEERING:  engineering that results in a product/process that 
changes living organisms

ASSISTIVE BIOENGINEERING:  engineering that results in a product/process that 
helps living organisms without permanently changing them

COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS:  process of determining whether the cost of doing 
something is worth the benefit provided

CLASSIFICATION:  systematic grouping of organisms into categories based on 
similar evolutionary or structural characteristics/relationships

DICHOTOMOUS KEY:  a key for identification of organisms based on a series of 
paired choices

EUKARYA:  domain made up of all organisms with a membrane-bound nucleus and 
organelles; includes kingdoms Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia

ARCHAEA:  domain made up of prokaryotes, most of which live in extreme 
conditions  (also known as Kingdom Archaeabacteria)

PROTISTA:  kingdom of mostly one-celled eukaryotes ("garbage-can kingdom")

FUNGI:  kingdom of eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms without movement, 
reproduce generally by spores, getting food from dead/decaying organic matter

PLANTAE:  kingdom whose members are complex, multi-cellular heterotrophic 
eukaryotes, lacking a cell wall, can move about at some point in life cycle, 
and can respond quickly to environmental changes

ANIMALIA:  kingdom composed of eukaryotic, autotrophic, complex, multi-
cellular organisms containing chlorophyll, with cells walls of cellulose, 
cannot move about, and are photosynthetic

SPECIES:  group of similar organisms whose members can mate with one another 
and produce viable, fertile offspring

ADAPTATION:  characteristic that improves an organism's ability to survive 
and reproduce in a particular environment

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION:  reproduction in which a single parent produces 
offspring genetically identical to itself

NATURAL SELECTION:  process by which individuals that are better adapted to 
their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well-
adapted members

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION:  reproduction that results in genetically unique 
offspring, receiving half its genetic material from each of 2 parent organisms

TRAIT:  a genetically determined characteristic or condition

FOSSIL: trace or remains of ancient organism, commonly preserved in 
sedimentary rock

INDEX FOSSIL:  fossil used to establish rock layer's age because that fossil 
is distinct, abundant, and widespread, and the species that formed it existed 
only for a short span of geologic time

PALEONTOLOGY:  study of ancient life forms, especially as seen in fossils

BIODIVERSITY:  number and variety of organisms in a given area during 
specific time period

NONRENEWABLE RESOURCE:  natural resource which cannot replenish itself in 
less than 100 years

POLLUTION:  introduction of harmful substances or products into the 
environment

RECYCLING:  conservation method in which substances are reused in forms 
different from the original

RENEWABLE RESOURCE:  natural resource that is able to replenish itself within 
100 years; natural resource that replenishes itself about as quickly as it is 
used

ATOM:  smallest unit of an element that maintains its chemical properties

CHANGE OF STATE:  change of a substance from one physical state to another

CHEMICAL CHANGE:  change in matter that produces a new substance with new 
chemical properties

CHEMICAL PROPERTY: property of matter that describes a substance's ability to 
participate in chemical reactions, depending upon the arrangement of atoms

CONDENSATION:  change of state of matter from a gas to a liquid, either by 
cooling or by being subjected to increased pressure

EVAPORATION:  change of a liquid into a vapour at any temperature below its 
boiling point

GAS:  state of matter with no definite shape nor volume

LIQUID:  state of matter with a definite volume but no definite shape

MASS:  measure of the number of atoms in an object per unit of volume; 
property of matter that measures its resistance to acceleration (change in 
motion)

MATTER:  anything that has mass and volume

PHYSICAL CHANGE:  change that alters the form or appearance of a material but 
does not make it into a different substance chemically

PHYSICAL PROPERTY:  characteristic of a substance that does not involve a 
chemical change

SOLID:  state of matter in which the volume and shape are fixed

STATES OF MATTER:  the physical forms of matter which include solid, liquid, 
and gas (also: [PLASMA:  super-heated atoms consisting of free electrons and 
ions of the element] and [BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES: atoms only a few 
billionths of a degree above absolute zero where nearly all molecular motion 
ceases])

WEIGHT:  measure of the gravitational force exerted on an object

ATOMIC MASS:  the mass of an atom expressed in atomic mass units; total number
of an atom’s protons & neutrons

ATOMIC NUMBER:  number of protons in the nucleus of an atom

BOILING:  change from a liquid to a gas (vapour), occurring when the vapour
pressure of the liquid equals the atmospheric pressure

BOYLE'S LAW:  law stating the volume of a gas is inversely proportional to the
pressure of a gas when temperature is constant

CHARLES'S LAW:  law stating the volume of a gas is directly proportional to
the temperature of a gas when pressure is constant

ELECTRON:  subatomic particle having a negative charge

ION:  a charged atomic particle formed when an atom or atom group gains or
loses one or more electrons

ISOTOPE:  any of two or more forms of a chemical element, having the same
number of protons (atomic number) but having different numbers of neutrons
(atomic mass)

NEUTRON:  subatomic particle having no charge, atomic mass ~ of a proton, and
found in the nucleus

NUCLEUS:  positively charged central area of an atom composed of protons and
neutrons, possessing most of the mass but very little of the volume

PRESSURE:  amount of force exerted per unit of area of a surface

PROTON:  positively charged subatomic particle found in an atomic nucleus,
having a mass of 1 AMU (1836 times that of an electron)

SOLUBILITY:  ability of one substance to dissolve in another at a given
temperature and pressure

SOLUTE:  the substance that dissolves in the solvent

SOLUTION:  homogenous mixture of 2 or more substances uniformly dispersed
throughout a single phase (solid, liquid, gas)

SOLVENT:  in a solution, the substance in which the solute dissolves

SUBLIMATION:  process in which a solid changes directly into a gas

SUSPENSION:  mixture in which particles of a material are more or less evenly
dispersed throughout a liquid or a gas

TEMPERATURE:  a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in an
object

VISCOSITY:  resistance of a gas or liquid to flow




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