Key terms all chapters.docx

**Adsorption**: The process by which radiation is soaked up by an object. **Conduction:** The transfer of heat by direct contact. **Conductor:** A material that conducts heat well. **Convection:** The transfer of heat by the flow of a fluid. **Convection current**: The circular movement of a flu...

**Adsorption**: The process by which radiation is soaked up by an object. **Conduction:** The transfer of heat by direct contact. **Conductor:** A material that conducts heat well. **Convection:** The transfer of heat by the flow of a fluid. **Convection current**: The circular movement of a fluid caused by heating. **Energy transfer:** The movement of energy from one object to another. **Fluid:** any substance that can flow **Heat:** thermal energy that is transferred from one substance to another. **Insulator:** a material that conducts heat poorly. **Kinetic energy:** Energy a moving object has because of movement. **Radiation:** The transfer of heat by electromagnetic waves. **Thermal energy:** The type of energy that relates to heat. **Amplitude:** The distance between the midline of a wave and the top or bottom. **Compression:** Part of a sound wave where particles are closer together. **Decibel:** A unit used to measure loudness. **Frequency:** The number of waves that go by in one second. **Hertz:** The standard unit of frequency. **High pitched:** The quality of sounds produced by waves with a high frequency. **Longitudinal wave:** A wave in which particles move back and forth in the wave direction. **Loud:** The quality of sounds produced by waves with high amplitude. **Low pitch:** The quality of sound produced by waves with low frequency. **Rarefaction:** The part of a sound wave where the particles are far apart. **Sound wave:** a vibration of particles that transfers energy. **Transverse wave:** a wave in which particles move at right angles to the wave direction. **Wavelength:** The distance between one crest of a wave and the next crest. **Absorption:** The transfer of light energy into an object. **Concave lens:** A lens that is curved inwards and is thinner in the middle. **Converge**: To get closer together. **Convex lens:** A lens that is curved outwards and is thicker in the middle. **Diverge:** To get further apart: **Focal length:** The distance between the center of a lens and its focal point. **Frequency:** The number of waves that go by in one second. **Lens:** A curved piece of transparent glass or plastic. **Light:** A type of energy that travels in electromagnetic waves. **Magnification:** A measure of a lenses ability to increase the size of an image. **Opaque:** not allowing light to pass through. **Period:** the time taken to complete one wavelength **Prism:** A transparent object with flat surfaces, which reflect light. **Reflection:** The bending of light as it bounces off an object. **Refraction:** The bending of light as it passes into a new material. **Translucent:** Allowing only some light to pass through. **Transmission:** The passing of light through a material. **Transparent:** Allowing nearly all light to pass through. **Visible spectrum:** The range of light frequencies that we can see. **Abiotic factors:** are the non living factors in an ecosystem. For example, rainfall, sunlight, wind, humidity, salinity. **Biodiversity**: is the total of all living organism found on Earth. It includes the plants, animals, microorganisms and the genes they contain and the ecosystems they are part of. **Biotic factors:** are the living factors in an environment. For example: predators, prey, mates. This includes plants, animals, insects and even dead parts of organism that once lived, like leaves. **Climate change**: the global changes in climate due to human activity. **Community**: a number of populations of different species interacting within a particular region. An **ecosystem** : is a community of organism (of various species) that depend on and interact with each other and the abiotic factors surrounding them. **Population:** groups of organisms belonging to the one species and living together in an area. A **species**: is a group of organisms that are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. **Atom:** atoms are made up of a nucleus of protons and neutrons, surrounded by a cloud of electrons. **Atomic number**: the number of protons in an atom. **Electron:** a small subatomic particle with a negative charge. **Element**: a substance made up of only one type of atom. **Ion:** an atom or molecule with a net charge. **Isotope:** a variation of an element with a certain number of neutrons. **Mass number:** The number of protons plus neutrons. **Neutron**: Large subatomic particle with no charge located in the nucleus. **Proton:** Large subatomic particle. Positive charge. **Radiation**: Energy or particles released during radioactive decay. Alpha, beta particles or gamma waves.