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Glossary
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Accelerate: Change in velocity over time. The rate at which something speeds up or slows down.
Adaptation: Any change in the structure or functioning of an organism that is favored by natural selection and makes the organism better suited to its environment.
Air: The mixture of gases in the Earth's atmosphere is commonly known as air. Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding our planet that is retained by Earth's gravity. Dry air contains roughly 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% trace gases, primarily water vapor.
Allele: One member of a pair or series of different forms of a gene.
Anatomical feature: A structure found in a living thing (e.g., heart, lung, liver, backbone).
Analyze: To separate into separate parts or basic principles to determine the nature of the whole.
Apply: The skill of selecting and using information in new situations or problems.
Aqueous solution: A solution in which the solvent is water.
Asexual reproduction: Involves the growth of a new organism by fission of cell nuclei. Asexual reproduction usually involves one parent and leads to offspring that are genetically identical to the parent and to one another.
Asteroid: A small rocky body orbiting the Sun, sometimes called minor planet or planetoid.
Atmosphere: A layer of gases that may surround the Earth and other material bodies of suffient mass.
Atom: A basic unit of matter consisting of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.
Atomic mass number: The total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of a single atom.
Atomic number: The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
Average acceleration: Change in velocity and/or direction with respect to time. Acceleration is a vector quantity, so both velocity and direction are required to define it.
Average speed: The measure of distance that an object travels in a given time interval.
Average velocity: Change in position and/or direction with respect to time. Velocity is a vector quantity, so both speed and direction are required to define it.
Biodiversity: The different kinds of organisms in a specific ecosystem or on the planet as a whole.
Biogeochemical cycle: A circuit or pathway by which a chemical element moves through both living and non-living components of an ecosystem, including the Earth as a whole. |
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