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Ch.12 VOCAB
vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| relative dating | estimate of the age of a fossil based on the location of fossils in strata |
| radiometric dating | technique that measures the natural decay rate of isotopes to calculate the age of material |
| isotope | form of an element w/the same # of protons but diff # of nuetrons as another element |
| half-life | amount of time it takes for half of the isotope in a sample to decay into its product isotope |
| index fossil | fossil of an organism that existed during only specific spans of geologic time across large geographic areas |
| geologic time scale | time scale representing the history of earth |
| era | 2nd largest unit of time, lasts tens-hundreds of million years, consists of 2+ periods |
| period | unit of geological tim that lasts tens of million years |
| epoch | smallest unit of geological time, lasts seveal million years |
| nebula | rotating cloud of gas and dust |
| ribozyme | RNA molocule that can catalyze specific chemical reactions |
| cyanobacteria | bacteria that can carry out photosynthesis |
| endosymbiosis | ecological relationship in which 1 organism lives w/in the body of another |
| Paleozoic | era where members of every major animal group alive today evolved |
| Cambrian explosion | earliest part of Paleozoic era, when a huge diversity of animal species evolved |
| Mesosoic | era during which dinosaurs roamed the earth |
| Cenozoic | era that began 65 million years ago and still continues today |
| primate | mammal w/flexible hands and feet, forward looking eyes, and enlarged brains |
| prosimian | oldest primate group that includes mostly small, nocturnal |
| hominid | primate that walks upright, has long limbs, thumbs that oppose the other 4 fingers, and relitivly large brain |
| bipedal | animal that walks on 2 legs |
| anthropoid | humanlike primate |