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Earth chapter one
vocab words
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| astronomy | study of objects beyond earths atmosphere |
| meteorology | the study of the atmosphere which is the air surrounding earth |
| geology | study of materials that make up earth the processes that form and change these materials and the history of the planet and its life forms since its origin |
| oceanography | study of earth oceans including the creatures that inhabit its waters its physical and chemical properties and the effect of human activities |
| environmental science | study of the interactions of humans with environment |
| geosphere | the part of earth from its surface to its center |
| atmosphere | blanket of gases surrounding earth that contains about 78 percent nitrogen 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other gases such as argon carbon dioxide and water vapor |
| hydrosphere | all the water in earths oceans lakes seas rivers and glaciers plus all the water in the atmosphere |
| bioshere | all the earths organisms and the environments in which they live |
| scientific methods | a series of problems solving procedures that help scientists conduct experiments |
| hypothesis | a testable explanation of a situation |
| independent variable | factor that is manipulated by the experimenter in an experiment |
| dependent variable | factor in an experiment that can change if teh independent variable is changed |
| control | standard comparison in an experiment |
| le systeme international d unites | replacement for the metric system based on a decimal system using the number 10 as the base unit includes the meter second and kilogram |
| scientific notation | a method used by scientists to express a number as a value between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10 |
| scientific model | an idea a system or a mathematical expression that represents the idea being explained. |
| scientific theory | an explanation based on many observations during repeated experiments valid only if consistent with observations can be used to make testable predictions and is the simplest explanation can be changed or modified with the discovery of new data |
| scientific law | a principle that describes the behavior of a natural phenomenon. |