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Biology Chapter 12
Term | Definition |
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relative dating | estimate of the age of a fossil based on the location of fossils in strata |
radiometric dating | technique that uses the natural decay rate of isotopes to calculate the age of material |
isotope | form of an element that has the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons as another element |
half-life | amount of time it takes for one 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 |
era | second largest unit of geologic time; lasting tens to hundreds of millions of years and consisting of two or more periods |
period | unit of geologic time that lasts tens of millions of years and is associated with a particular type of rock system |
nebula | rotating cloud of gas and dust |
cyanobacteria | bacteria that can carry out photosynthesis |
endosymbiosis | ecological relationship in which one organism lives within the body of another |
primate | mammal with flexible hands and feet, forward-looking eyes, and enlarged brains relative to body size |
prosimian | oldest primate group that includes mostly small, nocturnal primates such as lemurs |
anthropoid | humanlike primate |
hominid | primate group that includes orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans, as well as their intermediate ancestors |
bipedal | animal that walks on two legs |