Ch 3 Pt II - Our Fascinating Earth Vocabulary

Question 1

What is a rock?

Answer 1

hard material that composes the earth’s crust

Question 2

What are minerals?

Answer 2

the individual substances that make up rocks

Question 3

What is a fossil?

Answer 3

any trace left in rock by a plant or animal

Question 4

What are gemstones?

Answer 4

small deposits or igneous and metamorphic crystals in rock

Question 5

What are precious stones?

Answer 5

the rarest, most durable and beautiful gems

Question 6

What is ore?

Answer 6

a rock containing a metal together with impurities

Question 7

What is fossil fuel?

Answer 7

a fuel derived from the remains of once-living things; coal and petroleum are fossil fuels

Question 8

What is petroleum?

Answer 8

a fossil fuel that may have been formed from the remains of once-living creatures; means “rock oil”

Question 9

What is hydrocarbon?

Answer 9

a chemical substance made primarily of hydrogen and oxygen

Question 10

What is a cave?

Answer 10

any hollow space in the earth’s crust that has formed naturally and is large enough for a person to enter

Question 11

What is a sea cave?

Answer 11

a cave formed when the ocean erodes a weak area of a cliff

Question 12

What is a lava cave?

Answer 12

a cave formed when molten lava flows beneath a hardened surface of lava and leaves behind an underground chamber

Question 13

What is a solution cave?

Answer 13

a cave formed by the dissolving of underground rocks by water

Question 14

What is magnetism?

Answer 14

the force that pulls magnets apart or pushes them together

Question 15

What is a magnetic field?

Answer 15

the area surrounding a magnet in which the force of magnetism affects other objects

Question 16

What are magnetic poles?

Answer 16

the two ends of a magnet where the magnetic field is most concentrated

Question 17

What is an electromagnet?

Answer 17

a magnet that becomes magnetized only when it is hooked to a battery or some other source of electric current

Question 18

What is the magnetosphere?

Answer 18

the region of space affected by the earth’s magnetic field

Question 19

What is solar wind?

Answer 19

a stream of potentially harmful particles that flows constantly from the surface of the sun

Question 20

What are auroras?

Answer 20

displays of light that occur when solar wind particles collide with molecules of air in the earth’s atmosphere

Question 21

What is igneous rock?

Answer 21

rock formed when molten rock solidifies either above or below the ground

Question 22

What is sedimentary rock?

Answer 22

rock formed from sediments that have been pressed together to form rock

Question 23

What is limestone?

Answer 23

the most common type of organic sedimentary rock, made from calcium carbonate

Question 24

What is coal?

Answer 24

a useful fuel, commonly found in sedimentary rock, that comes from decayed plants and is used for heating, industrial purposes, and generating electricity

Question 25

What is **metamorphic rock**?

Answer 25

rock produced by metamorphism of an igneous or sedimentary rock

Question 26

What is **diamond**?

Answer 26

a hard, crystalline form of carbon that is the hardest of all known minerals

Question 27

What is **iron**?

Answer 27

a practical metal that is strong and abundantly available; the most commonly used metal

Question 28

What is **copper**?

Answer 28

a reddish-orange metal that is a good conductor of electricity

Question 29

What is **anthracite coal**?

Answer 29

hard, shiny, black coal that is the most expensive to mine

Question 30

What is **bituminous coal**?

Answer 30

the most common type of coal, called soft coal, widely used in industry and for power generation

Question 31

What is **sub-bituminous coal**?

Answer 31

softer and more crumbly that bituminous coal and widely used for power generation

Question 32

What is **lignite coal**?

Answer 32

poor quality coal; often called brown coal

Question 33

What is a **trogloxene**?

Answer 33

an animal that visits caves regularly but finds food on the surface; means "cave guest"

Question 34

What is a **troglophile**?

Answer 34

an animal that can live entirely either in a cave or above ground; means "cave lover"

Question 35

What is a **troglobiont (troglobite)**?

Answer 35

an animal that cannot survive above ground; means "cave dweller"

Question 36

What are **mechanical sediments**?

Answer 36

sediments formed when rocks are broken down and carried away by physical mechanisms such as wind, water, or ice

Question 37

What are **chemical sediments**?

Answer 37

sediments formed when minerals in a rock are dissolved by water and carried elsewhere where they may crystallise or settle out of solution

Question 38

What are **organic sediments**?

Answer 38

sediments formed from dead plants, shells, or animal skeletons

Question 39

What are **foliated rocks**?

Answer 39

metamorphic rocks made of layers like the pages of a book

Question 40

What are **unfoliated rocks**?

Answer 40

metamorphic rocks not made of thin layers