General Science (Rare) Flashcards
Acid Rain
Precipitation with a low pH thats harmful to life and infrastructure
Amber
Fossilized tree resin
Andromeda galaxy
Galaxy closest to the Milky Way
Asteroid
Small body that orbits the sun
Astronomy
Study of celestial objects (stars, planets, galaxies, and so on)
Comet
Small icy body that shows a coma and tail when close to the sun
Constellation
Pattern of stars in the sky
Distillation
Way of separating the parts of a liquid mixture
Energy
Ability to do work
Galaxy
System of at least 10 million stars held together by gravity
Gravitation
Gravity, bodies attract each other based on their masses
Greenhouse effect
Heat is absorbed by atmospheric gases and redirected back to earth
Half-life
Time for a quantity to reach half of its starting value
Heliocentric
Model in which the planets revolve around the sun
Igenous rock
Rock formed from cooled lava
Light- year
Unit of length; distance light travels in a year; about 6 trillion miles
Lunar eclipse
The moon covered by earth’s shadow
Metamorphic rock
An igneous or sedimentary rock exposed to heat and pressure
Meteor
Visible path of a meteoroid in the atmosphere
Meteorite
Meteoroid that survives impact on the surface
Meteoroid
Small body in the solar system; smaller than asteroid
Milky Way
Home galaxy
Orbit
Curved path around an object around another object
Plate tectonics
Theory that describes the motions of Earth’s crust
Pulsar
A rotating, magnetized neutron star
Quasar
Very bright nucleus of a distant galaxy
Satellite
A natural or artificial object that orbits another object
Sedimentary Rock
Rock formed by deposits in bodies of water
Seismometer
Instrument that measures the motion of the ground
Solar eclipse
The moon passing in front of the sun
Solar system
The sun and all objects
Sunspot
Dark, relatively cool areas on the sun’s surface
Thermodynamics
Study of heat on other forms of energy
