Oceanography Ch. 1

Question 1

Ocean

Answer 1

Vast body of saline water that occupies the earth’s surface

Question 2

World Ocean

Answer 2

All oceans combined

Question 3

Science

Answer 3

Process of asking questions about the observable world by gathering and then studying information (data)

Question 4

Hypothesis

Answer 4

A speculation about the natural world that can be tested and verified or disproved by further observations and controlled experiments

Question 5

Experiment

Answer 5

A test that simplifies observation in nature or in the laboratory by manipulating or controlling the conditions under which the observations are made

Question 6

Theory

Answer 6

A statement that explains the observations

Question 7

Laws

Answer 7

Principles explaining events in nature that have been observed to occur with unvarying uniformity under the same conditions

Question 8

Scientific Method

Answer 8

An orderly process by which theories are verified or rejected

Question 9

Big Bang

Answer 9

The beginning of the expansion of the universe

Question 10

Galaxy

Answer 10

A huge, rotating aggregation of stars, dust, gas, and other debris held together by gravity

Question 11

Milky Way galaxy

Answer 11

Our galaxy

Question 12

Stars

Answer 12

Massive spheres of incandescent gases

Question 13

Solar System

Answer 13

The sun and its family of planets

Question 14

Nebulae

Answer 14

Large, diffuse clouds of dust within galaxies

Question 15

Condensation Theory

Answer 15

A theory that explains how stars and planets are believed to form

Question 16

Supernova

Answer 16

A cataclysmic expansion that happens when the hydrogen-depleted core of a dying star collapses in on itself and can no longer be compressed

Question 17

Solar Nebula

Answer 17

The thin cloud from which our sun and its planets was formed

Question 18

Planets

Answer 18

The smaller bodies that orbit a star and do not shine by their own light

Question 19

Accretion

Answer 19

The clumping of small particles into large masses

Question 20

Density Stratification

Answer 20

The forming of Earth’s layers via heating from impact of asteroids, comets, other falling debris, and decaying radioactive elements from within earth, as well as gravitational compression

Question 21

Outgassing

Answer 21

Volcanic venting of volatile substances including water vapor

Question 22

Biosynthesis

Answer 22

The evolution of living organisms from simple organic building blocks