NYS Grade 5 Science key terms

A body part or behavior that helps a living thing survive in its environment. Examples include thick fur for cold climates, webbed feet for swimming, or a shape that hides an animal from predators.

Coloring or body patterns that let a living thing blend into its surroundings. It helps animals hide from predators or sneak up on prey. A polar bear's white fur against snow is an example.

A behavior that an animal knows how to do without being taught, such as a bird building a nest or a turtle heading toward the sea after hatching. Instincts are inherited from parents.

The place where a living thing finds the food, water, shelter, and space it needs. A pond, a forest, and a desert are different habitats, each supporting different living things.

All the living things in an area together with the nonliving parts, such as soil, water, air, and sunlight, and the ways they interact. A forest, a pond, or a meadow can be an ecosystem.

The path that energy takes as living things eat one another, starting with a producer and moving to consumers. For example, grass is eaten by a rabbit, and the rabbit is eaten by a hawk.

A living thing that makes its own food, usually by using sunlight, water, and air. Green plants and algae are producers, and they form the base of almost every food chain.

A living thing that cannot make its own food and must eat other living things for energy. Animals, fungi, and many microorganisms are consumers. They may eat plants, other animals, or both.

A living thing, such as bacteria or a fungus, that breaks down dead plants and animals. Decomposers return nutrients to the soil so producers can use them again.

The process green plants use to make sugar food from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Oxygen is released as a result. This process is the starting point for most food chains on Earth.

The stages a living thing passes through from the start of life to the point where it can produce new offspring. A butterfly's egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages are one example.

A major change in body form during an animal's life cycle. In complete metamorphosis, an animal moves through egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages, as butterflies and beetles do.

A characteristic passed from parents to offspring through genes, such as eye color, fur color, or the shape of a leaf. Inherited traits are present from the start of life.

Something an animal comes to do through experience or practice rather than being born able to do it. Riding a bike, or a dog learning to sit on command, are examples.

The young produced by living things. Offspring inherit traits from their parents but are not exact copies, which is why individual plants and animals in a group differ from one another.

All the members of one kind of living thing that live in the same area at the same time. A population can grow when there is plenty of food and space and can shrink when these run short.

A material that living things need to grow and stay healthy. Plants take in nutrients from the soil, and animals get nutrients from the food they eat. Decomposers recycle nutrients.

Anything that has mass and takes up space. Air, water, rocks, and living things are all matter. Matter is made of very small particles called atoms and molecules.

The amount of matter in an object, measured in grams or kilograms. Mass does not change when an object is moved to a new place, even though its weight might change.

The amount of space an object or a material takes up. Volume can be measured in cubic centimeters or milliliters. The volume of a liquid is read from a graduated cylinder.

How much mass is packed into a given amount of space. An object with high density has a lot of matter in a small volume. Density explains why some objects float and others sink.

A state of matter that has a definite shape and a definite volume. The particles in a solid are packed closely together and vibrate in place rather than moving freely.

A state of matter that has a definite volume but takes the shape of its container. The particles in a liquid can slide past one another, so liquids flow.

A state of matter that has no definite shape and no definite volume. Gas particles spread out to fill whatever space holds them, and a gas can be squeezed into a smaller volume.

Two or more materials combined without a chemical change, so each material keeps its own properties. Trail mix and salt water are mixtures. Mixtures can often be separated by physical means.

A mixture in which one material is spread evenly through another and does not settle out. Salt dissolved in water forms a solution, and the salt cannot be seen as separate pieces.

A change in the size, shape, or state of matter that does not create a new kind of material. Tearing paper, melting ice, and dissolving sugar are physical changes.

A change that produces one or more new materials with different properties from the starting materials. Burning wood, rusting iron, and baking a cake are chemical changes.

A push or a pull that can change an object's motion or shape. Forces have a size and a direction. Gravity, friction, and magnetism are all forces.

A change in an object's position over time. To describe motion, you compare an object's position with a reference point, such as a tree beside a road.

A force that resists motion when two surfaces rub together. Friction produces heat and can slow or stop a moving object. Rough surfaces create more friction than smooth ones.

The force that pulls objects toward each other. Earth's gravity pulls objects toward the ground and keeps the Moon in orbit around Earth. Heavier objects are pulled with more force.

A force that can attract or repel certain materials, especially iron and steel, without touching them. Magnets have a north pole and a south pole, and opposite poles attract each other.

How fast an object moves, found by dividing the distance traveled by the time it takes. Speed is often measured in meters per second or kilometers per hour.

The ability to cause change or do work. Energy comes in forms such as motion, light, sound, heat, and electricity, and it can move from one object to another.

The energy an object has because it is moving. A rolling ball, a flowing river, and a flying bird all have kinetic energy. Faster objects and heavier objects have more of it.

Energy that is stored and can be released later. A book on a high shelf and a stretched rubber band both have potential energy because of their position or shape.

A form of energy that comes from the movement of charged particles. It travels through wires in a closed circuit and can be changed into light, heat, sound, or motion.

A complete, unbroken path that electric current can flow through. A simple circuit needs a power source, wires, and something to use the electricity, such as a bulb.

A material that lets heat or electricity pass through it easily. Metals such as copper and aluminum are good conductors, which is why wires are made of metal.

A material that slows or blocks the flow of heat or electricity. Rubber, plastic, wood, and glass are insulators. Plastic coating on wires keeps electricity from escaping.

The condition of the air outside at a certain place and time, including temperature, cloud cover, wind, and precipitation. Weather can change from hour to hour and day to day.

The usual pattern of weather in a place over many years. Climate depends on location, such as distance from the equator, and changes much more slowly than daily weather.

The continuous movement of water between Earth's surface and the air. Water evaporates, forms clouds by condensation, falls as precipitation, and collects again in bodies of water and soil.

Water that falls from clouds to Earth's surface as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Precipitation is one of the main stages of the water cycle and a key part of weather reports.

The movement of weathered rock and soil from one place to another by water, wind, or ice. Erosion can wear away hillsides, carve valleys, and carry soil into rivers.

The process that breaks rock into smaller pieces where it sits. Water freezing in cracks, plant roots, and windblown sand can all cause weathering without moving the pieces away.

The dropping of eroded rock, sand, or soil in a new place. Deposition builds up deltas at river mouths and piles of sand along beaches and dunes.

The preserved remains or trace of a living thing from long ago, usually found in rock. Fossils give evidence about plants and animals that lived in the past and about Earth's history.

The Sun and all the objects that travel around it, including eight planets, their moons, and smaller bodies such as asteroids and comets. Gravity keeps these objects in orbit.

A large, round body that travels around a star and has cleared other objects from its path. Earth is one of eight planets that orbit the Sun in our solar system.

The curved path one object takes around another because of gravity. Earth orbits the Sun once each year, and the Moon orbits Earth about once a month.

The spinning of an object around its own center. Earth rotates once about every 24 hours, which causes day and night as different sides face the Sun.

A careful way of investigating questions by observing, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, testing it with an experiment, and drawing conclusions from the results.

A testable prediction or possible explanation for an observation. A hypothesis is stated before an experiment and is supported or not supported by the evidence collected.

A factor in an experiment that can change or be changed. In a fair test, only one variable is changed at a time while all others are kept the same.

Information gathered using the senses or with tools such as rulers, thermometers, and hand lenses. Observations are the evidence scientists use to describe and explain the natural world.

Facts, measurements, or observations that support or challenge a claim. In science, explanations must be backed by evidence rather than by opinion or guesswork.