RISE Science Grade 6 flashcards
RISE Science Grade 6 · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Rotation
- The spin of a planet on its own axis. Earth's rotation takes about 24 hours and causes the cycle of day and night.
- Revolution
- The movement of one object around another. Earth's revolution around the Sun takes about 365 days and helps cause the seasons.
- Moon phases
- The changing lit shape of the Moon as seen from Earth, caused by the Moon's position relative to Earth and the Sun over about 28 days.
- Solar eclipse
- An event in which the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth, blocking sunlight. It can only occur during a new moon phase.
- Tectonic plates
- Large moving pieces of Earth's lithosphere. Their motion at boundaries causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building.
- Water cycle
- The continuous movement of water through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff, powered mainly by energy from the Sun.
- Rock cycle
- The slow process in which rocks change among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic forms through melting, cooling, weathering, and pressure.
- Igneous rock
- Rock formed when magma or lava cools and hardens. Examples include basalt and granite; cooling rate affects crystal size.
- Cell nucleus
- The structure inside a cell that contains genetic material and directs the cell's activities, including growth and reproduction.
- Mitochondria
- Cell structures that release energy from food through cellular respiration. Cells with high energy needs, such as muscle cells, contain many.
- Chloroplast
- A structure in plant cells that captures light energy and uses it to make glucose during photosynthesis. It gives plants their green color.
- Photosynthesis
- The process in which plants use light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen inside chloroplasts.
- Cellular respiration
- The process in which cells use oxygen to break down glucose, releasing energy plus carbon dioxide and water. It occurs in mitochondria.
- Producer
- An organism that makes its own food using sunlight, such as a plant or alga. Producers form the base of every food chain.
- Decomposer
- An organism such as a fungus or bacterium that breaks down dead material, recycling nutrients back into the soil and ecosystem.
- Energy pyramid
- A diagram showing energy flow through feeding levels. Only about 10 percent of energy passes to each higher level.
- Abiotic factor
- A nonliving part of an ecosystem, such as sunlight, water, soil, or temperature, that affects the organisms living there.
- Symbiosis
- A close long-term relationship between two different species, such as mutualism, commensalism, or parasitism.
- Inherited trait
- A characteristic passed from parents to offspring through genes, such as eye color or flower color.
- Density
- The amount of mass in a given volume, calculated as mass divided by volume. Objects less dense than a fluid float in it.
- Physical change
- A change in the form or appearance of matter, such as melting or dissolving, that does not create a new substance.
- Chemical change
- A change that produces one or more new substances, such as burning, rusting, or baking, often with heat or color changes.
- Newton's first law
- An object at rest stays at rest, and a moving object keeps moving in a straight line, unless an unbalanced force acts on it.
- Newton's second law
- The acceleration of an object equals the net force on it divided by its mass, written as force equals mass times acceleration.
- Speed
- The distance an object travels divided by the time it takes, such as meters per second. Speed does not include direction.
- Balanced forces
- Forces on an object that are equal in size and opposite in direction. They cancel, so the object's motion does not change.
- Kinetic energy
- The energy an object has because of its motion. It increases when the object's mass or speed increases.
- Conduction
- The transfer of heat through direct contact between materials, as when a metal spoon warms in hot soup.
- Independent variable
- The one factor an experimenter deliberately changes in an experiment to test its effect on the outcome being measured.
- Dependent variable
- The factor that is measured or observed in an experiment; it responds to changes in the independent variable.
- Control group
- The group in an experiment that receives no treatment, used as a baseline for comparing the effects of the tested variable.
- Hypothesis
- A testable prediction about the relationship between variables, often written as an if-then statement before an experiment begins.