Earth Science: Matter, Forces, and Energy Vocabulary

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from Earth Science lecture notes, including classifications of matter, states of matter, physical/chemical/nuclear changes, forces, energy forms, and atomic structures.

Matter

Anything that occupies space and has mass.

Elements

Pure chemical substances consisting of only one kind of atom, such as iron, lead, gold, and uranium.

Compounds

Pure chemical substances composed of atoms of two or more different elements chemically bonded together in fixed, consistent proportions.

Mixtures

Physical combinations of two or more pure substances in variable ratios that retain their distinct identities.

Uniform Mixtures (Homogeneous)

Mixtures with an identical, uniform composition throughout, such as air, gasoline, salt water, and $14\text{-karat gold}$.

Non-uniform Mixtures (Heterogeneous)

Mixtures with non-uniform composition and distinct, physically separate parts, such as soil, granite, trail mix, and fruit salad.

Solid

A state of matter characterized by cold or cool temperature, fixed shape, fixed volume, incompressibility, particles vibrating in fixed positions, and particles situated very close together.

Liquid

A state of matter characterized by warmer temperature, variable shape conforming to its container, fixed volume, difficulty of compression, faster mobile particle movement, and close particle spacing.

Gas

A state of matter characterized by hot temperature, variable shape, variable volume expanding to fill its container, high compressibility, fast motion unimpeded by other particles, and distant particle spacing.

Plasma State

A fluid state consisting of energetic, ionized particles.

Melting

Physical process of a solid turning into a liquid.

Freezing

Physical process of a liquid turning into a solid.

Melting Point

The specific temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid, which is identical to the freezing point temperature.

Vaporization

The transition of a liquid state into a vapor or gas state.

Boiling

Rapid vaporization occurring throughout a liquid when heated to its boiling point, depending directly on the chemical nature of the liquid and surrounding atmospheric pressure.

Evaporation

Gradual vaporization occurring exclusively at the surface of a liquid at temperatures between its melting point and boiling point.

Condensation

Phase change opposite of vaporization where gas or vapor transitions into droplets of liquid at the dew point.

Sublimation

Direct transition of a solid substance into a gas or vapor state without passing through the liquid state.

Mass

Quantitative measurement of the amount of matter in an object, measured in grams ($\text{g}$) and kilograms ($\text{kg}$).

Atom

The primary, microscopic building block of matter consisting of a central nucleus surrounded by an outer electron cloud.

Protons

Positively charged particles ($+\text{ charge}$) located in the nucleus of an atom, roughly $1840$ times as massive as electrons.

Neutrons

Neutrally charged particles located in the nucleus of an atom that possess slightly more mass than protons.

Electrons

Negatively charged particles ($-\text{ charge}$) moving through the spatial region surrounding the nucleus, possessing extremely negligible mass.

Ion

Atom that has gained or lost electrons

Nucleus

Center on atom containing protons and neutrons

Atomic number

Number of protons in the nucleus of a aton

Atomic mass

Mass of all isotopes in element

Mass number

Total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of a atom

Isotope

Atoms of the same element that have a different number of neutrons

What do atoms consist of

Protons, neutrons, electrons