Yearly science

What is the definition of a wave?

A disturbance or variation that carries energy progressively from point to point in a medium.

What are the two main categories of waves?

Mechanical and Electromagnetic.

What is a mechanical wave?

A wave where energy is transferred by vibrations of medium (matter).

What are the two types of mechanical waveforms?

Transverse and Longitudinal.

What characterizes a transverse wave?

The motion in which all points on a wave oscillate at right angles to the direction of the wave's advance.

Give an example of a transverse wave.

Light.

What characterizes a longitudinal wave?

The medium's vibration is parallel to the direction of the wave's movement.

Give an example of a longitudinal wave.

Sound.

What is wavelength?

The distance from one point of the wave to the next identical point.

What is the period of a wave?

The time it takes one wave to pass a point.

What does amplitude measure in a wave?

The distance from the zero displacement position to a maximum displacement position.

What is the zero displacement position?

Indicates where the particles would be if no energy was being transferred through the medium.

What are the types of electromagnetic waves?

Radio Waves, Micro Waves, Infrared Waves, Visible Light, Ultraviolet Waves, X-rays, and Gamma Waves.

How does the speed of electromagnetic waves compare to one another?

All electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed – the speed of light.

How do electromagnetic waves behave differently?

By their wavelength; shorter wavelengths correspond to higher energy.

What is a food chain?

A linear sequence of organisms showing how energy and nutrients flow from producers to consumers.

What is a food web?

A complex network of interconnected food chains illustrating feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

What is a habitat?

A place where a living thing survives, often described as its environmental ‘address’.

What are tectonic plates?

Massive, irregularly shaped slabs of solid rock composed of continental and oceanic lithosphere.

What drives the movement of tectonic plates?

Convection currents in the mantle.

What is the focus of an earthquake?

The point where energy is released from an earthquake.

What is the epicenter?

The point directly above the focus where the most damage occurs.

What is the Ring of Fire?

A horseshoe-shaped zone of high seismic and volcanic activity around the Pacific Ocean.

What types of volcanoes are there?

Shield, Stratovolcanoes, and Cinder Cone Volcanoes.

What is the difference between a control variable and a dependent variable?

A control variable is constant, while a dependent variable changes as a result of independent variable manipulation.