Grade 5 Science Vocab

Rotation

Turning around an axis or center point. This causes day and night.

Orbit

The path an object follows as it moves around another object. The moon does this around the Earth. Earth does this around the sun.

Revolution

The movement of one object in an orbit around another object. Earth does this around the sun each year.

Axis

An imaginary line that passes through Earth's center and the North and South poles, about which Earth rotates

Sun

The star at the center of our solar system

Earth

3rd planet from the sun

Shadow

An area from which light is blocked.

phases of the moon

caused by how much of the sunlit side of the Moon faces Earth

gravity

A force that pulls objects toward each other

water cycle

the changes to water when it evaporates into the air, condenses into clouds, and then precipitates down to Earth

precipitation

Any form of water (rain, sleet, snow) that falls from clouds and reaches Earth's surface.

condensation

cooling of water vapor into visible water droplets, how clouds are formed

Evaporation

surface water changing from a liquid to a gas (water vapor)

Absorption

roots of plants and soil take in ground water

Runoff

water not absorbed by soil travels to the ocean, rivers and lakes

biosphere

part of Earth in which life exists including land, water, and air or atmosphere

watershed

an area of land that contains a common set of streams and rivers that all drain into a single larger body of water

Transpiration

Evaporation of water from the leaves of a plant

hydrosphere

All the water on earth

groundwater

water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock.

matter

Anything that has mass and takes up space

Solid

A form of matter that has a definite shape and volume

liquid

A state of matter that has no definite shape but has a definite volume.

Gas

A state of matter with no definite shape or volume

volume

How much space an object takes up

melting

The change in state from a solid to a liquid

Freezing

The change of state from a liquid to a solid

Evaporation

The change of a substance from a liquid to a gas

Condensation

The change of state from a gas to a liquid

Conserve

to keep safe from loss, waste, or destruction.

Conservation of matter

matter cannot be created or destroyed

definite

certain or exact

mixture

A combination of two or more substances that are not chemically combined

solution

A mixture that forms when one substance dissolves another.

chemical reaction

the process by which one or more substances change to produce one or more different substances

physical properties of matter

how matter is described according to characteristics that can be observed (ex: color, hardness, magnetism)

Magentism

The property of attraction to a magnet

electrical conductivity

How well a substance allows electricity to flow through it.

thermal conductivity

The ability of an object to transfer heat

Solubility

The ability to dissolve in another substance

Hardness

A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched

mass

the amount of matter in an object

food chain

how energy flows from one organism to another

food web

how all food chains are connected in an ecosystem

producer

An organism that can make its own food.

consumer

An organism that gets energy by eating food (plants or other animals)

decomposer

An organism that breaks down dead organisms

energy

the ability to do work

Herbivore

A consumer that eats only plants.

Carnivore

A consumer that eats only animals.

Omnivore

An animal that eats both plants and animals

Photosynthesis

process by which plants use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar.

roots

Absorbs water and minerals from the ground. Anchors plant in ground.

stem

moves water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves, carries food from the leaves to all parts of the plant.

leaf

The major sites of photosynthesis in most plants.

carbon dioxide

a gas given off by humans, that plants need for photosynthesis

oxygen

by-product of photosynthesis (released into the air)

glucose

sugar produced by photosynthesis