Download PASS Study Guide - McColl Elementary Middle School

PASS Study Guide
Layers of Earth’s Atmosphere in Order From Highest to Lowest Layer
Exosphere (This is the area where satellites and space shuttles are)
Thermosphere (Thickest layer; Contains ionosphere which is electrically charged particles)
Mesosphere (Has meteors)
Stratosphere (Contains the ozone layer)
Troposphere (Layer closest to Earth; Where all weather occurs)
*Air pressure and temperature decreases as you go higher in Earth’s atmosphere so the Troposphere will have the most
air pressure and the Exosphere will have the least.
-Nitrogen and Oxygen are the two most common gases found in the atmosphere.
-The ozone layer protects us from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation (UV Rays). It has holes in it that allow those
harmful rays to reach us and it causes us to get cancer. These holes are caused by CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) that are
released from certain spray cans.
-Water Cycle: Precipitation falls from clouds. Condensation is water vapor that forms clouds. Evaporation is when water
molecules leave a water source and rise into the air. Run off is when precipitation runs along the ground. It is a
continuous cycle.
-Because of Earth’s curved surface, the Sun’s rays strike the equator more directly than areas toward the north or south
poles.
-The rotation of Earth causes moving air and water to appear to turn to the right north of the equator and left south of
the equator.
- A sea breeze is the movement of air from the sea to land. A land breeze is the movement of air from land to the sea.
-Jet streams are narrow belts of strong winds that blow near the top of the troposphere.
-Humidity is how much moisture/water vapor is held in the air.
Clouds
Stratus- layer of clouds like a blanket; indicate fair weather or rain
Cumulus-puffy white clouds with flat bases; brings fair weather or thunderstorms
Cirrus-thin, whispy clouds; indicate approaching storms
-Fog occurs when air is cooled to its dew point near the ground.
-Precipitation is any type of water falling from a cloud. Some types of precipitation are rain, sleet, snow, and hail.
-Fronts are a boundary between two air masses of different density, moisture, and temperature. There are cold fronts,
warm fronts, occluded fronts, and stationary fronts.
-Tornadoes occur on land while hurricanes occur over oceans.
-Thunder results from the rapid heating of air around a bolt of lightning.
-Blizzards are winter storms that have low temperature, poor visibility (it’s hard to see), snow is falling, and it lasts for at
least 3 hours.
-Meteorologists are people who study the weather. They record weather data on a station model which is a map that
uses symbols.
-Isotherms are lines on a station model that connect points of equal temperature. Isobars are lines on a station model
that connect points of equal atmospheric pressure.
Types of Energy (The ability to cause change)
Kinetic Energy-deals with moving objects. Ex: A moving car.
Potential Energy-deals with objects that are not moving. Ex: Ball at rest.
Chemical Energy-deals with energy stored in chemical bonds. Ex: Food being digested.
Thermal Energy-deals with heat. Ex: A lit candle giving off heat.
Electrical Energy-energy carried by an electric current. Ex: Electricity giving a blow dryer power.
Solar Energy-energy from the sun. Ex: Some cars have panels that collect the Sun’s energy to drive.
-The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy is not created or destroyed. It can change form.
-Conductors allow electrons to move through them easily. Examples of conductors are iron and metal. Insulators do not
allow electrons to move through them easily. Examples of insulators are paper, wood, and rubber.
-An electric current shows the flow of electrical charges.
-A series circuit has only one path for the electric current to follow, while a parallel circuit has more than one path.
-Like magnetic poles (N and N, S and S) repel each other. Unlike poles (S and N) attract each other.
-An electromagnet is a current carrying wire wrapped around an iron core. This is what we made in class with the
battery, wire, and nail. In order to increase the magnetism, we can add more coils of wire or more batteries.
-A generator uses a magnetic field to turn motion into electricity. A transformer is a device that changes the voltage of
an alternating current with little loss of energy (Remember the video of the little bolt of electricity that got bigger or
smaller when it went through transformers!).
Science Tools
Barometer measures air pressure.
Anemometer measures wind speed.
Rain Gauge measures the amount of rainfall.
Thermometer measure temperature.
Wind Vane tells the direction the wind is blowing.
Microscope makes microscopic (very small) organisms visible. 10x means it makes it 10 times bigger.
Triple Beam Balance measures mass by moving the 3 sliders until it is balanced and add them up.
Graduated Cylinder/Beaker measures the volume of a liquid.
Spring Scale measures the force of an object.
Sling Psychrometer measures relative humidity.
Inquiry Skills
Control variables are anything that stay the same the entire experiment. You can have multiple control variables. (During
our conduction experiment we used the same cup, candle, and tongs)
Independent variable is the one thing we change in an experiment. (During our conduction experiment we added heat
to the water. That was the only thing we changed.)
Dependent variable is what you measure. (During our conduction experiment we measured the temperature of the
water.)
Qualitative observations deal with using your senses. Ex: The dog is brown. She is a girl. That smells bad.
Quantitative observations deal with numbers/measurements. Ex: The boy is 4 feet tall. I have six books.
Inference is a guess about something in the present using context clues. (Based on my Twilight and Vampire Diaries
posters on the wall, you can infer that I like vampires.)
Prediction is a guess about the future. (I predict it will rain tomorrow.);
A dichotomous key is used to classify organisms. You follow/answer the questions to find the correct organism.
Scientific Method
Purpose (Why are we doing this experiment? What do we hope to gain/figure out?)
Research (Find out as much about your topic as you can!)
Hypothesis (An educated guess about what you think will happen. If I do this, then this will happen.)
Experiment (Do the actual experiment, identify your three variables)
Analysis (Record what happened during your experiment. Make charts/graphs/tables.)
Conclusion (Was your hypothesis right or wrong and why?)
Simple Machines
Type
Definition
Examples
Lever
Rigid bar moves around fixed point
Tweezers, crowbar, wheelbarrow
Pulley
Grooved wheel with a rope
Flag pole, crane, window blinds
Inclined Plane
Sloping surface reduces force needed Ramp, stairs
Wedge
Inclined plane that moves
Teeth, axe, knife blade
Screw
Inclined plane wrapped around a
Screws, bolts, jar lids
cylinder
Wheel and Axle
2 circular objects that rotate together Doorknob, Bike Wheel, Screwdriver
*Compound/Complex machines are made of two or more simple machines.
*Work means to apply force to an object over a distance and the object moves in response to the force.
Heat (When energy moves from a warmer object to a cooler object)
Type
Definition
Conduction
Transfer of heat when particles
collide/touch
Example
Placing an ice cube on the sidewalk
and it melting is conduction because
the hot sidewalk is touching it.
Convection
Transfer of heat by the movement of Stirring soup heats it by convection
the heated substance
because you move the warmer liquid
at the bottom to the top.
Radiation
Transfer of heat through waves or
The microwave heats food through
rays
radiation.
Classification Pyramid: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Kingdom is the biggest category while
species is the smallest/most specific. A scientific name is made of the Genus and Species. You capitalize the Genus name
but not the species and put both in italics. All living things must be able to reproduce, move, grow/develop.
Heterotrophs are consumers (have to find food) while autotrophs are producers (make their own food).
Animals: Animals are divided into 2 categories vertebrates (have a backbone) and invertebrates (no backbone). All
animals are multicellular, heterotrophs, able to reproduce, and can defend themselves.
Invertebrates
Type
Information
Example
Sponge
Obtain food through their pores
Sponges in the ocean (not your sink)
(holes)
Cnidarian
Mainly in salt water, stun prey and
Coral, jellyfish, hydra
bring to them with tentacles
Segmented Worms
Body in sections, have nervous
Earthworm, leeches
system and blood vessels
Mollusk
Soft body, muscular foot, gets oxygen Slugs, snail, clam, octopuses
through gills or lungs
Echinoderms
Arms from middle body, tube feet
Sea stars, sea urchins
that take in oxygen from water
Arthropods
Jointed legs, segmented bodies,
Insects, arachnids, crustaceans
exoskeletons (hard outer covering)
Vertebrates
Type
Information
Examples
Bird
Warm blooded, oxygen through
Seagull, eagle, robin
lungs, lay eggs, have feathers/beaks,
born knowing how to fly (inherited)
Fish
Cold blooded, lay eggs, oxygen
Trout, catfish, tuna
through gills, born knowing how to
swim (inherited)
Mammals
Warm blooded, oxygen through
Dog, cat, elephant, lion, kangaroo
lungs, give live birth, produce milk for
young
Reptiles
Cold blooded, oxygen through lungs, Snake, lizard, iguana
most lay eggs
Amphibians
Cold blooded, oxygen through gills
Frog, toad, salamander
when young and lungs when adults,
lay eggs, metamorphosis
*Endothermic is warm blooded. This means their bodies use energy to stay at a constant temperature. Ectothermic is
cold blooded. This means their bodies save energy and these animals’ temperatures depend on their surroundings.
*Inherited behaviors are what animals are born already knowing (Fish know how to swim). Learned behaviors are
developed over time(I learned if I touch a hot stove it will burn).
*Animals reproduce either sexually (with a partner) or asexually (one parent).
*Panting and sweating get rid of excess body heat. Some animals shed their fur in the summer to cool off. Shivering
causes your body to start warming up. Blinking is an automatic response to protect your eye. Some animals store food
for winter since there won’t be any on the ground.
*Courtship is trying to attract a mate. Mimicry is copying a stronger animal to protect themselves. Camouflage is
blending in with your environment. Stinky smells, ejections, and stingers help protect animals. Migration is the
movement of animals to a warmer climate (birds and monarch butterflies do this). Hibernation is reduced body activity
during colder months to conserve energy (chipmunks and bears do this). Imprinting is recognizing the first moving object
as ones mother.
Plants
*Vascular plants have tubes that carry water and nutrients throughout the plant. Nonvascular plants do not have
roots/stems so they absorb water and nutrients directly from their surroundings.
*Plants reproduce through seeds or spores. Seeds are protected on the outside by a seed coat. The cotyledon makes up
most of the inside and it stores food. The embryo is a tiny growth inside (remember the little bump in our pinto bean)
where a new plant is beginning to form.
Plant Part
Monocots
Dicots
Seed
One cotyledon
Two cotyledon
Leaf
Parallel veins
Branching veins
Stem
Bundles of vascular tissue scattered
Bundles of vascular tissue arranged in
throughout stem
a ring
Flower
Parts in threes
Parts in fours or fives
*Photosynthesis is the process of taking in water from roots, sunlight, and carbon dioxide through leaves to make the
plant’s food (sugar/glucose) and oxygen to be released. A plant’s stomata (tiny openings on the bottom of leaves) open
and close with the help of guard cells to regulate the plant’s carbon dioxide. Respiration is the process of breaking down
food to release energy. Transpiration is water leaving a plant through it’s leaves (it’s part of the water cycle).
*Dormancy is a time when plants don’t grow (germinate) such as during the winter. That’s because they know they
wouldn’t survive.
*Fungi acts as decomposers to break down dead plant matter. Some fungi can be parasites and steal food from their
host organism. They can cause disease in some food crops.
*Male reproductive plant part is the stamen which produce pollen while the female reproductive part is the pistil which
has the ovary. Roots are below ground that absorb water and nutrients and anchor the plant. The stem is the tall part
that provides support and transports (trees have woody stems and flowers have herbaceous stems). Fibrous roots don’t
go very deep and include grasses and corn. Taproots have a deep root and include carrots and dandelions.
*Xylem carries water up through the plant from the roots to leaves. Phloem carries food made in the leaves to the rest
of the plant including the roots.
*To protect themselves, some plants have certain defenses. Some plants have thorns or sharp spines. Others are
poisonous. This is to ward off animals that would eat the plant.
*When a plant develops (grows) the first part to emerge from the seed is the root. The root grows downward into the
soil and absorbs water. Then the stem pushes up and lifts leaves out of the soil. Once they get sunlight they start making
food by photosynthesis. Once the plant is mature, it has all the structures it needs to reproduce.