Science Final Exam Study Guide

1. Science Final Exam Study Guide End of Year 2012

2. Student name _____________________ • Date ________________ • Period _________ • I have either assisted my child in studying for this test or have observed him/her studying. • Parent signature: _____________________ • Bonus of 10 Points for parent signature.

3. #1 • When earthworms add their waste to the soil, then die and decay in the soil, they are contributing to the formation of humus.

4. #2 • Soil that is rich in humus has high fertility.

5. #3 • A hot and wet climate causes weathering to take place rapidly.

6. #4 • Ice wedging causes mechanical weathering of rock by means of freezing and thawing of water.

7. #5 • Any form of water that falls from clouds is called precipitation.

8. #6 • Large clouds that often produce thunderstorms are called cumulonimbus clouds.

9. #7 • A volcano that may erupt sometime in the distant future is called dormant.

10. #8 • Before lava reaches the surface, the molten material is called magma.

11. #9 • In a heliocentric system, Earth revolves around the sun.

12. #10 • The layer of the sun you see looking at when you look at an image of the sun is the photosphere.

13. #11 • When a tsunami hits the shore, it can be very destructive because of its large wave height.

14. #12 • A nearly flat region of the ocean floor, covered with thick layers of sediment, is called an abyssal plain.

15. #13 • A technique that uses sound waves to measure the depth of the ocean floor is sonar.

16. #14 • Earth’s atmosphere is important to living things because it provides all the gases that living things need to survive.

17. #15 • The atmosphere is the layer of gases that surround Earth.

18. #16 • The lifetime of a star depends on its mass.

19. #17 • A light year is the distance light travels in a year.

20. #18 • Pangaea is the name of the supercontinent that existed millions of years ago.

21. #19 • The transfer of energy through empty space is called radiation.

22. #20 • The correct order of Earth’s layers, starting from the surface is: crust, mantle, outer core, inner core.

23. #21 • The softest mineral on the Mohs hardness scale is talc….the hardest is a diamond.

24. #22 • If you broke a mineral into tiny pieces, it would still show the same crystal structure.

25. #23 • Although brick, steel, and glass all come from substances found in Earth’s crust, they are not classified as minerals because they are not naturally occurring.

26. #24 • A mineral is inorganic, which means that it contains no materials that were once part of living things.

27. #25 • Astronomy is the branch of Earth Science that includes the study of stars.

28. #26 • The ability to do work or cause change is called energy.

29. #27 • The total amount of water on Earth is fairly constant.

30. #28 • Approximately 3% of Earth’s water is fresh water.

31. #29 • The energy that produces ocean waves comes from wind blowing across the water’s surface.

32. #30 • The process by which natural forces move weathered rock and soil from one place to another is called erosion.

33. #31 • Fossil fuels are considered nonrenewable resources because they take hundreds of millions of years to form.

34. #32 • The three main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas.

35. #33 • If the Coast Guard warns of a giant wave of water approaching the shore as the result of a major earthquake, they are warning of a tsunami.

36. #34 • A seismograph records the ground movements caused by seismic waves.

37. #35 • Earth has seasons because its axis is tilted as it moves around the sun.

38. #36 • Day and night are caused by Earth’s rotation on its axis.

39. #37 • The season’s are caused by the tilt of Earth’s axis as Earth revolves around the sun.

40. #38 • The average year-after-year conditions of temperature, precipitation, winds, and clouds in an area are known as climate.

41. #39 • Fossils are formed when living things die and their remains are buried by sediment.

42. #40 • A fossil is the preserved remains or traces of an organism.