Copy of `Pearson Longman - Glossary of science`

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Pearson Longman - Glossary of science Category: Sciences Date & country: 26/10/2007, UK Words: 186

Acid
[pronounce: ass-id] A substance that turns litmus red. Has a pH of less than 7.

Acid rain
Rain containing sulphuric acid and nitric acid.

Acne
[pronounce: ack-nee] Spots on the skin.

Adapted
When something is changed to help it do a particular thing. When the shape of a cell helps it do its job it is said to be 'adapted' to its job.

Adolescence
[pronounce: add-ol-less-sence] Time when both physical and emotional changes occur in humans.

Afterbirth
When the placenta is pushed out through the vagina.

Air resistance
A force that tires to slow things down that are moving through air. It is a type of friction.

Alkali
[pronounce: alk-al-lie] Substance that turns litmus blue. Has a pH of more than 7

Aluminium
A metal used for carrying electricity because it is light and a good electrical conductor.

Amnion
[pronounce: am-nee-on] Bag containing the amniotic fluid

Amniotic fluid
[pronounce: am-nee-ot-tick] Liquid surrounding the growing embryo and protecting it.

Amphibian
[pronounce: am-fib-ee-an] Vertebrate with moist skin (e.g. frog)

Annelid
[pronounce: ann-el-lid] Invertebrate with a round, worm-like body in segments (e.g. earthworm)

Antacid
[pronounce: ant-ass-id ] A medicine containing an alkali used to cancel out some of the acid in the stomach to treat heartburn.

Antenna
Singular of 'antennae'

Antennae
[pronounce: ann-ten-ee] Feelers on the heads of insects. Singular = antenna

Anther
Part of the stamen. It produces pollen grains.

Arachnid
[pronounce: ar-ack-nid] Anthropod with four pairs of legs (e.g. spider).

Arthropod
[pronounce: arth-row-pod ] Invertebrate that has jointed legs (e.g. fly, spider).

Ascorbic acid
Chemical name for vitamin C

Asexual reproduction
Producing new organisms from one parent only.

Asteroid
[pronounce: ass-ter-oyd ] A small lump of rock orbiting around the Sun.

Atomic energy
Another word for nuclear energy

Axis
[pronounce: acks-iss ] Imaginary vertical line that goes from one pole of the Earth to the other. The Earth turns around on this line.

Bacteria
[pronounce: bac-teer-ry-ah] Tiny living things that can cause disease.

Balanced forces
When two forces are the same strength, but working in opposite directions.

Biomass
[pronounce: bi-O-mass ] Any fuel that comes from plants, animals, or their wastes (e.g. wood, methane from rotting plants, etc.)

Bird
Vertebrate with feathers (e.g. eagle)

Boiling point
When a liquid is at its boiling point it is as hot as it can get. It is evaporating as fast as it can.

Bonds
Forces holding particles together

Brain
Organ that controls what the body does.

Breathing
[pronounce: bree-thing] Taking in air and blowing out air.

Breathing system
[pronounce: bree-thing] Set of organs that allow breathing to happen.

Brine
A solution of common salt and water.

Capsule
A small space vehicle - a capsule usually only carries two or three people.

Carpel
[pronounce: car-pull] Female reproductive organ found in flowers,. Is made of stigma, style and ovary.

Cell (in biology)
[pronounce: sell] The basic unit which living things are made of

Cell (in physics)
[pronounce: sell] It contains a store of chemical energy that can produce electricity (the scientific name for a battery).

Cell membrane
[pronounce: sell mem-brain] Controls what goes into and out of a living cell

Cell sap
Substance found inside a vacuole

Cell wall
Tough wall around plant cells. Helps to support the cell.

Cell-division
One cell divides into two new cells.

Cellulose
[pronounce: sell-you-loze ] Substance from which cell walls are made.

Celsius
[pronounce: sell-see-us] Degrees Celsius - the units for temperature (°C)

Centipede
[pronounce: sent-ip-eed ] Anthropod with long, thin body divided into sections. One pair of legs on each body section.

Cervix
[pronounce: sir-vicks ] Ring of muscle at the bottom of the uterus in females.

Chemical energy
The kind of energy stored in chemicals. Food, fuels and batteries all contain chemical energy.

Chlorine
[pronounce: klor-een ] A chemical added to water to kill bacteria.

Chlorophyll
[pronounce: klor-O-fill] Green substance found inside chloroplasts.

Chloroplast
[pronounce: klor-O-plast ] Green disc containing chlorophyll. Found in plant cells and used to make food by photosynthesis.

Chromatogram
[pronounce: krow-mat-O-gram ] The dried piece of paper produced by chromatography.

Chromatography
[pronounce: krow-mat-og-graph-ee ] Separating dissolved solids from one another. The solids are usually coloured.

Chromosome
[pronounce: crow-mow-sOme ] Thread-like strands contained in the nucleus of cells. They contain the instructions for a living thing.

Cilia
[pronounce: silly-a ] Small hairs on the surface of some cells.

Ciliated
[pronounce: sill-ay-ted] Cells having cilia are 'ciliated'.

Ciliated epithelial cell
[pronounce: silly-ay-ted eppy-theel-ee-al] Cell found in the lungs.

Circulatory system
[pronounce: serk-you-late-or-ee ] Set of organs that carry oxygen and food around the body.

Circumcision
[pronounce: sir-cum-siz-shun] Removal of the foreskin.

Classification
[pronounce: clas-if-ik-ay-shun] Sorting things into groups

Cnidarian
[pronounce: nid-air-y-an] Invertebrates with thin sack-like bodies (e.g. jellyfish).

Coal
A fossil fuel made from the remains of plants.

Cold-blooded
Animal with a body temperature that changes with the surroundings.

Common-salt
A chemical we use to make things taste 'salty'.

con-stell-ay-shun
A pattern of stars.

Concentrate
We concentrate a solution by adding more of the solute to it.

Condenser
A piece of apparatus that cools down gases to turn them into liquids.

Condensing
A gas turning into a liquid.

Conduction
[pronounce: con-duck-shun] The way heat travels through solids.

Conductor
A material that lets energy travel through it easily.

Cone
Something used to carry the seeds of conifers.

Conifer
[pronounce: con-if-er ] Plant with needle-shaped leaves. Reproduces using seeds found in cones.

Conservation of energy
See Law of Conservation of Energy Constellation

Contact force
A force that needs to touch an object before it can affect it (e.g. friction).

Contraction
[pronounce: con-track-shun] When something is getting smaller.

contractions
[pronounce: con-track-shuns] The uterus starts to push out the baby during labour.

Convection
[pronounce: con-veck-shun] A way that heat travels through liquids and gases

Convection current
[pronounce: con-veck-shun] A flow of liquid or gas caused by part of it being heated or cooled more than the rest.

Cord
Carries food, oxygen and waste between the placenta and the growing fetus

Corrosive
[pronounce: cor-row-sive ] Substances that attack metals, stonework and skin are called corrosive

Coverslip
Thin piece of glass used to hold a specimen in place on a slide.

Cross-pollination
Transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma of a different plant.

Crustacean
[pronounce: crust-ay-shun] Arthropod with chalky shell and 5-7 pairs of legs (e.g. lobster).

Cutting
A side stem is cut off a plant and allowed to sprout roots to make a new plant.

Cytoplasm
[pronounce: site-O-plaz-m ] Jelly inside a cell where the cell's activities happen.

Daughter cells
The new cells formed in cell division

Day
24 hours, the time it takes the Earth to spin once on its axis

Degree Celsius
[pronounce: sell-see-us] Units for temperature (°C)

Density
The amount of mass that 1 cm3 of a substance has.Measured in g/ cm3

Desalination
[pronounce: dee-sall-in-ay-shun] Removing salt from sea water.

Diffusion
When particles mix with each other without anything moving them.

Digestive system
[pronounce: die-jest-iv] Set of organs used to break down food in our bodies.

Dilute
We dilute a solution by adding more of the solvent to it.

Dissolving
[pronounce: dizz-olv-ing ] When a solid splits up and mixes with a liquid to make a solution.

Distillation
The process of separating a liquid from a solution by evaporating the liquid and then condensing it.

Double-glazing
A way of insulating windows by trapping air between two layers of glass.

Drag
Air resistance and water resistance are both sometimes called drag.

Earth
The planet we live on.

Echinoderm
[pronounce: ek-eye-no-derm] Invertebrate that has a body in five parts (e.g. starfish).

Efficiency
[pronounce: ef-fish-en-see] A way of saying how much energy something wastes.

Efficient
[pronounce: ef-fish-ent] Something that does not waste much energy.