Secondary Science 4 Study Guide
These are topics that you need to know or questions you should be able to answer.
However they are not all guaranteed to be on the exam. Make thoughtful decisions
about what topics are worth spending more time on reviewing.
Chapter 1 – Atoms and Elements
 Groups and periods
o In what groups (families) or periods do we find an element
o What properties do elements in the same groups have?
o How is an elements period related to its # of electron shells?
 Rutherford-Bohr atomic model
o Be able to draw the RB model of any of the first 20 elements
o What are the parts of the RB model?
 Lewis Notation
o Be able to find # of valence electrons of an atom
o Be able to draw the lewis notation (diagram) of an element
Chapter 2 – Molecules and Solutions
 Concentration of solutions
o Make sure you know how to use the C = m/v formula.
o Be able to convert between g/L, ppm and percentage (m/v, m/m, v/v)
 Electrolytes
o What is an electrolyte?
o How are electrolytes made?
 pH scale
o Using the pH scale to describe acids (acidity) and bases (alkalinity)
o Know the effects of pH on litmus paper
o What does it mean to increase or decrease in pH values?
o Be able to find the pH of common substances (e.g.distilledwater,
rainwater, saliva, lemon juice, cleaners)
 Electrolytic Dissociation
o What is electrolytic dissociation?
 Ions
o What are ions?
o Where do they come from and how are they formed?
 Electrical Conductivity
o How do you know if an aqueous solution will conduct electricity?
What is in a solution that will conduct electricity?
Chapter 3 – Forms of Energy
 Conservation of Energy
o What is the difference between energy transfer and energy
transformation?
o What is the law of conservation of energy?
o What are the difference forms of energy?
o Be able to use energy transfer and energy transformation in examples
 Energy Efficiency
o Know how to use the Energy Efficiency formula and what it means
o (amount of useful energy / amount of energy consumed x100)
o How can you improve the energy efficiency of a machine?
 Heat and Temperature
o What is the difference between heat and temperature? How are they
related?
o How is heat related to energy?
Chapter 4 – Changes in Matter
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Conservation of mass
o What is the law of conservation of mass?
o Be able to balance chemical equations
o Be able to find the mass of a product or reactant given the masses of
other molecules in a chemical equation
o Be able to explain conservation of mass using a particle model
drawing
Combustion
o What happens (what can you see or feel) during a combustion
reaction?
o Explain what happens during a combustion reaction
o Explain why heat, oxygen and fuel (fire triangle) are necessary in a
combustion reaction
Acid-Base Neutralization
o What are the products formed during neutralization?
o What are some examples where neutralization reactions are used?
o Be able to recognize a neutralization reaction from the products and
reactants
Photosynthesis
o What is photosynthesis
o What is the chemical reaction for photosynthesis?
Respiration
o What is respiration? What is the chemical reaction for respiration?
Chapter 5 – Electricity and Magnetism
 Electricity
o What particles have electrical charges?
o What signs (positive or negative) do these particles have?
o Like charges repel one another
o Opposite charges attract one another
o What is static electricity?
o How are objects charged?
 Ohm’s Law
o Be able to describe voltage, resistance and current intensity and how
they are related in circuits
o ***Do practice problems using the V = IxR formula***
 Circuits
o What are the different parts of an electric circuit? What are their roles
in the circuit?
o What is the difference between a circuit in series and a circuit in
parallel?
o Be able to draw circuits and correct circuit drawings
 Power and electrical energy
o How is the power of a machine related to electrical energy?
o Do practice problems using the P = IxV formula
o ***Do practice problems using the E = P x time formula*** using Joules
and kWh for energy units
 Magnetic Fields
o Be able to draw the magnetic field of a bar magnet
o Use the right hand rule to find the magnetic field of a live wire
o How does the magnetic field change when you change the current in
the wire or the material of the wire
o What happens to a compass near a magnetic field? Use drawings to
describe what happens.
Chapter 6 – Lithosphere and Hydrosphere
 Watersheds
o What is a watershed?
o How do humans affect the flow of water in watersheds?
 Salinity
o What is salinity?
o How does salinity affect density in a solution?
 Ocean circulation
o What factors affect surface currents and deep currents? (e.g. wind, the
Earth's rotation, temperature, salinity, density)
o What is thermohaline circulation? Why is it important?
o What is the gulf stream?
 Glaciers
o What is the difference between glaciers and pack ice?
o What is the impact of melting glaciers and pack ice?
 Minerals
o Use the properties of minerals to identify basic minerals
o What is the difference between minerals and ore?
o What is the environmental impact of mining ore?
 Soil
o Know the different soil horizons and what they are composed of
o What is permafrost?
o What the consequences of thawing permafrost?
Chapter 7 – Atmosphere and Space
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Greenhouse Effect
o What is the greenhouse effect?
o Explain the consequences of increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere
 Air Masses
o Describe the properties of air masses (temperature, relative humidity,
pressure)
o Explain how clouds are formed with different air masses meet
 Atmospheric Ciculation
o Explain what factors lead to atmospheric circulation
o Explain the formation of cyclones (low pressure areas) and
anticyclones (high-pressure areas)
 Natural Resources
o What sources of energy resources can be found in the lithosphere and
atmosphere?
o Which are renewable? Which are non-renewable?
o What technologies are used to make electricity from these resources?
o How are the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere affected by
the use of the resources?
 Earth-Moon system
o How are tides affected by the gravity of the moon?
o How do we get high and low tide?
 Solar Energy
o What factors affect the amount of solar energy that reaches the
surface of earth?
Chapter 8 – The biosphere
 Carbon cycle
o What are the forms of carbon and the processes in the carbon cycle?
(e.g. photosynthesis, plant decomposition, dissolution in water,
combustion of fossil fuels)
 Biomes
o What factors determine the type of biome that will be found in a
certain region? (e.g. latitude, humidity, temperature, salinity)
o What are the properties of terrestrial biomes (e.g. fauna, flora, climate,
type of soil) and marine biomes (e.g.fauna, flora, temperature,
salinity)
Chapter 9 – Populations and Communities
 Populations
o What is population density?
o What are the different distributions of a population?
o What are population cycles?
o How do birth rate, death rate, immigration, and emigration affect
population sizes?
o How does the amount of available resources affect population size?
 Communities
o What is a community?
o How are ecosystems and communities different?
o What are the relationships involved in communities?
o What is biodiversity?
o What affects the biodiversity of a community?
 Disturbances
o What are the factors that disturb the ecological balance (e.g. human
activity, natural disasters)?
Chapter 10 – Ecosystems
 Trophic Relationships
o What kinds of organisms are in the different trophic levels?
(producers, consumers, decomposers)
o What kinds of interactions happen between trophic levels?
o Where and how does energy get transferred between organisms?
o Where and how does matter get transferred between organisms?
o How is matter recycled in an ecosystem?
 Primary productivity
o What is primary productivity?
o What affects primary productivity?
Chapters 11 -13 “Technological World”
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Know the important features of technical drawings
o Be able to tell apart the different parts and figure out what they do
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Links
o direct or indirect, rigid or flexible, removable or permanent, partial or
complete
o What kind of link would you choose in different situations?
o Explain the role of a link in an object (e.g. using a screw makes it
possible to attach and remove a battery case)
o Know the typical functions of a link (linking, guiding, sealing,
lubricating)
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Motion transmission and transformation systems
o How do the different motion transformation systems function? (Screw
gear system, cams, connecting rods, cranks, slides, rotating slider
crank mechanisms, rack-and-pinion drive)
o How do the different motion transmission systems function? (friction
gears, pulleys and belt, gear assembly, sprocket wheels and chain,
wheel and worm gear)
o Why would you use one type of motion transmission over another?
(e.g. toothed gears vs. friction gears)
o What systems allow for speed changes in a machine?
o Be able to identify the transmission or transformation systems in an
object or machine.
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Guiding controls
o Explain the choice of a guiding control in an object (e.g.the slide
guides a drawer and reduces friction)
 Power supply
o Where does the object get the electrical current to function
o What is conduction and insulation?
o What are fuses and breakers for?
 Control
o How is the electrical current controlled?
o What kinds of switches are there?
o What are polar and bipolar switches
o What are unidirectional and bidirectional switches?
 Energy Transformation
o How is energy transformed in different circuits?
o How is energy transformed in different machines? (e.g. in a cell phone,
electricity is transformed into light for the display and vibrations for
the sound)
 Constraints
o What are the forces of constraints in a material tension, compression,
torsion, deflection, shearing (e.g. a diving board is subject to
deflection)
 Materials
o Be able to explain why one material would be chosen over another in
an object.
o What procedures can be done to materials to make them last longer?