iLEAP STUDY GUIDE
Name: _____________________________________________________
Answer: Answers will vary.
Never eat or drink during science activities. Wear goggles
when there is a possibility of eye injury. Always walk with
pointed objects like scissors down. Tell the teacher if there
is an accident. Follow all of the teacher’s instructions.
Answer:
Question:
Quantitative comes from the word quantity and means
What is the difference between
number descriptions like measurements. Qualitative
qualitative and quantitative
comes from the word quality and are descriptions that are
descriptions?
not measurements using your 5 senses to describe.
Answer:
Question:
Mass is measured in grams by a triple beam balance.
List three physical properties of
Volume is measured by liters and can be measured by a
matter and the way they are
graduated cylinder or by displacement of water. Density is
measured.
mass per unit volume. Other properties are color,
conductivity, and malleability to name a few.
Question:
Answer:
Which is more dense water or
Water is the densest. Oil floats on the water so is less
oil? Explain your answer.
dense than the water.
Answer:
Question:
Solids have a definite volume and shape regardless of their
How do the physical properties of container. Liquids take the shape of their container, but
solids and liquids differ?
have a definite volume.
Question:
Describe three safety measures
you observe during a science
activity.
Question:
How are the physical properties
of mass and volume observed in
solids and liquids?
Question: Distinguish between
physical and chemical changes.
Explain your reasoning and use a
match stick as an example.
Answer:
To find the mass of a solid you can put it on a triple beam
balance. To find the mass of a liquid you can put it in a
container, put the container on a triple beam balance, and
then subtract the mass of the container. To find the
volume of a solid you can put it in a container of liquid and
find out how much liquid is displaced or measure and
multiply LXWXH.
Answer: Chemical changes occur when the properties of
the substance are changed by rearranging the atoms.
When a match is burned carbon dioxide and water vapor
are released from the wooden match stick forever
changing it. New substances are formed.
Physical changes occur when the appearance of a
substance is changed but the chemical characteristics
remain the same like when a match stick is broken into
pieces. No new substances are formed.
Question:
List 3 things that can be observed
when a chemical change is
occurring (evidence that a
chemical reaction is occurring.)
Question:
Describe the pattern for atomic
numbers of elements on the
periodic table as you move down
a column and across a row.
Question:
Name 3 elements that have
similar properties. Give their
symbols and the number of
protons of each. You may refer to
a periodic table.
Question:
What are the 3 subatomic
particles, where are they located,
and what is the charge of each?
Question:
If a car is traveling 60 miles per
hour, how far has it traveled in 2
hours?
Question:
What forces are working on
someone jumping out of a plane
in a parachute?
Question:
When does potential energy
change to kinetic energy when
bouncing a basket ball?
Question:
List three renewable, three nonrenewable, and three
inexhaustible natural resources
and/or sources of energy.
Answer:
 a change in color
 temperature change
 formation of a precipitate
 formation of a gas
Answer:
Atomic numbers increase down columns (families/groups)
and also increases from left to right across a row.
Answer:
Answers may vary but the three elements should be in the
same column for example: fluorine, F, 9; chlorine, Cl, 17;
bromine, Br, 35. Another example: lithium, Li, 3; sodium,
Na, 11; potassium, K, 19.
Answer:
1)proton, in nucleus, positive charge
2)neutron, in nucleus, no charge (neutral)
3) electron, outside of nucleus, negative charge
Answer:
If the car can travel 60 miles in 1 hour, it can travel 120
miles in 2 hours. 60 miles/hr X 2 hrs = 120 miles
Answer:
Gravity is pulling the parachute down and air is resisting
the downward pull.
Answer:
When the ball is in your hand before you release it the ball
has potential energy. The moment the ball is in motion it
has kinetic energy. At the very top of the bounce when
the ball is momentarily stopped it has potential energy
again.
Answer:
Renewable= lumber, crops, water, renewable energy
(wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal)
Non-renewable= ores (metals), minerals, energy-fossil
fuels(coal, oil, gas)
Inexhaustible= air, energy- wind and solar
Question:
Name some materials that
conduct heat and electricity.
Question:
Describe the difference between
a parallel and a series circuit.
Question:
Where in a battery powered
circuit which includes a light bulb
is one form of energy converted
to another form of energy.
Question:
Give 3 examples of the different
forms of energy that electricity
can transform into.
Question:
What is the source of heat and
light on the sun?
Question:
Explain why the objects in the sky
appear to move from east to
west.
Question:
What organelles are found in an
animal cell?
Question:
Compare plant and animal cells.
Question:
Explain 3 ways diseases are
spread in a population.
Answer:
Paper clip, copper wire, metals, salt water.
Answer:
Parallel circuits branch and series circuits do not. Making a
break in a parallel circuit with several lights attached may
not result in turning off all off the all of the lights
(depending on where the circuit is broken). If a break is
made anywhere on a series circuit it will put out all of the
lights on the circuit.
Answer:
The battery converts chemical energy to electrical energy.
The light bulb converts electrical energy to light and heat
energy.
Answer:
heat, light, mechanical
Answer:
Nuclear fusion which converts hydrogen to helium
Answer:
Stars and planets appear to move from east to west on a
nightly basis in response to the rotation of Earth.
Answer:
Nucleus, Nucleolus (within nucleus), Cytoplasm,
Mitochondria, Vacuoles, Lysosomes, Cell membrane,
Ribosomes, Endoplasmic Reticulum
Answer:
Plant cells have a cell membrane but in contrast to animal
cells they also have a rigid cell wall. Plant cells also contain
chloroplasts and animal cells do not. Plant cells usually
contain larger vacuoles than plant cells.
Answer:
physical contact, contaminated food, body fluids, objects,
airborne inhalation, or through vector organisms (insects
and their relatives, parasites, etc)
Question:
Name the levels of organization
of living things starting with the
most basic unit- the cell.
Question:
What is a dichotomous key and
what is it used for? MEMORIZE
THIS!!!!!! Know how to answer
problems looking at a
dichotomous key.
Question:
Name the developmental stages
of a frog in correct order starting
with the egg.
Question:
Compare the raw materials and
products of photosynthesis and
cellular respiration.
Question:
Explain the difference between
living and non-living components
in an ecosystem and give
examples.
Question:
What is meant by biotic and
abiotic?
Question:
Select one biome and name 2
animals and 2 plants with their
adaptations to that biome.
Answer:
Cell, tissue , organ, organ system, organism
(population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere)
Answer:
Dichotomous key, a device that can be used to identify an
unknown organism, consists of a series of 2 part
statements that describe characteristics of organisms.
Answer:
Egg, tadpole, adult frog.
Answer:
Photosynthesis:
Raw materials= CO2 (carbon dioxide) + H20 (water);
Products= O2 (oxygen gas) + C6H1206 (glucose)
Respiration:
Raw materials =O2 (oxygen gas) + C6H1206 (glucose);
Products = CO2 (carbon dioxide) + H2O (water)
Answer:
Living components include the plants, animals and all
other organisms in an ecosystem.
Non-living components are things that make up the
physical environment (rainfall, temperature, sunlight,
mineral, etc)
Answer:
Biotic=living components in an ecosystem
Abiotic = non-living components in an ecosystem
Answer:
Example: Desert
Plants- cactus, Joshua tree, creosote bush, sagebrush
Animals: Kangaroo rat, camels, snakes or lizards that
burrow during day and hunt at night.
Answer:
Populations need food, habitat and mates.
Question:
Identify resources that are
needed to sustain a population of
birds.
Question: What is the role of
Answer:
decomposers in a food chain?
Decomposers break down dead organic matter.
Question:
Explain the difference between a
food chain and a food web.
Question:
Name 3 different ecosystems
found in Louisiana.
Question:
Explain what happens if one of
the producers in a food web
disappears.
Question:
Give an example of a food chain
which includes a decomposer.
Question:
Describe 3 consequences of
human activities on local
ecosystems.
Question:
Explain how the stream table
model is like and not like a real
earth process.
Question:
Compare constructive and
destructive Earth forces.
Question:
Explain 2 ways that tectonic
plates change the face of the
earth.
Answer:
Food chains follow a single path as animals eat each other.
Food webs show how plants & animals are interconnected
by different paths.
Answer:
Wetlands (swamps, fresh, intermediate and salt marsh);
temperate forests (upland and bottomland); estuarine
(Lake Pontchartrain estuary)
Answer:
Any consumer in the food web that directly feeds only on
that producer would die out. The entire food web can be
affected. If they eat other things, they might survive.
Answer: Example:
Grassgrasshopperrobin (dies) bacteria or fungi
(decomposers)
Answer: Examples:
Cars emit exhaust that gets washed into local waterways
and pollutes, levees are built that prevent flood waters
from depositing silt so that land subsides (sinks) over time,
and over fishing of certain species like red fish causes the
species to become endangered.
Answer: Like a real stream, a stream table has sand/soil on
an inclined surface and as the water flows through the
sand/soil it causes erosion and deposition of the sand/soil.
The limitations of the stream table are the changes that
occur over time in a river system like subsidence and
seasonal changes such as flooding and drought.
Answer:
Destructive Earth forces like hurricanes and erosion do not
build land. Constructive Earth forces like deposition and
volcanoes do build land.
Answer:
Plate tectonics can cause faults which move rock layers,
river beds, etc. The faults and subduction zones can uplift
layers producing mountains or drop layers causing valleys.
Question:
Give an example of an igneous,
metamorphic, and sedimentary
rock.
Question:
Name three rocks or minerals
found in Louisiana.
Question:
List 3 organic and 3 inorganic
components of soil.
Question:
Explain how a river can be a
constructive force and a
destructive force.
Question:
Explain how the uneven heating
of the earth’s surface causes
wind.
Question:
Describe the molecular motion
that occurs when ice turns into
liquid water then into steam.
Question:
Describe the carbon/oxygen
cycle. Focus on how these cycles
are inter-related.
Answer:
Igneous ex= granite, basalt
Sedimentary ex=sandstone, shale, conglomerate,
limestone
Metamorphic ex= gneiss, slate, marble
Answer:
Rocks= limestone, chert, agate, sandstone, coal
Minerals= sulfur, salt
Answer:
Organic= decayed plant, animals and their waste, leaves
Inorganic= rock fragments, air, water
Answer:
Rivers can constructively build deltas, sandbars and levees.
Destructively, rivers can cause floods, scour its bed to
change its path or cause major erosion.
Answer:
Wind is simply air in motion. During the day, the air above
the land heats up more quickly than the air over water.
The warm air over the land expands and rises, and the
heavier, cooler air rushes in to take its place, creating
wind. At night, the winds are reversed because the air
cools more rapidly over land than over water.
Answer:
The water molecules in ice vibrate in a lattice formation.
As vibration increases the water molecule formation
becomes more random. In a liquid the molecules slide past
one another. In steam the molecules bump into each other
and spread apart.
Answer:
In the carbon cycle plants capture carbon dioxide gas from
the atmosphere and make glucose sugar. The glucose is
then used by plants for food or ingested by animals for
food. In the process of making glucose, plants release
oxygen into the atmosphere. Both plants and animals take
in this oxygen in order to break down the glucose in
cellular respiration to release the energy in the molecule.
During cellular respiration carbon dioxide is released.
When the plants and animals die microorganisms
breakdown the plants and animals releasing carbon back
to the environment.
Question:
What factors can affect the
carbon/oxygen cycle?
Question:
Why does conservation have an
impact on the carbon cycle?
Question:
How does excess nitrogen affect
waterways?
Question:
Explain how the water cycle is
powered.
Question:
What does the symbol for a
stationary front look like on a
weather map?
Question:
Name the characteristics of each
climate zone- tropical,
temperate, arctic.
Question:
Name an animal and a plant
found in each climate zonetropical, temperate, arctic,
desert.
Question:
Explain how the moon is visible
on some nights and invisible on
other nights.
Answer: There are many ways to disrupt the cycle such as:
1) When there is a scarcity of plants to make glucose the
process can be disrupted. 2) When there is a scarcity of
animals that can eat plants to recover the glucose for
energy the process is disrupted. 3) When there is a lack of
decomposition the cycle can be disrupted.
Answer:
When people conserve resources like oil and natural gas by
not burning fuel, the carbon dioxide released into the
atmosphere is reduced. This is only one impact; there are
many more.
Answer:
Excess nitrogen compounds in bodies of water will cause
excessive growth of algae (algal blooms). It acts as a
fertilizer.
Answer:
Energy from the sun drives the water cycle.
Answer:
Answer:
Tropical- Hot, humid with lots of rainfall and no detectable
changes in seasons.
Temperate- Seasonal weather changes, moderate climate
and rainfall.
Arctic- Freezing temperatures most of the year and very
little precipitation.
Answer:
Tropical- examples: anaconda snake, orchid
Temperate- examples: brown bear, oak tree
Arctic- examples: polar bear, tundra plants
Desert- examples: rattle snake, cactus
Answer: The moon goes through "phases" and rises and
sets at a different time every day. Sometimes the moon is
opposite the sun and is visible in the nighttime sky. Other
times the moon is on the same side of the earth as the sun
and is in our daytime sky. You will not be able to see it if it
has not yet risen or if it has already set. Some believe that
the moon is always in the night sky. That is not the case.
Question:
Explain why shadows appear to
move in a clockwise manner
throughout the day.
Question: Describe the solar
system including the planets and
the order in which they occur
from the sun.
Answer:
The sun’s shadow always falls on the opposite side of an
object than the sun. North of the equator, the Sun rises in
an easterly direction, this makes a shadow point to the
west. Then it arches across the southern sky, making a
shadow get shorter and rotate to the north. It then sets in
a westerly direction, making a shadow point to the east.
Answer: The solar system includes the sun, planets, their
moons, asteroid, meteoroids, and comets. The planets are
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune. Pluto is no longer considered a planet.
Answer: The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus,
Question:
Earth and Mars, called the terrestrial planets, are primarily
Compare the major
composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets,
characteristics of the inner and
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are called the gas
outer planets.
giants. They are composed mainly of gases or of ices, such
as water, ammonia and methane.
Answer:
Question:
If the sun were closer, Earth’s temperature would increase.
Explain what would happen if the
The water cycle would be affected as evaporation would
earth were closer to the sun.
increase and ice in glaciers and caps would melt.
Answer:
Telescope- A telescope like Hubble is able to bring pictures
Question:
back Earth that people are not able to see otherwise.
List 3 advances in technology that
Space shuttle- Transports people into space.
enable the exploration of space.
Robots- A robot on an unmanned flight into space can
Explain why each is important.
endure hardships that people cannot to do experiments
make observations.
Answer: Since Polaris does not move and because it is
located over the North Pole, it can be used to find
Question:
directions. Moving in a direction toward Polaris is heading
Explain the significance of the
in a northerly direction, moving in a direction opposite
North Star.
Polaris is heading in a southerly direction. The other
directions can be determined from sighting Polaris
Answer: A moon is a natural satellite that orbits a planet.
An asteroid is typically defined as a large body of rock or
Question:
iron floating through space, a meteoroid is smaller,
Compare the moon to asteroids,
meteors are flaming meteoroids as they are entering
meteoroids, meteors, meteorites.
Earth’s atmosphere, and a meteorite is what survives
impact with the ground.
Question:
What new technology has made
forecasting weather more
accurate?
Question:
Explain how fossils are formed.
Answer:
Doppler radar is one of many new technologies that has
made weather forecasting more accurate.
Answer:
Fossils are formed when organisms, parts of organisms, or
evidence of organisms (trails, burrows, etc) are preserved
by various methods (petrifaction, mummification,
mineralization, freezing, etc)
Answer:
A force applied to the object.
Question:
What is required to change the
direction or motion of an object?
Question:
Answer:
How much of the earth is covered About 70% of the earth is covered by water and about 2by water. How much of the
3% is fresh water.
water is drinkable?