SCIENCE FINAL NOTES
6th Grade
Types of Energy
1. Kinetic energy – Energy that is due to motion.
2. Thermal energy – The total kinetic energy of a substance’s atoms
3. Thermal expansion – An increase in the size of a substance in response to an increase in
the temperature of a substance
4. Heat – The energy transferred between two objects that are at different temperatures
5. Temperature – A measure of how hot or cold something is; specifically, a measure of the
average kinetic energy of the particles in an object.
FORCES AND MOTION
Types of Forces:




Gravity – a force that attracts all things toward each other.
Magnetic force – a force exerted between magnetic poles
Contact force – a force exerted between objects that are touching each other
Normal force – a force that pushes against any object that rests on another object
Newton’s Laws



Newton’s 1st Law – The law of inertia (things at rest stay at rest, things in motion stay in
motion, unless acted on by another force)
Newton’s 2nd Law – F =MA (Force = Mass times Acceleration)
Newton’s 3rd Law – For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
LIFE SCIENCE VOCABULARY


Cell – In biology, the smallest unit that can perform all life processes; cells are covered
by a membrane and contain DNA and cytoplasm.
Cell membrane – A phospholipid layer that covers a cell’s surface and acts as a barrier
between the inside of a cell and the cell’s environment.
CELL THEORY:



All organisms are made up of one or more cells.
Cells are the basic unit of life.
All cells come from existing cells.
ALL cells have a cell membrane, cytoplasm, organelles, and DNA.
WEATHERING & EROSION VOCABULARY
1. Floodplain – an area along a river that forms from sediments deposited when a river
overflows its banks
2. Delta – a fan shaped mass of material deposited at the mouth of a stream
3. Alluvial fan – a fan shaped mass of material deposited by a stream when the slope of the
land decreases sharply
4. Dune – a mound of wind-deposited sand that moves as a result of the action of wind
5. Loess – fine-grained sediments of quartz, feldspar, hornblende, mica, and clay deposited
by the wind
WEATHERING AND EROSION NOTES
-
Weathering – the breaking down of rock. Weathering occurs until all that is left is
soil.
Two types of weathering – chemical and physical weathering.
o Chemical weathering – changes the chemical composition of the rocks due to
chemicals in the atmosphere, like chemicals in rain causing rust.
o Physical weathering – weathering due to something in the environment like
heat, water, or pressure, like water in the cracks of rocks that freezes and
makes the cracks bigger
-
-
-
Erosion - the process by which soil and rock are removed from the Earth's surface by
wind or water and then transported to other locations. Erosion is typically a natural
process but it is often also caused by humans.
Erosion can be cause by:
o Gravity – movement down a slope due to force of gravity
o Water – caused by rain, a river
o Shoreline – erosion due to the action of currents and waves
o Wind – movement of material by wind
Weathering and erosion are part of a cycle of a breaking down and moving of
material.
o First, weathering slowly breaks down material
o Then erosion carries that material to a new location and deposits it
Wind in the Atmosphere
1. Wind – The movement of air caused by differences in air pressure.
2. Coriolis Effect – The curving of the path of a moving object from an otherwise straight
path due to Earth’s rotation.
3. Global wind – The movement of air over Earth’s surface in patterns that are worldwide.
See image below:
4. Local wind – The movement of air over short distances; occurs in specific areas as a result
of certain geographical features.
5. Jet stream – A band of strong winds that blow in the upper troposphere.