| matter | Any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. |
| solid | A substance or object that is solid rather than liquid or fluid; particles are packed closely together and are not free to move about within the substance. |
| liquid | A substance that is liquid rather than solid; particles move freely within the substance and it takes the shape of its container. |
| gas | A state of matter that has no fixed shape and no fixed volume; particles move rapidly in all directions, frequently colliding with each other. |
| melting point | The temperature at which a given solid will melt. |
| freezing point | The temperature at which a liquid turns into a solid when cooled. |
| condensation | Water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it; the conversion of a vapour or gas to a liquid. |
| dissolve | (of a solid) to become incorporated into a liquid so as to form a solution (e.g. salt dissolves in water). |
| chemical reaction | A process that involves rearrangement of the molecular structure of a substance |
| solution | Consists of a solute and a solvent. The solute is the substance that is dissolved in the solvent (e.g. when combining salt and water: solute = salt and solvent = water). |
| filter | A filter permits a fluid to pass through but retains the solid particles. |
| boiling point | The temperature at which a liquid boils and turns to vapour. |
| soluble | (of a substance) able to be dissolved, especially in water. |
| insoluble | (of a substance) incapable of being dissolved. |
| reversible | A reversible change is a change that can be undone or reversed (e.g. melted ice can be re-frozen). |
| irreversible | A change is irreversible if it cannot be changed back again; a new material is formed (e.g. you can't un-bake a cake). |
| sieve (noun) | An instrument with a meshed or perforated bottom, used for separating coarse from fine parts of loose matter, for straining liquids, etc. |
| temperature | A physical quantity that expresses hot and cold. |
| filtration | A process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a filter. |
| mixture | A material made up of two or more different substances which are physically combined (NOT a chemical change or totally new substance). |
| plasma | A state of matter that is similar to gas, but the atomic particles are charged rather than neutral. |
| sublimation | The transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas state, without passing through the liquid state. |
| physical change | A change to the physical—as opposed to chemical—properties of a substance; they are usually reversible. |
| chemical change | Chemical changes occur when a substance combines with another to form a new substance; usually irreversible. |
| vaporization | The process in which a liquid boils and changes to a gas. |
| evaporation | The process in which a liquid changes to a gas, below boiling point. |
| viscosity | A measure of a fluid's resistance to flow. |
| atom | The smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist. |
| particle | A small portion of matter. |
| molecule | A particle made up of two or more atoms that are chemically bonded together. |
| mass | A measure of the amount of matter in an object. |
| density | A measurement that compares the amount of matter an object has to its volume. |
| volume | Refers to the amount of space an object takes up. |
| properties | A characteristic or trait that you can use to describe matter by observation, measurement, or combination. |
| non-Newtonian fluid | A fluid whose flow (viscosity) properties differ from those of Newtonian (regular) fluids. |
| phase | Synonymous with 'state', as in phases of matter and states of matter. |
| weight | The force acting on an object due to gravity. |
| variable | Anything that can change or be changed; any factor that can be manipulated, controlled for, or measured in an experiment. |
| hypothesis | A proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. |
| test | Under controlled conditions, something that is made to demonstrate a known truth, or examine the validity of a hypothesis. |
| validity | Refers to how well a scientific test or piece of research actually measures what it sets out to, or how well it reflects the reality it claims to represent. |
| range | The lowest to the highest value of your data is called its range. |
| reliable | When a scientist repeats an experiment with a different group of people or a different batch of the same chemicals and gets very similar results then those results are said to be reliable. |
| table | An arrangement of data in rows and columns |
| substance | A particular kind of matter that shares the same properties. |
| scientific method | A method of research in which a problem is identified, relevant data are gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from these data, and the hypothesis tested. |
| independent variable | What the scientist changes or what changes on its own (e.g. age). |
| dependent variable | What is being studied/measured (e.g. height at different ages). |
| control variable | A person, group, event, etc., that is used as a constant and unchanging standard of comparison in scientific experimentation (e.g. if a temperature is unchanged during an experiment, it is controlled). |
| discrete data | Discrete Data can only take certain values (e.g. the number of students in a class; we can't have half a student). |
| data | Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis. |
| correlation | A measure of the extent to which two variables are related (e.g. the temperature outside and the number of people at the beach). |
| continuous data | Continuous Data can take any value--within a range (e.g. a person's height or weight could be any value). |
| average | A value that represents the sum of values divided by the number of values in the set. |
| scientific theory | An explanation of something that can be repeatedly tested and verified in accordance with the scientific method. |
| trend | Trends are general directions of data, such as an overall increase in global temperature. |
