7th Grade WAD----3rd Trimester

2006-07

Week 34:

Buoyant: tending to float on a liquid,

or rise in air or gas.

Upthrust: the upward force that a

liquid or a gas exerts on a body floating
in it.

Buoyant force: the upward force on

an object immersed in a fluid, causing
it to float or at least to appear to
become lighter.
Archimedes: (Greek: ΑΡΧΙΜΗ∆ΗΣ ), a
Greek mathematician, astronomer,
philosopher, physicist and engineer. He
was killed by a Roman soldier during
the sack of the city of Syracuse,
despite orders from the Roman general,
Marcellus, that he was not to be
harmed. 287-212 BC

Archimedes Principle: When a body

is completely or partially immersed in a
fluid it experiences an upthrust, or an
apparent loss in weight, which is equal
to the weight of fluid displaced.
Week 33:
Qualitative: observations that do not
involve measurements and numbers
("My brother is shorter than my sister,"
is a qualitative observation.)

Quantitative: observations that

involve measurements and numbers
("My brother is 30cm shorter than my
sister," is a quantitative observation.)

Density: is a measure of mass per unit

of volume. symbol: ρ (Greek: rho)

g/ml : abbreviation for “grams ÷

milliliters” this is the unit that density
is commonly measured in. (Note: unit
of mass ÷ unit of volume)
Week 32:
Meniscus:
1. The curved surface of a liquid in a
narrow-diameter glass tube.

2. Crescent shaped cartilage, usually pertaining to the knee joint; also

known as "cartilage." There are two menisci in the knee, medial and
lateral. These work to absorb weight within the knee and provide
stability.
Beaker:
1. A beaker is a type of laboratory
glassware which consists of a
cylindrical cup with a notch on the top
to allow for the pouring of liquids.

2. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a character from The

Muppet Show, performed by Dave Goelz. The
muppet was a bald, bespectacled, lab-coated
scientist who would do periodic science segments
from "Muppet Labs...where the future is being made
today". The face of the muppet had no eyes, only
glasses, and his experiments always went awry,
usually causing great harm to his long-suffering
assistant Beaker (Richard Hunt), a nearly mute
muppet with shocked red hair.
Week 31:

Volume: the amount of 3-dimensional

space occupied by an object.
(Measured in liters or cubic meters).

graduated cylinder: laboratory

glassware that is used for measuring
the volumes of liquids in a quantitative
manner.

water displacement: occurs when an

object is immersed in a fluid, pushing
the fluid out of the way and taking its
place.
displacement vessel
(be able to draw a picture of this).
Week 30:
Weight: The downward force of gravity
on an object that has mass. (Mass x
Gravity = Weight), or W=mg

Inertia: the tendency of an object to

resist change in its motion. Mass is the
measurement of inertia.

Law of Inertia: Newton’s First Law of

Motion: An object in motion will tend to
stay in motion and an object at rest will
tend to stay at rest unless acted upon
by a force.
triple beam balance: scientific tool used
to determine the mass of an object.
(Be able to draw a picture of what it
looks like.)

Week 29:
Matter: anything that has mass
and volume.
Mass: a measure of the total
amount of matter in an object.

Gram: a basic unit of mass in the

SI system of measurements.

Gravity: The attractive effect that

any massive object has on all other
massive objects. The greater the
mass of the object, the stronger its
gravitational pull.

Metric Prefixes:
Study Hint: Make a chart for the prefixes.

SI: The International System of Units

from the French language name Le
Système international d'unités) is the
modern form of the metric system.
Tera: (symbol: T) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1012, or 1 000 000 000
000 (1 trillion).

Giga: (symbol: G) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109, or

1,000,000,000 (1 billion).
Mega: (symbol M) is an SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of
106, 1,000,000 (one million).

Kilo: (symbol: k) is the SI prefix denoting a factor of 103 (1000)

* one kilogram is 1000 grams

* one kilometre is 1000 metres
* one kilowatt is 1000 watts
* one kilojoule is 1000 joules

Hecto: (symbol h) is a SI prefix denoting a factor of 102 (100).

Deka: (symbol da) is a SI prefix denoting a factor of 101 (10)

Base Unit: the unit if measurement with no prefix denoting a factor of 100 (1)
Remember: Anything raised to the 0 power = 1.

Deci-(symbol d) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-1

(1/10).

Centi- (symbol c) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-

2
, or 1/100.

Milli- (symbol m) is a prefix in the SI and other systems of units denoting a

factor of 10-3, or 1/1,000.

Micro- is a prefix in the SI system denoting a factor of 10-6 (one millionth). The
symbol for it is the micro sign (µ), the Greek letter mu.

Nano- is a prefix (symbol n) in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-9.

(one billionth)

Week 24:
Application of the WAD Words
The goal thus far with the WAD words was
for you to memorize their meaning. The
next step is to get you to understand how
scientists use them. For the rest of the
trimester, we will practice using the words
in different contexts, so that you can do
more than “know” the meaning of the
words; you will be able to use them. The
final exam at the end of the trimester will
have a WAD application section, which we
will now review for, one day at a time.

1. Can you give an example that

demonstrates the difference between
an observation and an inference?

2. What are some fundamental beliefs

that scientists have about the
nature of scientific thought?
 3. Scientific knowledge is tentative. Can you give one example from
something that we did or studied in class that demonstrates this aspect
of the nature of science?

4. Scientific knowledge is subjective. Can you give one example from

something that we did or studied in class that demonstrates this aspect
of the nature of science?

5. Scientific knowledge is empirically based. Can you give one example

from something that we did or studied in class that demonstrates this
aspect of the nature of science?

7th Grade WAD----2nd Trimester 2006-07

Week 23:
Galelio: (1609) He was the first person to
make and use a telescope to observe space. He
discovered four moons of Jupiter, which showed
that not all celestial objects go around Earth.
He favored the idea of a sun centered universe.
(1)

Dr. Mae Jemison: Astronaut who went into

orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor,
September 12, 1992. She was the first non-
white woman to go into space.

Dr. Sally Ride: In 1983, she became the first

American woman in space on the shuttle
Challenger (STS-7).
Week 22:

Ptolemy: (140 A.D.) Greek astronomer

who thought the earth was the center
of the universe. (2)

Copernicus: (1543) A Polish astronomer who

first postulated that the sun is the center of the
universe. (1)

Tycho Brahe: (1601 A.D) a Danish

astronomer who believed that the earth was
the center of the universe. He was the first
person to collect large amount of data on the
locations of the stars. (3)

Johannes Kepler: (1609) Discovered the

scientific law (Keplers Law of Planetary Motion)
that all planets revolve around the sun in
elliptical orbits and that the sun is not in the
exact center of the orbits. (He analyzed Brahe’s
data to come up with this law) (2)
Week 21:

Astrolabe: An astrolabe is an instrument

that was used to determine the altitude of
objects (like the sun) in the sky. It was first
used around 200 BC by astronomers in
Greece.

Azimuth: A direction in terms of a 360° compass.

North is at 0°. East is at 90°. South is at 180°. West is at 270°.

Altitude: The vertical angular distance of a point in the sky

above the horizon. Altitude is measured positively from the horizon to
the zenith, from 0 to 90 degrees.
Zenith: The point in the sky directly above the observer. The
highest point.

Horizon: The line where the sky and the ground seem to meet.

Week 20:

Equinox: either of the two days when

the periods of daylight and darkness
are of equal length throughout the
entire world. The vernal equinox is
usually March 21; the autumnal
equinox is usually September 23.

Longitude: the imaginary line that

runs from the north pole to the south
pole. It measures the distance in
degrees east or west of Greenwich,
England, the prime meridian which is 0.
The measurements range from 0-180
degrees.

Latitude: the imaginary flat lines that

run parallel to the equator. It measures
the distance north or south of the
equator of a given position. The
equator has a latitude of 0 degrees, the
South Pole is 90 degrees South. (the
north pole is 90 degrees North)

Week 19:

waxing: growing in size, getting

bigger, increasing.

Waning: shrinking in size, getting

smaller, decreasing.
Gibbous: A shape of the Moon when it
is more than half lit but less than full.
Draw a picture to help you
remember this->

New Moon: a phase of the moon in

which none of the moons face is visible
(when the moon is dark).

Blue Moon: When a single month has

two full moons, the second full moon is
called a Blue Moon.

Week 18

Spectrum: a band of colors, as seen in

the rainbow, produced by the
separation to light based on their
different wavelengths.
Penumbra: the partially shaded
region of a shadow caste by an opaque
object.

Opaque: not transparent

Week 17
Umbra: the fully shaded inner region
of a shadow cast by an opaque object.

Shadow: You define what you think

this word means

Solar Noon: when the sun reaches its

highest point in the sky. It occurs at
when the sun is at the midpoint
between sunrise and sunset. (Does not
always happen at exactly noon)

Astronomy: the branch of science

that deals with celestial objects,
space and the physical universe as
a whole.

Nature of Science (NOS): how

science functions; the values and
assumptions inherent to scientific
knowledge and thinking.
Week 16

Empirical:
Based on or derived from observation
of the natural world.

Tentative:
Subject to change, not certain or fixed

Scientific Theory:
Inferred explanation for why observable
phenomena happen.
Scientific Law:
Statements or descriptions of how
observable phenomenon happen. It
does not state why they happen, it
does states that they do happen.

Independent Variable the

manipulated variable; the variable that
is changed intentionally in an
experiment. (x-axis)

Dependent Variable - the responding

variable; the variable that may change
as a result of a change in the
independent variable
(it is what you measure) (y-axis)
Constant Variables:
the variables in an experiment that are
kept the same intentionally for all trials.

Control: (n) this is when you run an

experiment without the
independent variable.

HYPOTHESIS
BIAS
POSTULATE

SUBJECTIVE
Observation:
Descriptive statement about natural
phenomena that are “directly
accessible to the senses (or extensions
of the senses) and about which several
observers can reach consensus with
relative ease.

Inferences:
Statements about phenomena that
are not “directly” accessible to the
senses, but based on logical reasoning