Vocabulary Cards:

Lessons 1-9
Our Changing Earth
 Characteristics
observable features that describe an
object (example: inorganic, contain
crystals, etc.)
 Minerals
solid, inorganic, crystal materials made
by nature that have their own unique
properties
 Properties
measurable features that describe an
object (example: color, luster,
hardness)

halite
clear color

glassy luster

2.5 hardness
 Rocks
mixtures or combinations of two or
more minerals
basalt

pyroxene

feldspar

olivine
 Color
the shade of a mineral
 Hardness
property of a mineral's resistance to
being scratched
 Luster
ability to reflect light

glassy

metallic

dull
 Streak
the color of the powder that a mineral
leaves when it is rubbed on a hard,
rough surface
 Rock Cycle
the process of rocks changing into
other kinds of rock
 Sediment
broken up pieces of soil, sand, rocks,
and the remains of organisms
 Sedimentary Rocks
rocks that are formed when sediments
are pressed and then cemented
together
 Erosion
the process of carrying away material
that has been weathered
 Deposition
the process of laying weathered
material down in a new location
 Soil
a material made of tiny pieces of
rock, minerals and decayed plant and
animal matter

Weathering
 the process of breaking down rocks
into smaller pieces by water, wind, or
ice

Adapt
 altering one’s characteristics or
behaviors in order to survive in one’s
surroundings

Cast Fossil
a mold that was filled in with minerals
or grains of rock, then turned into
solid rock

Environment
the surroundings in which an
organism lives
 Extinct
the dying out of a species
 Imprint
a mark on a surface produced by
pressure
 Fossil
the remains or traces of an organism
that lived long ago
 Mold Fossils
a space pressed into a rock; has the
shape of the organism
 Petrified Fossils
forms when the hard parts of an
organism are replaced by minerals
 Trace Fossils
footprints, tracks and burrows made
by organisms and preserved in rock
 Agent
cause of an event

water
rain

wind
 Glacier
a river of ice lying mostly on land
 Avalanche
a slide of a large amount of snow down a
mountainside
 Erosion
the process of carrying away material that
has been weathered
 Deposition
the process of laying weathered material
down in a new location
 Gravity
the force that pulls objects toward each
other
 Mudslide
a slide of a large amount of mud down a
mountainside
 Rockslide
a slide of a large amount of rock down a
mountainside
 Gas
a state of matter in which the substance
takes both the shape and volume of its
container
 Liquid
a state of matter in which the substance
has a definite volume but takes the shape
of its container
 Solid
a state of matter in which the substance
has a definite shape and a definite volume
 States of Matter
the forms that matter can take: solid,
liquid, or gas
 Atmosphere
the air that surrounds Earth
 Condensation
the process of changing from a gas to a
liquid
 Energy
the ability to do work
 Evaporation
the process of changing from a liquid to a
gas
 Water Cycle
the change of water from one state to
another as it moves between Earth’s
surface and the atmosphere
 Mass
the amount of matter in an object or
substance
 Sum
the number that results from adding two
or more addends