LATITUDE

Angular distance in degrees north or south of the equator.

LONGITUDE

Angular distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian.

ZENITH

Point directly overhead (90°) with respect to an observer.

CONTOUR LINE

Line on a map that connects places with the same elevation and shows the shape of the land.

INDEX CONTOUR

Bolded, labeled contour line.

CONTOUR INTERVAL

Difference in height between 2 contour lines that are next to each other.

GRADIENT

Slope of the land; change in elevation/distance.

DEPRESSION

A dip in the land; symbolized with hatch marks.

POLARIS

North Star; located directly overhead at the North Pole

GEOLOGY

The study of what Earth is made of and how it changes.

METEOROLOGY

The study of the changing conditions of the atmosphere, or weather.

ASTRONOMY

The study of the motions and properties of objects in space.

OBSERVATION

Information obtained directly from the 5 senses (sight, smell, hearing, feeling, tasting)

INFERENCE

An educated guess based on observations; an interpretation

DENSITY

Mass per unit volume of a substance.

MASS

Amount of matter in an object (unit: grams)

VOLUME

Amount of space that matter takes up (unit: mL or cm³)

OBLATE SPHEROID

Nearly spherical shape of Earth, slightly flattened at the poles and slightly bulging at the equator.

LITHOSPHERE

Solid portion of Earth below the atmosphere, and includes the crust and upper portion of the mantle.

HYDROSPHERE

Earth’s liquid water, including oceans, lakes, streams, and groundwater.

ATMOSPHERE

Shell of gases that surrounds a planet

TROPOSPHERE

Lowest layer of air; ranges from the Earth’s surface to 12km and has most of the mass of the atmosphere.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

Factor that can be manipulated (ex: time) in an experiment; generally graphed on the x-axis

DEPENDENT VARIABLE

What you measure in an experiment; “depends” on the independent variable (ex: CO2, temperature); generally graphed on the y-axis