Dr. Overy's KBase: Resources for Teaching and Learning - Glossary

• Calibration
  Marking a scale on a measuring instrument. This involves establishing the relationship between indications of a measuring

  instrument and standard or reference quantity values, which must be applied.

  
  For example, placing a thermometer in melting ice to see whether it reads zero, in

  order to check if it has been calibrated correctly.
• Categoric Variables
  Categoric variables have values that are labels. Eg names of insects or types of material.
• Continuous Variables
  Continuous variables can have values (called a quantity) that can be given a magnitude either by counting (as in the case of the number of cars) or by measurement (eg electrical current, speed etc).
• Control Variables
  A control variable is one which may, in addition to the independent variable, affect the outcome of the investigation and therefore has to be kept constant or at least monitored.
• Causal Link
  A change in one variable that results from or is caused by a change in another variable
• Confounding Variable
  A confounding variable is one that may, in addition to the variable independent variable, affect the outcome of the investigation. Confounding variables must be kept constant or the investigation will not be a fair test. Confounding variables are sometimes referred to as control variables.
• Control Experiment
  A control experiment is one that is set up to eliminate certain possibilities. In a well designed investigation, the independent variable is changed and all confounding variables are kept constant. The possibilityexists, however, that something else other than the independent variable might have produced the results that were obtained. A control experiment is one that is designed to eliminate this possibility
• Control Group
  A control group is one that is treated in exactly the same way as the experimental group except for the factor that is being investigated. This allows scientists to make a comparison. It ensures that the data that are collected are valid because any differences between the results for the experimental group and those for the control group will be due to a single independent variable.
• Correlation
  A correlation shows that there is a relationship between two variables, however, it might not be a causal one
• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
  The greenhouse gas whose concentration is being most affected directly by human activities. The major source of emissions is fossil fuel combustion.
• Carbon Cycle
  The cycle by which carbon is exchanged between the Biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere of the Earth.
  Major activities include photosynthesis, respiration and decay between atmospheric and terrestrial systems.
• Carbon Footprint
  A measure of the effect that human activities have on the climate in terms of the total amount of Greenhouse gases produced
• Carbon Tax
  A tax on energy sources which emit Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is an example of a pollution tax.
• Climate Change
  Climate change refers to the variation in the Earth's global climate or in regional climates over time. It describes changes in the atmosphere over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes may come from processes within the Earth, or be caused by human activities
• Calorie
  A unit of energy (heat)
• CLEAPPS
  Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Services
  
  http://science.cleapss.org.uk
• Cell
  The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism, typically microscopic and consisting of cytoplasm and a nucleus enclosed in a membrane
• Commercial Farms
  Farms set up for the sole purpose of producing crops and farm animals for sale, with the sole intention of making a profit.
• contact force
  A force that acts at the point of contact between two objects
• Centripetal Acceleration
  The acceleration of an object moving in a circle at a constant speed. Centripetal acceleration always acts towards the centre of the circle
• Chain reaction
  When fission neutrons cause further fission, so more fission neutrons are released. This goes on to produce further fission.
• Conservation of momentum
  In a closed system, the momentum before a collision/event is equal to the total momentum after the collision/event.
• Convex lens
  A lens that makes light rays near and parallel to the principal axis converge to a point, known as the principal focus
• crotalus atrox
  Crotalus atrox, the western diamondback rattlesnake, is a venomous rattlesnake species found in the United States and Mexico. It is likely responsible for the majority of snakebite fatalities in northern Mexico and the second-greatest number in the U.S., after C. adamanteus.