Reproductive (haploid) cells known as gametes have half as many (23) pairs of chromosomes as normal (diploid) cells. When the male gamete (sperm) combines with the female gamete (ovum) through meiosis to form a zygote, each gamete supplies half the chromosomes needed to form the normal diploid cells.

The crust and the rigid lithosphere (upper mantle) is made up approximately thirty separate plates. These plates more very slowly on the slightly more liquid mantle (asthenosphere) beneath them. This movement has resulted in continental drift which is the gradual movement of land masses across Earth's surface. Continental drift is a very slow process, occurring over hundreds of millions of years.

Veins carry blood back to the heart from the body. While arteries are thick-walled because they carry oxygenated blood at high pressure, veins are comparatively thin-walled as they carry low-pressure deoxygenated blood. Like the heart, veins contain valves to prevent blood backflow.

The traits represented by genes are inherited independently of each other  (one from the male and one from the female gamete) and a trait can be dominant or recessive.  A dominant trait will be expressed when paired with a recessive trait while two copies of a recessive trait (one from each parent) must be present for the recessive trait to be expressed.

The Periodic Table of the Elements categorizes elements primarily by the number of protons in their nucleus (atomic number) and secondarily by the characteristics they exhibit.