General Science Flash Card Set 256199

Cards 10
Topics Acceleration, Acidity, Comets, Cytoplasm, Doppler Effect, Speed, The Sun, Traits, Work

Study Guide

Acceleration

Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity per unit of time. In physics, the delta symbol (\(\Delta\)) represents change so the formula for acceleration becomes \(\vec{a} = { \Delta \vec{v} \over t }\)

Acidity

An acid is a substance that gives up positively charged hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolved in water. A base (alkaline) gives up negatively charged hydroxide ions (OH-) when dissolved in water. pH is a scale that measures of how basic or acidic a solution is. Numbered from 0 to 14, solutions with a pH of 7 are neutral, less than 7 are acidic, more than 7 are alkaline.

Comets

A comet is a loose collection of ice, dust, and small rocky particles that, in contrast to an asteroid, has an extended atmosphere surrounding the center. When passing close to the Sun, this atmosphere warms and begins to release gases forming a visible coma or tail.

Cytoplasm

The nucleus of a eukaryotic cell contains the genetic material of the cell and is surrounded by cytoplasm which contains many organelles. These include:

Organelle Function
ribosomes produce proteins
mitochondria produce energy
endoplasmic reticulum helps synthesize proteins and fats
Golgi apparatus prepare proteins for use
lysosomes help the cell manage waste
centrosomes guide cell reproduction

Doppler Effect

The Doppler effect occurs when the source or listener (or both) of sound waves is moving. If they're moving closer together, the listener perceives the sound with a higher pitch and, when they're moving apart, the listener perceives the sound with a lower pitch.

Speed

The speed of a sound wave will vary with the medium. Sound travels fastest through media that has particles that are very close together, like metal. Thus, it travels faster through water than through air and doesn't travel at all through a vacuum (there are no particles in empty space to vibrate).

The Sun

The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) but is informally known as a yellow dwarf star. Composed of 73% hydrogen and 25% helium, the hot plasma that makes up the Sun reaches 9,900°F (5,505°C) at the surface. It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago and makes up 99.86% of the mass in the solar system.

Traits

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.

Work

Work is performed on an object when an applied force causes displacement along the same vector. Measured in joules (J) or newton-meters (Nm), work is calculated by multiplying force times displacement: \(W = \vec{F}\vec{d}\)