Combined Science key terms

A diagram showing energy transfers using arrows whose widths are proportional to the amounts of energy transferred.

A solution containing the maximum amount of dissolved solute at a particular temperature.

A quantity with magnitude only, and no direction.

A quantity described by its magnitude alone, without a direction.

A line on an image labelled with the actual distance it represents in the specimen.

A graph plotting paired values of two numerical variables, with each point representing one individual or observation.

A representation of a structure or process that explains observations and can be used to make predictions. It may be changed when new evidence emerges.

An explanation supported by evidence that can be tested and revised as further evidence becomes available.

The output coil of a transformer, which supplies the outgoing electrical power.

A consumer that eats a primary consumer.

The faster, stronger specific immune response that occurs when the body encounters an antigen it has encountered before.

A physical feature that develops at puberty but is not a reproductive organ, such as breast development.

A tumour formed elsewhere in the body by cancer cells that have spread from the original tumour.

Solid material that settles and accumulates, for example on the ocean floor.

Rock formed from accumulated sediments that become compacted and cemented together.

The settling of suspended solids out of a liquid under gravity.

An environmental factor that affects which organisms survive and reproduce; an antibiotic is a selection pressure on bacteria.

The process by which humans choose and breed plants or animals for particular inherited characteristics; also called artificial selection.

An assessment that examines only selected parts of a product’s life cycle or selected environmental impacts.

A neurone that carries electrical impulses from a receptor to the central nervous system.

A specialised cell or nerve ending that detects a particular type of stimulus and leads to the production of electrical impulses.

The muscular wall separating the right and left sides of the heart, preventing their blood from mixing.

An arrangement in which components are connected end to end along a single current path.

A connection in which components lie one after another along the same path.

Wastewater containing human waste and other material carried away through drains and sewers.

The solid-rich material that settles at the bottom of a sewage settlement tank.

A chromosome belonging to the pair that carries genes determining biological sex. In the human inheritance model, females have XX and males have XY.