Earth and Sky Vocabulary - Spring Units
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Sound Symphony
sound: the sensation perceived by the sense of hearing; produced by the vibration of objects.
vibrations: rapid, periodic movement of an object back and forth.
sound waves: longitudinal pressure waves that carry sound; the vibrations induced in air by a vibrating object.
echo: the repetition of a sound caused by the reflection of the sound waves after hitting an object.
ear: the organ of hearing or detecting sound.
eardrum: the membrane that forms the boundary between the outer and middle ear.

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Water, Water, Everywhere
water cycle: the process by which water on the earth circulates endlessly, evaporating from the surface of the ocean, lakes, streams, forming clouds and falling back to earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
precipitation: the process by which water in various forms (rain, snow, sleet, hail) falls to earth under the influence of gravity.
condensation: the process by which water vapor becomes liquid when it touches a cool surface.
water vapor: water in a gaseous state, especially below the boiling temperature and diffused in the air.
evaporation: the process by which water moves from a liquid to a gaseous state.
respiration: the process by which living organisms take oxygen into, and remove gaseous waste products from, their cells; breathing.
capillary action: a process by which liquid is pulled into thin spaces due to the relative attraction of the molecules of the liquid for each other and the attraction of the molecules of the liquid and those of the material that surrounds the space.
transpiration: the process by which plants give off water vapor from their leaves or other parts.
ground water: water found in porous rocks and in beds of sand and gravel beneath the earth's surface.
glacier: a large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or spreading out over a land surface.

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Wind and Clouds
clouds: a visible mass of particles of water or ice in the form of a fog, mist, or haze; usually at a considerable height.
wind: a natural movement of air.
wind direction: the direction from which the wind is blowing; for example, a north wind is blowing from the north.
cumulus: thick, billowy clouds with horizontal bases and upper parts piled into heaps.
stratus: low, layered, gray clouds that cover most of the sky in a thick blanket.
cirrus: thin, wispy clouds made up of ice crystals, found at very high altitudes.
cumulonimbus: thunderheads; dark, billowing, cumulus-type clouds towering to great heights that often produce lightning and thunderstorms.

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Sun Power
rotate: to spin around an axis, as the earth spins each day.
revolve: to orbit around periodically, as the earth moves around the sun each year.
orbit: the path a planet takes in moving around the sun.
equator: an imaginary line drawn around the earth midway between the poles.
axis: an imaginary line through the earth around which the planet rotates.
poles: either end of the earth's axis of rotation.
seasons: one of the four quarters into which the year is normally divided: winter, spring, summer, autumn.
sunlight: electromagnetic energy radiating from the sun in the wavelength range of visible light, typically 400 to 800 nanometers.
energy: the capacity for action or for doing work.

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