5th Grade Glossary

Anthropocean era: the age when the effects of increased human population and economic development severely impacted planetary physical, chemical, and biological conditions

Atmosphere: mixture of gases surrounding Earth

Atoms: the building blocks of matter; what all matter is made of

Bioaccumulation: the buildup of chemicals in a living organism over time

Biodiversity: the variety of life on Earth

Biomes: regions of the planet with similar climate and types of plants and animals; classified as terrestrial (land) or aquatic (sea)

Biosphere: includes all living things on Earth including the land, sea, and atmosphere which they live in

Carrying capacity: the maximum population size that an environment can sustain

Conductivity: how well electrical currents can go through an object

Crust: the outermost layer of Earth; consists of many large tectonic plates

Ecological footprint: a measure of human demand on the ecosystems

Geosphere: Earth's system that includes the rocks, minerals, and land forms that shape Earth

Global warming: slow and continual rise in Earth's temperature

Greenhouse effect: warming of the Earth's surface and air

Hydrosphere: the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of Earth; includes water in all three states

Inner Core: innermost layer of Earth; hottest & oldest layer; made of iron and nickel

Law of Conservation of Mass: matter cannot be created or destroyed, but it changes forms

Mantle: thickest layer of Earth; made of semi-solid rock

Mass: a measure of how much matter is in an object; measured using a scale

Matter: anything that has mass and takes up space

Nonrenewable resource: any resource on Earth that exists in limited supply, and cannot be replaced if used up

Outer Core: liquid layer of Earth; made of iron and nickel

Ozone Layer: protective layer of the atmosphere that absorbs the Sun's ultraviolet radiation; starts about 9 miles above Earth's surface

Recycling: converting waste into reusable material; includes the reduction and reusing of what is commonly considered waste

Renewable resource: any resource that can be replenished naturally over time

Resource depletion: when resources are used at a rate faster than they can be replenished

Solubility: how much of an object can dissolve in another substance, usually water

Solute: the substances that are being dissolved

Solution: a mixture of two or more substances; can be a solid, liquid, or gas

Solvent: the substances that are doing the dissolving

Troposphere: layer of Earth's atmosphere that we live in

Volume: the amount of space an object takes up