4 TH GRADE SCIENCE VOCABULARY CST Prep
4TH GRADE SCIENCE VOCABULARY
CST Prep
An animal that eats plants
herbivore
Groups of living things and the
environment they live in
ecosystem
The Earth’s innermost layer; ball shape, mostly nickel and
ironcore
The way organisms in ecosystem interact
according to what they eat
food chain
The layer just below the
Earth’s crust (2nd layer and thickest layer)
mantle
Animals that eat the remains of other animals
that have died
scavenger
The measure of the pull of gravity on an object
weight
Movement of seeds from parent plant (wind,
water, animals, people)
Seed dispersal
A living thing such as a plant that makes its own
food
producer
A hardness scale from softest to hardest (1-10); diamond is hardest
Mohs
Electrical force, strength of power source
voltage
Sprouting of a seed
germinate
A living thing that breaks down organisms for
food
decomposer
The space around a magnet where the force of a
magnet can act
magnetic field
A mineral’s ability to resist being scratched
hardness
A vibration or shaking of the Earth’s crust
earthquake
An animal that eats (meat) other animals
carnivore
A device for determining direction (north, south,
east, west)
compass
A type of rock that forms from completely melted
rock
igneous
The Earth’s outer layer (1st layer)
crust
Behavior or body part that helps an animal meet
its needs in its environment
adaptation
A diagram that shows how food chains relate and
overlap
food web
A circuit that has more than one path for current
to flow
parallel circuit
A test where you scrape a piece of rock on a white plate to determine color
streak test
The amount of space an object takes up
volume
A material made up of one or more minerals
rock
A type of rock changed by heat or pressure but not
completely melted
metamorphic
A type of rock formed by layers of sediment
squeezed together over time
sedimentary
Powderlike male cells that travel from plants to help other plants
reproduce
pollen
The smallest unit of an element that has all of the properties of that
elementatom
A living thing that eats other living things for
energy
consumer
An object that attracts certain materials such as
steel, iron, nickel
magnet
Living things that cannot make their own food
(mushrooms)
fungi
A material that electrical current can pass through easily
conductor
A device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy
battery
The area where magnetic force is greatest in a
magnet
magnetic poles (north, south)
The flow of an electrical charge
current (electrical)
The process of dropping or depositing sediment in
a new place
deposition
A temporary magnet made by passing electric
current through a wire coiled around an iron bar
electromagnet
The process of moving sediment from one place to another (wind, water,
ice)
erosion
An animal that has six-jointed legs
insect
An electric charge that stays on an object
(rubbing balloon on wool cloth, shuffling feet on
rub)
static electricity
A circuit that has only one path for current
series circuit
A simple test of rocks to determine the hardness of
the rock
scratch test
Small organisms that can be seen only with a microscope, many only
have one cell
microorganism
A natural solid material with its particles
arranged in repeating pattern
mineral
An animal that eats both plants and animals
omnivore
The transfer of pollen from a stamen to a pistil
by wind or animals
pollination
To reuse a resource to make something new
recycle
Process by which rocks are formed from one
another
rock cycle
A mountain that forms when red-hot melted rock flows through a hole in
surface
volcano
The process where rocks are broken down into
smaller pieces
weathering