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