chapter 1 vocabulary

science

organized way of using

evidence to learn about

the natural world; also,

the body of knowledge

that scientists have built

up after years of using

this process

science

observation

observation

use of one or more of

the senses—sight,

hearing, touch, smell,

and sometimes

taste—to gather

information

data

data

evidence; information

gathered from

observations

inference

inference

logical interpretation

based on prior

knowledge and

experience

hypothesis

hypothesispossible explanation

for a set of

observations or

possible answer to a

scientific question

OR

an educated guess

Spontaneous

generation

Spontaneous

generationhypothesis

(disproven) stating

that life could arise

from nonliving matter

controlled

experiment

controlled

experimenta test of the effect of a

single variable by

changing it while

keeping all other

variables the same

manipulated

variable

manipulated

variablefactor in an

experiment that a

scientist purposely

changes; also known

as independent

variable

responding

variable

responding

variablefactor in an

experiment that a

scientist wants to

observe, which may

change in response to

the manipulated

variable; also known

as a dependent

theory

theory

well-tested

explanation that

unifies a broad range

of observations

biology

biology

science that seeks to

understand the living

world

cell

cell

collection of living

matter enclosed by a

barrier that separates

the cell from its

surroundings; basic

unit of all forms of life

sexual

reproduction

sexual

reproductionprocess by which cells

from two different

parents unite to

produce the first cell

of a new organism

asexual

reproduction

asexual

reproductionprocess by which a

single parent

reproduces by itself

metabolism

metabolism

set of chemical

reactions through

which an organism

builds up or breaks

down materials as it

carries out its life

processes

stimulus

stimulus

a signal to which an

organism responds

homeostasis

homeostasis

process by which

organisms maintain a

relatively stable

internal environment

metric system

metric systemdecimal system of

measurement based

on certain physical

standards and scaled

on multiples of 10

microscope

microscopedevice that produces

magnified images of

structures that are too

small to see with the

unaided eye

compound

light

microscope

compound

light

microscopemicroscope that

allows light to pass

through a specimen

and uses two lenses

to form an image

Electron

microscope

Electron

microscopemicroscope that forms

an image by focusing

beams of electrons

onto a specimen

cell culture

cell culturegroup of cells grown

in a nutrient solution

from a single original

cell

cell

fractionation

cell

fractionationtechnique in which

cells are broken into

pieces and the

different cell parts are

separated