The Science Alphabet Game

ShawnMerrow March 3, 2010, 6:24am 81

en.wikipedia.org

Yttrium

Yttrium is a chemical element with the symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and has often been classified as a "rare-earth element". Yttrium is almost always found in combination with lanthanide elements in rare-earth minerals, and is never found in nature as a free element. 89Y is the only stable isotope, and the only isotope found in the Earth's crust. The most important uses of yttrium are LEDs and phosphors, particular...

LadyOfWicca March 3, 2010, 10:25am 82

Zinc

Element 30, atomic weight 65.37, a reactive gray metal that dissolves in acids, used to galvanize metals and in many alloys (e. g. brass and bronze).

ShawnMerrow March 3, 2010, 3:12pm 83

en.wikipedia.org

Asteroid

Asteroids are minor planets, especially of the inner Solar System. Larger asteroids have also been called planetoids. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not resolve into a disc in a telescope and was not observed to have characteristics of an active comet such as a tail. As minor planets in the outer Solar System were discovered that were found to have volatile-rich surfaces similar to comets, these came to be distinguished from the o...

shadycat March 4, 2010, 12:43am 84

Basalt

en.wikipedia.org

Basalt

Basalt (US: /bəˈsɔːlt, ˈbeɪsɒlt/, UK: /ˈbæsɔːlt, ˈbæsəlt/) is a mafic extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich lava exposed at or very near the surface of a terrestrial planet or a moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Basalt lava has a low viscosity, due to its low silica content, resulting in rapid lava flows that can spread over great areas before cooling and solidification. Flood basalt describes the formatio By definition, ...

ShawnMerrow March 4, 2010, 3:27am 85

en.wikipedia.org

Corona

Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: Corona may also refer to:

LadyOfWicca March 4, 2010, 4:16am 86

Dicentric chromosome

en.wikipedia.org

Dicentric chromosome

A dicentric chromosome is an abnormal chromosome with two centromeres. It is formed through the fusion of two chromosome segments, each with a centromere, resulting in the loss of acentric fragments (lacking a centromere) and the formation of dicentric fragments. The formation of dicentric chromosomes has been attributed to genetic processes, such as Robertsonian translocation and paracentric inversion. Dicentric chromosomes have important roles in the mitotic stability of chromosomes an Most dic...

ShawnMerrow March 4, 2010, 7:12am 87

en.wikipedia.org

Exoplanet

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917, but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. This was followed by the confirmation of a different planet, originally detected in 1988. As of 1 May 2020, there are 4,260 confirmed exoplanets in 3,149 systems, with 696 systems having more than one planet. There are many methods of detecting exoplanets. Transit photometry a...

LadyOfWicca March 4, 2010, 7:47am 88

Frameshift mutations

en.wikipedia.org

Frameshift mutation

A frameshift mutation (also called a framing error or a reading frame shift) is a genetic mutation caused by indels (insertions or deletions) of a number of nucleotides in a DNA sequence that is not divisible by three. Due to the triplet nature of gene expression by codons, the insertion or deletion can change the reading frame (the grouping of the codons), resulting in a completely different translation from the original. The earlier in the sequence the deletion or insertion occurs, the more alt...

ShawnMerrow March 4, 2010, 8:21am 89

en.wikipedia.org

Gamma-ray burst

In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the brightest electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several hours. After an initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived "afterglow" is usually emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave and radio). The intense radiation of most observed GRBs is thought to be released ...

shadycat March 5, 2010, 12:11am 90

en.wikipedia.org

Valley | Hanging valleys

A hanging valley is a tributary valley that is higher than the main valley. They are most commonly associated with U-shaped valleys when a tributary glacier flows into a glacier of larger volume. The main glacier erodes a deep U-shaped valley with nearly vertical sides while the tributary glacier, with a smaller volume of ice, makes a shallower U-shaped valley. Since the surfaces of the glaciers were originally at the same elevation, the shallower valley appears to be 'hanging' above the main val...

ShawnMerrow March 5, 2010, 4:11am 91

en.wikipedia.org

Outer space

Outer space, or simply space, is the expanse that exists beyond the Earth and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles, predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, neutrinos, dust, and cosmic rays. The baseline temperature of outer space, as set by the background radiation from the Big Bang, is 2.7 kelvins (−270.45 °C; −454.81 °F). The plasma between galaxies

LadyOfWicca March 5, 2010, 4:31am 92

Jacobson’s organ

en.wikipedia.org

Vomeronasal organ

The vomeronasal organ (VNO), or Jacobson's organ, is the paired auxiliary olfactory (smell) sense organ located in the soft tissue of the nasal septum, in the nasal cavity just above the roof of the mouth (the hard palate). The name is derived from the fact that it lies adjacent to the unpaired vomer bone (from Latin vomer 'plowshare', for its shape) in the nasal septum. It is present and functional in all snakes and lizards, and in many mammals, including cats, dogs, horses, cattle, pigs, and so...

shadycat March 5, 2010, 4:48am 93

en.wikipedia.org

Karst

Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions. Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes. However, in regions where the dissolved bedrock is covered (perhaps by debris) or confined by one or more superimposed The s...

LadyOfWicca March 5, 2010, 6:14am 94

Living fossil

en.wikipedia.org

Living fossil

A living fossil is an extant taxon that closely resembles organisms otherwise known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of origin of the extant clade. Living fossils commonly are of species-poor lineages, but they need not be. Living fossils exhibit stasis over geologically long time scales. Popular literature may wrongly claim that a "living fossil" has undergone no significant evolution since fossil times, with pr...

shadycat March 5, 2010, 7:12am 95

en.wikipedia.org

Mélange

In geology, a mélange is a large-scale breccia, a mappable body of rock characterized by a lack of continuous bedding and the inclusion of fragments of rock of all sizes, contained in a fine-grained deformed matrix. The mélange typically consists of a jumble of large blocks of varied lithologies. Both tectonic and sedimentary processes can form mélange. Mélange occurrences are associated with thrust faulted terranes in orogenic belts. A mélange is formed in the accretionary wedge above a subdu...

ShawnMerrow March 5, 2010, 7:17am 96

en.wikipedia.org

Neutron star

A neutron star is the collapsed core of a giant star which before collapse had a total mass of between 10 and 29 solar masses. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars, excluding black holes and hypothetical white holes, quark stars, and strange stars. Neutron stars have a radius on the order of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 solar masses. They result from the supernova explosion of a massive star, combined with gravitational collapse, that compresses the core past w Once ...

LadyOfWicca March 5, 2010, 8:10am 97

Overdominance

en.wikipedia.org

Overdominance

Heterosis is a condition in genetics where the phenotype of the heterozygote lies outside the phenotypical range of both homozygous parents. Overdominance can also be described as heterozygote advantage, wherein heterozygous individuals have a higher fitness than homozygous individuals. An example in humans is that of the sickle cell anemia. This condition is determined by a single polymorphism. Possessors of the deleterious allele have lower life expectancy, with homozygotes rarely reaching 50 ...

ShawnMerrow March 5, 2010, 8:30am 98

en.wikipedia.org

Planetary nebula

A planetary nebula, abbreviated as PN or plural PNe, is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets or exoplanets. The term originates from the planet-like round shape of these nebulae observed by astronomers through early telescopes. The first usage may have occurred during the 1780s with the English astronomer William Herschel...

shadycat March 5, 2010, 8:31am 99

en.wikipedia.org

Quartzite

Quartzite is a hard, non-foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink and red due to varying amounts of iron oxide (Fe2O3). Other colors, such as yellow, green, blue and orange, are due to other minerals. When sandstone is cemented to quartzite, t...

ShawnMerrow March 5, 2010, 8:32am 100

en.wikipedia.org

Rocket

A rocket (from Italian: rocchetto, lit. 'bobbin')[nb 1] is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from a rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is formed entirely from propellant carried within the rocket. Rocket engines work by action and reaction and push rockets forward simply by expelling their exhaust in the opposite direction at high speed, and can therefore work in the vacuum of space. In fact, rockets work more efficiently in space than in an atmosphere. M...

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