Day 7 Vocabulary

Front

theory

Back

an explanation for why a phenomenon

Front

hypothesis

Back

an idea that can be tested by experimentation or investigation

Front

law

Back

description of a repeated pattern observed in nature, without an explanation for the pattern

Front

continental drift

Back

the idea that the continents were once fused together but slowly drifted apart over time

Front

tectonic plates

Back

more than a dozen distinct plates that make up Earth’s surface and slowly move in different directions

Front

supercontinent

Back

One giant continent into which most or all of the continents were assembled long ago.

Front

superposition

Back

The condition of undisturbed sedimentary rock in which the oldest layer is at the bottom and the youngest layer is at the top.

Front

convection current

Back

A type of thermal energy transfer in which differences in temperature and density of fluids make them rise and fall.

Front

convergent boundary

Back

Boundary where two tectonic plates move together, or converge.

Front

divergent boundary

Back

Boundary where two tectonic plates move away, or diverge, from one another.