Chapter 2: Tools of Science Vocabulary

metric system

• a system of measurement based on the number 10
• a system of measurement based on feet and inches

International System of Measurement

• a system of measurement based on multiples of 10 and on established measures of mass, length, and time
• a system of measurement that uses fractions

mass

• a measure of how heavy something is 
• a measure of how much matter is in an object

weight

• a measure of the force of gravity acting on an object
• a measure that is constant and does not change 

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-4

density

• measured using the formula mass times volume
• measurement of how much mass of a substance is contained in a given volume

volume

• the amount of space that matter occupies
• the distance between two points

estimate

• a guess you make to find an answer
• an approximation of a number based on reasonable assumptions

accuracy

• how close a group of measurements are to eachother
• how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value

precision

• how close a group of measurements are to each other
• an estimations of measurements you make

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

NGSS.MS-PS3-4

percent error

• a calculation of the number of times an error is made in an experiment
• a calculation used to determine how accurate or close to the true value an experimental value really is