# data[].attributes.body
Landforms are features on the surface of Earth. Some examples are sand dunes, deltas, canyons, and mountain valleys. The forces that make landforms are water, wind, and ice that makes the sediments go through the processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition. Sand dunes are created by the wind hitting the slopes up gently and the other side that is not facing the wind slopes more steeply. Deltas are created when the mouth of a river slows down and empty into large bodies of water. Rocks are weathered and the river caries them away and so a great hole is created that continues to erode. That was how canyons are made. Mountain valleys are made when flowing water or ice erode the land under them and rivers carry the weathered rocks away and cut a deep grove with steep sides in the land.

Citation
STEMScopedia page 49-50

# data[].attributes.body
The water cycle is the process that water moves through between the air and Earth's surface and is power by heat energy from the sun. There is no beginning or end, but since Earth is 70% covered in ocean water, that's a place to start. The ocean is heated by the sun and water gains energy to change from a liquid into a gas called water vapor. This is called evaporation. Water doesn't just evaporate from oceans, it evaporate wherever there is water. Then, the water vapor travel into the atmosphere and begins to cool down due to the cool temperature and the water particles huddles close together to form droplets of water. Condensation is when water vapor becomes a liquid again. The droplets of water collect and form a cloud. As the cloud collects more droplets, it gets heavier and fall to the ground as precipitation. The water collect in bodies of water. This is called accumulation. The water is back where it was before and will follow the cycle once again.

Citation
STEMScopedia page 71-73

# data[].attributes.body
Organisms have traits and behaviors. An inherited trait is a characteristic passed down from parents to their offspring. For example, hair color, eye color, and nose shape are all inherited trait. Plants have inherited traits like it's height, the length of its roots, and the shape of its leaves. Claws, sharp teeth, and tan fur are inherited traits from a cub's parents to the cub. Acquired traits are obtained during a person's lifetime like scars. Learned behaviors are a type of acquired traits and are taught during an organism's lifetime. Things like reading are learned behaviors because you would have to learn how to read. Plants don't have brains, so they don't have learned behaviors. Lion cubs, on the other hand, learn to hunt.

Citation:
STEMScopedia page 121-122

# data[].attributes.body
There are weather systems, fronts, and other symbols on a weather map. A high-pressure system has a high in the center, and low-pressure system has a low in the center. A low-pressure system has weather fronts. A front is where one air mass meets and pushes aside another air mass. An air mass is a large "bubble" of air that has the same characteristics throughout it. The weather map shows the air pressure, air temperature, cloud cover, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, the direction a front is moving, and the type of front it is. A cold front has triangles with the point facing the direction the blue line is going. A cold front is the leading edge of a moving mass of cold air. It has thunderheads and cool fair weather that follows as it passes. A warm front has semi-circles with the round part facing the direction the red line is going. It brings rain, showers, and low flat clouds. As the warm front passes, temperature rise and the air gets moister. The words HIGH and LOW or just H and L tell the locations of centers with high or low air pressure, which is the weight of the air pressing on everything around it. In a high-pressure center, the air pressure is higher than in the surrounding air ,and in a low-pressure center, the air pressure is lower than the surrounding air. This results in fair weather near high-pressure centers, but there are clouds and precipitation near low-pressure centers.
Citations
ScienceSaurus pg.208-210

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The day and night cycle happens every 24 hours. It happens because of Earth's rotation on its tilted axis.The side of Earth facing the sun would be day and the other side would be night. This causes the sun to look as if it moves across the sky from east to west, but it does not. Seasons are caused by the Earth's revolution around the sun and Earth's tilted axis. It takes Earth 365 1/4 days to finish one orbit around the sun. The 1/4 causes leap year. There are two hemispheres, Northern and Southern. When the Northern hemisphere leans away from the sun, it is winter. When it leans toward the sun, it is summer. The Southern hemisphere is the same, so when the Northern hemisphere is winter, it is summer in the Southern hemisphere. The Moon shines from the light from the sun. Moon phases are caused by the Moon's revolution around the Earth. The Sun only lights the side of the moon that faces it, which causes the different moon shapes. Waxing means getting bigger and waning means getting smaller. The moon phases are new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. They make the lunar cycle. Tides are the repeated rise and fall of the water of oceans and bays. They are created by the gravitational pull of the moon. The water facing the moon will bulge, or rise and so will the other side of Earth because water falls behind. These are high tides. Perpendicular to the high tides are low tides because the water goes left and right for the high tide then. Everyday, there are two high tides and two low tides. Neap tides, which are the lowest tides, are caused when the sun and moon create a right angle and a spring tide, which is the highest tide, is caused when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are lined up. There are two neap tides and two spring tides in one lunar cycle.

Citation
Science Notebook pg. 69 (Natural Patterns)

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The Sun is at the center of the Milky Way is the heat and light source for Earth. The Sun provides Earth's energy, and life could not exist without it. Also, the moon gives us light on dark nights. The Sun is a star and seems larger and bright because it is closer to Earth. The Sun is a "glowing ball of gas" and does not have a solid surface. The Sun has a very thick atmosphere and the gases are tightly packed, so it makes the sun super dense. The contributes to the Sun's strong gravity that holds the Milky Way in place. The coolest part of the Sun is the surface, which is 5500 degrees Celsius (10000 degrees Fahrenheit), while the core is about 15000000 degrees Celsius (27000000 degrees Fahrenheit). The Sun has sunspots, which are darker than the rest of the surface, and solar flares, which is energy that was build up in the Sun, but was suddenly released causing the solar flares to look like explosion, on its surface. The Sun is so big that it can fit 1 million Earths in it. Enough about the Sun, the Earth is the only discovered place to support life. The surface of Earth is solid, but part of its core is a liquid mix of metals. The atmosphere of Earth holds in much of the heat from the sun, so the planet is never too cold. Also, it contains oxygen, which many living things need to breathe. Earth has many landforms on its surface. Its temperature is not too hot or too cold, unlike its neighbors. On the other hand, the Moon is a natural satellite and rotates the Earth every 27 days or so with no atmosphere. It is made of igneous rock with an tiny core of iron and sulfur and has landforms. It has a crust of aluminum and calcium. Dark patches on the moon are marias, which is Latin for "ocean". They are sunken plains and do not have liquid water. Ice has been discovered on the moon, though. In addition, the lighter patches on the moon are mountains. The moon looks bright in the sky because the sun shines light on it. The moon also has moon phases. It is about 380,000 kilometers from the Earth. The moon's gravity is only 1/6 of the Earth. There is no sound on the moon.

Citation
STEMScopedia page 83-85
BrainPop

# data[].attributes.body
Soil is a combination of rock and mineral fragments, water, air, and humus, which is carbon-rich/organic material left behind by living things. The rock from Earth's crust is weathered and eroded and plants can grow in them, so the plant's roots break the rock even more. The plants die and become humus, which makes the dirt more livable, so even worms and insects can live in it. After millions of years, the soil become more and more fertile. The soil has horizons, or layers. Topsoil is in horizon A, or the top layer. It has lots of humus, so it is the darkest layer. It is covered with litter, leaves, twigs, and other organic material. horizon B has subsoil and contains weathered rocks, minerals, and clay. It has less humus than horizon A, so it is lighter. Leaching allows horizon B to contain so organic material from horizon A. Leaching is when water soaks into topsoil and reacts with the humus to form an acid. This acid dissolves some nutrients in horizon A and drips it to horizon B, causing the subsoil to be more fertile. The acid does the same to horizon C, which is made of partially weathered rocks and minerals. The 3 horizons make the soil profile. Below those three horizons is bedrock.
Citation
BrainPop Soil

# data[].attributes.body
Fossils tell about the past. They are preserved parts or traces of animals or plants that lived in the past. They tell what organisms lived in a certain place, how an organism looked like, how the environment was like in the place an organism lived, and they also tell how organisms have changed over time. If a fossil of a seashell in the mountains, the conclusion that the mountain was once underwater would be reasonable. Scientists can figure out the order the organism lived on Earth and when the organism lived on Earth by the particles around or in the fossil. The order can be figured out by looking at the layers in the rock, so the bottom layers was laid down first and is the oldest. Scientist can figure out the age of the fossil by figuring the age of the rock layer it's in. They go through the process called radioactive dating.

Citation
STEMScopedia page 59-60

# data[].attributes.body
Water, wind, and ice do the processes of weathering, the breaking down of rocks, erosion, the moving of rocks, and deposition, the settling of rocks. Those are slow changes, which means they happen over time. They form landforms. These landforms are deltas, from water, canyons, also from water, sand dunes, from wind, caves, from ice, beaches, from water, moraine, from water, etc. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and landslides are fast changes and happen faster. This changes shape Earth's surface.
Citations
Science Notebook