- habitat
- Where an organism lives, with distinctive features such as climate or resource availability.
- haboob
- Desert sandstorms that form in the downdrafts of a thunderstorm.
- half-life
- The amount of time required for half of the atoms of a radioactive substance to decay to the daughter product.
- hanging valley
- A cliff where a large glacier cut off the U-shaped valley of a tributary glacier.
- hardness
- The ability of a mineral to resist scratching.
- headwaters
- The location where a stream forms, often high in the mountains.
- heat
- Energy associated with the movement of atoms or molecules that can be transferred.
- heat wave
- A period of prolonged excessively hot weather for a particular region.
- heliocentric model
- Model proposed by Copernicus that put the Sun at the center of the universe.
- hemisphere
- One half of a sphere.
- herbivore
- An animal that only eats producers.
- high pressure zone
- A region where relatively cool, dense air is sinking.
- high tide
- The highest water levels during a day caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon.
- hot spring
- A stream of hot water that flows out of the ground continuously.
- hotspot
- A plume of hot material that rises through the mantle and can cause volcanoes.
- humidity
- The amount of water vapor held in the air.
- humus
- The partially decayed remains of plants and animals; forms the organic portion of soil.
- hurricane
- Cyclone that forms in the tropics and spins around a low-pressure center.
- hybrid vehicle
- A very efficient vehicle that is powered by an internal combustion engine, an electric motor and a rechargeable battery.
- hydrocarbon
- A chemical compound containing hydrogen and carbon that is used for energy.
- hydrogen bond
- A weak intermolecular connection between two polar molecules.
- hydrologic (water) cycle
- The movements of water in and between reservoirs (e.g. oceans, clouds, streams, ice, and ground water).
- hydrolysis
- Hydrogen or hydroxide ions replace the cations in a mineral to change the mineral.
- hydrothermal vent
- A stream of heated water that enters into the ocean at a mid-ocean ridge.
- hypothesis
- A good working explanation for a problem that can be tested.
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- Earth Science for High School. Provided by: CK-12. Located at: http://www.ck12.org/book/CK-12-Earth-Science-For-High-School/. License: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial