Science terms starting with C

1,236 terms

  1. CIN Growth of abnormal cells on the surface of the cervix. Numbers from 1 to 3 may be used to describe how abnormal the cells are and how much of the cervical…
  2. Cinder cone A conical hill formed around a volcanic vent by the accumulation of loose cinders and other pyroclastics ejected during a volcanic eruption, normally…
  3. CIO Chief Information Officer
  4. Cipolletti weir (trapezoidal weir) A contracted weir of trapezoidal shape in which the sides of the notch are given a slope of 1 horizontal to 4 vertical.
  5. circadian Of physiological activity, etc.: recurring at approximately 24-hour intervals.
  6. Circle of influence The circular outer edge of a depression produced in the water table by the pumping of water from a well. See cone of influence.
  7. Circuit A device, or system of devices, that allows electrical current to flow through it and allows voltage to occur across positive and negative terminals.
  8. Circuit breaker After the stock market crash of 1987, stock and commodities exchanges established a system of trigger-point rules known as circuit breakers.
  9. Circuit Lag As time increases from zero at the terminals of an inductor, the voltage comes to a particular value on the sine function curve ahead of the current.
  10. Circuit mile For single circuit electric power transmission lines, circuit miles are equal to geographic miles or pole miles.
  11. circularization The self-ligation of a linear DNA fragment having complementary ends, generally generated by digestion with a restriction endonuclease.
  12. Circulating Fluidized Bed A type of furnace or reactor in which the emission of sulfur compounds is lowered by the addition of crushed limestone in the fluidized bed thus obviating…
  13. Circulation (ser-kyoo-LAY-shun) In the body, the flow of blood through the heart and blood vessels, and the flow of lymph through the lymph vessels.
  14. Circumpolar vortex Circumpolar vortex The large-scale cyclonic circulation in the middle and upper troposphere centered generally in the polar region.
  15. Cirque Bowl-like depression carved into a mountaintop by ice at the head of a glacier.
  16. Cirriform High altitude ice clouds with a very thin wispy appearance.
  17. Cirrocumulus A cirriform cloud characterized by thin, white patches, each of which is composed of very small granules or ripples.
  18. Cirrostratus A cloud of a class characterized by a composition of ice crystals and often by the production of halo phenomena and appearing as a whitish and usually…
  19. Cirrus (abbrev. CI) High-level clouds (16,000 feet or higher), composed of ice crystals and appearing in the form of white, delicate filaments or white or mostly…
  20. cis configuration See: coupling.
  21. cis heterozygote A double heterozygote that contains two mutations arranged in a cis configuration (e.g. a+ b+ / a b).
  22. cis-acting protein A protein with the particular property of acting only on the molecule of DNA from which it was expressed.
  23. cis-acting sequence A nucleotide sequence that only affects the expression of genes located on the same chromosome.
  24. Cistern A small tank (usually covered) or a storage facility used to store water for a home or farm. Often used to store rain water.
  25. Cistron A DNA sequence that codes for a specific polypeptide; a gene. See DNA, Gene.
  26. City Gate Generally refers to the location at which gas changes ownership or transportation responsibility from a pipeline to a local distribution company or gas…
  27. Civil Dawn The time of morning at which the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. At this time, there is enough light for objects to be distiguishable and that outdoor…
  28. Civil Defense Agency State and/or local agency responsible for emergency operations, planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery for all hazards.
  29. Civil Dusk The time at which the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon in the evening. At this time objects are distinguishable but there is no longer enough light to…
  30. Civil Emergency Message (Abbrev. CEM) - A message issued by the National Weather Service in coordination with Federal, state or local government to warn the general public of a…
  31. CL An abbreviation used on climate outlook maps issued by CPC to indicate areas where equal chances of experiencing below-normal, normal, and above-normal…
  32. Cladophora Filamentous green alga.
  33. Clam shell gate High pressure regulating gate consisting of two curved leaves which open and close over the end of a conduit.
  34. Clarifier A tank used to remove solids by gravity, to remove colloidal solids by coagulation, and to remove floating oil and scum through skimming.
  35. Class (pipe and fittings) The working pressure rating of a specific pipe for use in water distribution systems which includes allowances for surges.
  36. Class I Area Any area designated for the most stringent protection from air quality degradation.
  37. Class I Areas Geographic areas designated by the Clean Air Act where only a small amount or increment of air quality deterioration is permissible.
  38. Class II Area Any area where air is cleaner than required by federal air quality standards and designated for a moderate degree of protection from air quality…
  39. Class IV All other intermittent streams not meeting higher class criteria.
  40. class switching The process during which a plasma cell stops producing antibodies of one class and begins producing antibodies of another class.
  41. Clay A very fine-grained rock or mineral fragment of any composition that has a diameter of less than 0.002 mm.
  42. Clay size That portion of the soil finer than 0.002 mm (0.005 mm in some cases).
  43. CLD Cloud- A visible aggregate of minute water droplets or ice particles in the atmosphere above the Earth's surface.
  44. Clean Air Act (CAA) The Superfund law incorporates those substances listed as hazardous air pollutants under section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) as CERCLA hazardous…
  45. Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act of 1970 creating two gasoline standards to reduce vehicle emissions in highly polluted cities by requiring gasoline to…
  46. Clean Power Generator A company or other organizational unit that produces electricity from sources that are thought to be environmentally cleaner than traditional sources.
  47. Clean Water Act See Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948.
  48. Clean Water Act (CWA) The Superfund law incorporates those substances listed as hazardous water pollutants under section 311 (b)(4) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) as CERCLA…
  49. Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) - In aviation, sudden severe turbulence occurring in cloudless regions that causes violent buffeting of aircraft.
  50. Clear Ice A thin coating of ice on terrestrial objects, caused by rain that freezes on impact.
  51. Clear Slot With respect to severe thunderstorms, a local region of clearing skies or reduced cloud cover, indicating an intrusion of drier air; often seen as a…
  52. Clear_sky Clear sky Sky with a total cloud cover of less than one okta (or one-tenth in the United States).
  53. Clearance Clearance is the first half of the process that completes your order to buy or sell a security.
  54. Clearcut The removal, in a single cutting, of the entire stand of trees within a designated area.
  55. Clearing The registration and settlement of a trade that includes provisions for margin requirement and performance guarantee.
  56. Clearing and grubbing Cleaning a site to prepare it for construction. Involves removing debris, structures, shrubbery, trees, obstructions, and objectionable and unsuitable…
  57. Cleavage The process of cell division in the very early embryo before it becomes a blastocyst.
  58. Cleavage of Lateral Epitaxial Films for Transfer (CLEFT) A process for making inexpensive Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) photovoltaic cells in which a thin film of GaAs is grown atop a thick, single-crystal GaAs (or…
  59. cleave To break phosphodiester bonds of double-stranded DNA, usually with a type II restriction endonuclease. Synonyms: cut; digest.
  60. cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence A segment of DNA that can be amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and which contains a DNA sequence polymorphism.
  61. Clerestory A window located high in a wall near the eaves that allows daylight into a building interior, and may be used for ventilation and solar heat gain.
  62. CLFR See Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector
  63. Client Agency As used in connection with reimbursable National Weather Service (NWS) fire weather services, a public fire service or wildlands management agency…
  64. Climate The prevailing or average weather conditions of a geographic region.
  65. Climate Action Plan A description of the policies and measures that a local government will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve its emissions reduction…
  66. Climate Change A term used to describe short and long-term affects on the Earth's climate as a result of human activities such as fossil fuel combustion and vegetation…
  67. Climate Diagnostics Bulletin (CDB) - The monthly CPC Bulletin reports on the previous months' status of the ocean-atmosphere climate system and provides various seasonal ENSO-related…
  68. Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC) - The mission of NOAA's Climate Diagnostics Center is to identify the nature and causes for climate variations on time scales ranging from a month…
  69. Climate Feedback An interaction mechanism between processes in the climate system is called a climate feedback, when the result of an initial process triggers changes in a…
  70. Climate Lag The delay that occurs in climate change as a result of some factor that changes only very slowly.
  71. Climate Model Mathematical model for quantitatively describing, simulating, and analyzing the interactions between the atmosphere and underlying surface (e.g.
  72. Climate modeling The simulation of the climate using computer-based models. See climate model, General Circulation Model.
  73. Climate Outlook A climate outlook issued by the CPC gives probabilities that conditions, averaged over a specified period, will be below-normal, normal, or above-normal.
  74. Climate Prediction Center This Center is one of several centers under the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) part of the National Weather Service (NWS) in the…
  75. Climate Sensitivity In IPCC Reports, equilibrium climate sensitivity refers to the equilibrium change in global mean surface temperature following a doubling of the…
  76. Climate System The system consisting of the atmosphere (gases), hydrosphere (water), lithosphere (solid rocky part of the Earth), and biosphere (living) that determine…
  77. Climate System (or Earth System) The five physical components (atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere) that are responsible for the climate and its variations.
  78. Climate variability Climate (climatic) variability 1)In the most general sense, the term "climate variability" denotes the inherent characteristic of climate which manifests…
  79. Climatic year Continuous 12-month period during which a complete climactic cycle occurs.
  80. Climatological atlas Climatological atlas Atlas composed mainly of climatological charts. It represents especially the monthly and annual distributions of the principal…
  81. Climatological Outlook An outlook based upon climatological statistics for a region, abbreviated as CL on seasonal outlook maps.
  82. Climatology The science that deals with the phenomena of climates or climatic conditions.
  83. CLIMO Climatology/Climatological
  84. Climometer An instrument that measures angles of inclination; used to measure cloud ceiling heights.
  85. cline Variation in one or more phenotypic characters or allele frequencies across a geographical gradient.
  86. clonal propagation Asexual propagation of many new plants (ramet s) from an individual (ortet ); all have the same genotype.
  87. clonal selection The production of a population of plasma cells all producing the same antibody in response to the interaction between a B lymphocyte producing that…
  88. Clonality A line of cells that is genetically identical to the originating cell; in this case, a stem cell.
  89. Clone An exact genetic replica of a specific gene or an entire organism. See Cloning.
  90. Clone bank See: gene bank.
  91. cloned strain or line A strain or line descended directly from a clone.
  92. Cloning The mitotic division of a progenitor cell to give rise to a population of identical daughter cells or clones.
  93. cloning site See: insertion site.
  94. Cloning vector A small, self-replicating DNA molecule - usually a plasmid or viral DNA chromosome - into which foreign DNA is inserted in the process of cloning genes or…
  95. cloning vehicle See: cloning vector.
  96. Close Coupled An energy system in which the fuel production equipment is in close proximity, or connected to, the fuel using equipment.
  97. Closed Basin A basin draining to some depression or a pond within its area, from which water is lost only by evaporation or percolation.
  98. Closed Basin Lake Flooding Flooding that occurs on lakes with either no outlet or a relatively small one. Seasonal increases in rainfall cause the lake level to rise faster than it…
  99. closed continuous culture A culture system, in which the inflow of fresh medium is balanced by the outflow of corresponding volumes of spent medium.
  100. Closed Cycle A system in which a working fluid is used over and over without introduction of new fluid, as in a hydronic heating system or mechanical refrigeration…