Science terms starting with F

623 terms

  1. follicle (FOL-i-kul) A sac or pouch-like cavity.
  2. follicle stimulating hormone (Abbreviation: FSH). A hormone, secreted by the anterior pituitary gland in mammals, that stimulates the ripening of the specialized structures in the…
  3. Follistatin An inhibitory factor produced during embryonic development that affects the growth and differentiation of the pancreas.
  4. FONSI - finding of no significant impact.
  5. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Federal agency within HHS responsible for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of drugs, biologics, vaccines, and medical devices used (among others) in…
  6. Food chain The chain of organisms in a community that produce food and consume it.
  7. food processing enzyme Enzyme used to control food texture, flavour, appearance, or nutritional value.
  8. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act See Food and Drug Administration.
  9. Foot Twelve inches. One of a number of projections on a cylindrical drum of a tamping roller.
  10. Foot Candle A unit of illuminance; equal to one lumen per square foot.
  11. Foot Pound The amount of work done in raising one pound one foot.
  12. Footing A sill under a foundation. Ground, in relation to its load bearing and friction qualities.
  13. Footprint The land or water area covered by a project. This includes direct physical coverage (i.e.
  14. Forage Small baitfish, crayfish and other creatures that bass or other predator fish eat.
  15. Forage fish Generally, small fish that produce prolifically and are consumed by predators.
  16. Foraging habitat See Spotted owl habitat.
  17. Forb A weed or a broad-leafed plant.
  18. Forbs Herbaceous (nonwoody), broad-leaved flowering plants; non-graminoid (grasses, sedges, and rushes) herbaceous plants. See also Graminoid herbaceous
  19. Force The push or pull that alters the motion of a moving body or moves a stationary body; the unit of force is the dyne or poundal; force is equal to mass time…
  20. Forced Air System or Furnace A type of heating system in which heated air is blown by a fan through air channels or ducts to rooms.
  21. Forced Channeling Channeling of upper winds along a valley's axis when upper winds are diverted by the underlying topography. Compare pressure-driven channeling.
  22. forced cloning The insertion of foreign DNA into a cloning vector in a predetermined orientation.
  23. Forced outage Unscheduled shut down of a generating unit or other facility for emergency or other unforeseen reasons.
  24. Forced Ventilation A type of building ventilation system that uses fans or blowers to provide fresh air to rooms when the forces of air pressure and gravity are not enough…
  25. forcing factors that drive or "force" a system to change. Forcings that affect our climate system include changes in solar radiation and in greenhouse gas…
  26. Forcing Mechanism A process that alters the energy balance of the climate system, i.e. changes the relative balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing infrared…
  27. Ford A place where a road crosses a stream under water.
  28. Forebay The water behind (upstream) of the dam.
  29. Forebay (headrace) Impoundment immediately upstream from a dam or hydroelectric plant intake structure.
  30. Forecast A statement of prediction.
  31. Forecast Crest The highest elevation of river level, or stage, expected during a specified storm event.
  32. Forecast Guidance Computer-generated forecast materials used to assist the preparation of a forecast, such as numerical forecast models.
  33. Forecast Issuance Stage The stage which, when reached by a rising stream, represents the level where RFCs need to begin issuing forecasts for a non-routine (flood-only) forecast…
  34. Forecast Periods Official definitions for NWS products: Today...............................Sunrise to sunset This afternoon..................noon till 6 p.m. This evening.
  35. Forecast Point A location that represents an area (reach of a river), where a forecast is made available to the public.
  36. Forecast valid for The period of time the forecast is in effect beginning at a given day, date and time, and ending at a given day, date and time.
  37. foreign DNA Exogenous DNA that is incorporated into a host genome.
  38. Forensics Computer forensics is the scientific examination and analysis of data held on, or retrieved from, computer storage media in such a way that the…
  39. Forepole A plank driven ahead of a tunnel face to support the roof or wall during excavation. See horsehead.
  40. Foreshore That part of the shore between the ordinary high-and low-watermarks and generally crossed by the tide each day.
  41. Foresight A sighting on a point of unknown elevation from an instrument of known elevation.
  42. Forest Terrestrial ecosystem (biome) with enough average annual precipitation (at least 76 centimeters or 30 inches) to support growth of various species of…
  43. Forest health A condition of ecosystem sustainability and attainment of management objectives for a given forest area.
  44. Forest Plan The document that sets goals, objectives, desired future condition, standards and guidelines, and overall programmatic direction for a National Forest.
  45. Forest residues Material not harvested or removed from logging sites in commercial hardwood and softwood stands as well as material resulting from forest management…
  46. Forest Service (FS) The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of…
  47. Forested areas or land Any land that is capable of producing or has produced forest growth or, if lacking forest growth, has evidence of a former forest and is not now in other…
  48. forestry residues Includes tops, limbs, and other woody material not removed in forest harvesting operations in commercial hardwood and softwood stands, as well as woody…
  49. form The mass or shape of an object or objects that appears unified, such as a vegetative opening in a forest, a cliff formation, or a water tank.
  50. Formaldehyde (for-MAL-duh-hide) A chemical used in manufacturing and chemical industries, and as a preservative by anatomists, embalmers, and pathologists.
  51. Formation Any sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic material represented as a unit in geology; generally called rock, but not necessarily meeting the definition of…
  52. formulation See: medium formulation.
  53. Formulation process First phase performed by the Early Warning System design team, which includes an Early Warning System reliability, local capabilities assessment, and…
  54. forskolin A medicinal, diterpenoid, compound exclusive to plant roots and used in the preparation of drugs for the treatment of cardiomyopathy, glaucoma and certain…
  55. fortify To add strengthening components or beneficial ingredients to a nutrient medium.
  56. Forward Flank Downdraft The main region of downdraft in the forward, or leading, part of a supercell, where most of the heavy precipitation is.
  57. forward mutation A mutation from the wild type to the mutant type. Opposite: reverse mutation.
  58. Forward price curve The set of prices of contracts for delivery of a good over a span of time in the future.
  59. Forwarder A self-propelled vehicle to transport harvested material from the stump area to the landing.
  60. Fossil Remains of ancient life forms, their imprints or behavioral traces (e.g., tracks, burrows, or residues) and the rocks in which they are preserved.
  61. Fossil fuel Solid, liquid or gaseous fuels formed in the ground after millions of years by chemical and physical changes in plant and animal residues under high…
  62. Fossil fuel combustion Burning of coal, oil (including gasoline), or natural gas. This burning, usually to generate energy, releases carbon dioxide, as well as combustion by…
  63. Fossil Fuels Fuels formed in the ground from the remains of dead plants and animals. It takes millions of years to form fossil fuels.
  64. Fossorial insects Insects that live in the soil.
  65. fouling The coating or plugging (by materials or micro-organisms) of equipment, thus preventing it from functioning properly.
  66. Foundation The supportive structure of a building.
  67. Foundation drains Tile or pipe for collecting seepage within a foundation.
  68. Foundation material (foundation soil) The upper part of the earth mass carrying the load of the structure.
  69. Foundation of Dam The material on which the dam structure is placed. Often modified to provide more favorable hydraulic characteristics. See "Cutoff".
  70. Foundation surface The surface of the upper part of the earth mass carrying the load of the structure.
  71. Foundation trench A trench built at and into the foundation of a dam and filled with clay or other impermeable substances to prevent water from seeping beneath the dam.
  72. founder animal An organism that carries a transgene in its germ line and can be used in matings to establish a pure-breeding transgenic line, or one that acts as a…
  73. founder principle The possibility that a new, isolated population, initiated by a small number of individuals taken from a parent population, may be genetically different…
  74. Fountainhead The upper end of a confined-aquifer conduit, where it intersects the land surface.
  75. four-base cutter A type II restriction endonuclease with a four-nucleotide recognition site. Because any particular sequence of four bases occurs more frequently by chance…
  76. FOUS Forecast Output United States
  77. FPO Flood Potential Outlook
  78. FPS Fujita-Pearson Scale
  79. FQT Frequent
  80. Fractional Horse Power Motor An electric motor rated at less than one horse power (hp).
  81. fractionation Dividing the total dose of radiation therapy into several smaller, equal doses delivered over a period of several days.
  82. Fractocumulus A cumulus cloud presenting a ragged, shredded appearance, as if torn.
  83. Fractostratus A stratus cloud presenting a ragged, shredded appearance, as if torn. It differs from a fractocumulus cloud in having a smaller vertical extent and darker…
  84. Fracture (frack'chur)a broken bone.
  85. Fracture (joint) Crack or break in rocks along which no movement has occurred.
  86. Fracture Zone An area which has a great number of fractures.
  87. Fracturing Deformation process whereby ice is permanently deformed, and fracture occurs.
  88. Fractus Ragged, detached cloud fragments; same as scud.
  89. Fragile X syndrome After Down syndrome, the second most frequent genetic cause of mental retardation.
  90. fragment Partial structure. See: restriction fragment.
  91. Fragmentation Process by which habitats are increasingly subdivided into smaller units, resulting in their increased insularity as well as losses of total habitat area.
  92. Fragmentation of habitat The breaking up of a single habitat area into two or more smaller habitat patches that are separated from each other.
  93. Frame (Window) The outer casing of a window that sits in a designated opening of a structure and holds the window panes in place.
  94. Frame of Reference The perspective from which an event is viewed. For example a man is standing on the side of the road, and he sees a woman drive past him in a car.
  95. frameshift mutation A mutation that changes the reading frame of a DNA, either by the insertion or the deletion of nucleotides.
  96. Framing The structural materials and elements used to construct a wall.
  97. Francis Turbine A type of hydropower turbine that contains a runner that has water passages through it formed by curved vanes or blades.
  98. Fraternal twin Siblings born at the same time as the result of fertilization of two ova by two sperm.
  99. Frazil Ice Fine spicules, plates, or discoids of ice suspended in water. In rivers and lakes, frazil is formed in supercooled, turbulent water.
  100. Frazil Slush An agglomerate of loosely packed frazil which floats or accumulates under the ice cover.