Science — page 116 of 132

13,110 terms including subtopics (0 terms filed directly here)

Science terms

sub-clone A procedure in which a large cloned DNA molecule is divided into smaller fragments, each one of which is then separately cloned.
sub-culture Division and transfer of a portion of a culture to fresh medium. Sometimes used to denote the adding of fresh liquid to a suspension culture.
sub-culture interval The time between consecutive sub-cultures of cells.
sub-culture number The number of times cells, etc., have been sub-cultured..
Sub-organization Any organization such as agencies, departments, offices, or local jurisdictions having a supportive role in emergency planning and preparedness.
sub-strain Derived from a strain by the isolation of an individual or group of individuals having properties or markers not shared by the strain as a whole.
Sub-synoptic Low Essentially the same as mesolow.
sub-unit vaccine One or more immunogenic protein s, either purified from the pathogen itself or produced from a cloned pathogen gene.
Subalpine The upper mountain vegetation immediately below the cold limits of tree and tall shrub growth.
Subbase A layer used in a pavement system between the subgrade and base course, or between the subgrade and portland cement concrete pavement.
Subbituminous coal A dull, black coal of rank intermediate between lignite and bituminous coal. See coal.
Subcloning The process of tranferring a cloned DNA fragment from one vector to another. (See Cloning.)
Subcritical flow Those conditions of flow for which the depths are greater than critical and the velocities are less than critical.
Subculturing Transferring cultured cells, with or without dilution, from one culture vessel to another.
Subdivision A subdivision occurs as the result of dividing land into lots for sale or development.
Subdivision Rules and Regulations Procedures, requirements, and provisions governing the subdivision of land that is specified in formal Rules and Regulations promulgated by a city or town…
Subdrainage A land area (basin) bounded by ridges or similar topographic features, encompassing only part of a watershed.
Subdrilling Overdrilling or drilling below final grade. Sometimes necessary to assure that final grade is obtained when blasting.
subgenomic promoter A promoter added to a virus for a specific heterologous gene, resulting in the formation of mRNA for that gene alone.
Subgrade Soil prepared and compacted to support a structure or pavement system.
Subgrade surface The surface of the earth or rock prepared to support a structure or a pavement system.
Subirrigation Applying irrigation water below the ground surface either by raising the water table within or near the root zone, or by use of a buried perforated or…
Sublimation The transition of a substance from the solid phase directly to the vapor phase, or vice versa, without passing through an intermediate liquid phase.
Sublimation of ice The transition of water from solid to gas without passing through the liquid phase.
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) Aquatic vegetation, such as sea grasses, that cannot withstand excessive drying and therefore live with their leaves at or below the water surface.
Subrefraction The bending of the radar beam in the vertical which is less than under standard refractive conditions.
Subsidence Sinking or settlement of the land surface, due to any of several processes. As commonly used, the term relates to the vertical downward movement of…
Subsidence Inversion A temperature inversion that develops aloft as a result of air gradually sinking over a wide area and being warmed by adiabatic compression, usually…
Subsistence The practices by which a group or individual acquires food, such as through hunting and gathering, fishing, and agriculture.
subspecies Population(s) of organisms sharing certain characteristics that are not present in other populations of the same species.
Substation An electrical installation containing power conversion (and sometimes generation) equipment, such as transformers, compensators, and circuit breakers.
Substation capacity The substation capacities are given in kVA (kilovolt-amperes). To determine the load in kilowatts, which could be served from the transformers, the…
substitution Replacement of one nucleotide in a DNA sequence by another nucleotide or replacement of one amino acid in a protein by another amino acid.
Substrate 1. A compound that is altered by an enzyme. 2. Food source for growing cells or micro-organisms. 3. Material on which a sedentary organism lives and grows.
Subsurface irrigation system Irrigation by means of underground porous tile or its equivalent.
Subsurface Storm Flow The lateral motion of water through the upper layers until it enters a stream channel. This usually takes longer to reach stream channels than runoff.
Subtidal A marine or estuarine environment that lies below mean low water; always (or almost always) submerged in a tidally-influenced area.
Subtle Heavy Rainfall Signature This heavy rain signature is often difficult to detect on satellite. These warm top thunderstorms are often embedded in a synoptic-scale cyclonic…
Subtropical Cyclone A non-frontal low pressure system that has characteristics of both tropical and extratropical cyclones.
Subtropical Depression A subtropical cyclone in which the maximum 1-minute sustained surface wind is 33 knots (38 mph) or less.
Subtropical Jet (Abbrev. STJ) - this jet stream is usually found between 20° and 30° latitude at altitudes between 12 and 14 km.
Subtropical Storm A subtropical cyclone in which the maximum 1-minute sustained surface wind is 34 knots (39 mph) or more.
Subunit vaccine A vaccine composed of a purified antigenic determinant that is separated from the virulent organism. (See Vaccine, Enzyme.)
Succession A series of dynamic changes by which one group of organisms succeeds another through stages leading to potential natural community or climax.
sucker A shoot that arises from an underground root or stem. Of particular significance to grafted plants, since the sucker will be genotypically rootstock…
suckering Type of vegetative propagation where lateral buds grow out to produce an individual that is a clone of the parent.
sucrose density gradient centrifugation A procedure used to fractionate nucleic acids on the basis of their size.
Suction Vortex A small but very intense vortex within a tornado circulation. Several suction vortices typically are present in a multiple-vortex tornado.
Sudden Commencement (SC) In solar-terrestrial terms, an abrupt increase or decrease in the northward component of the geomagnetic field, which marks the beginning of a geomagnetic…
Sudden Impulse (SI+ or SI-) In solar-terrestrial terms, a sudden perturbation of several gammas in the northward component of the low-latitude geomagnetic field, not associated with…
Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance (SID) In solar-terrestrial terms, HF propagation anomalies due to ionospheric changes resulting from solar flares, proton events and geomagnetic storms.
SUF Sufficient
suicide gene A strategy for making cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy. One approach has been to link parts of genes expressed in cancer cells to other genes…
Sulfate Aerosols Particulate matter that consists of compounds of sulfur formed by the interaction of sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide with other compounds in the…
Sulfate attack Damage to concrete caused by the effects of a chemical reaction between sulfates in soils or ground water and hydrated lime and hydrated calcium aluminate…
Sulfated proteoglycan Molecules found primarily in connective tissues and joint fluids and that provide lubrication.
Sulfur cycle Cyclic movement of sulfur in different chemical forms from the environment, to organisms, and then back to the environment.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) A compound composed of one sulfur and two oxygen molecules. Sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through natural and anthropogenic processes is…
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) (SO2) SO2 is a key pollutant in the formation of acid rain and contributes to the formation of fine particles that are associated with significant negative…
Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) A colorless gas soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water. A very powerful greenhouse gas used primarily in electrical transmission and…
Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) A colorless gas soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water. A very powerful greenhouse gas used primarily in electrical transmission and…
Sulfur oxides (SOx) (SOx) Compounds containing sulfur and oxygen, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfur trioxide (SO3).
Summation Principle This principle states that the sky cover at any level is equal to the summation of the sky cover of the lowest layer plus the additional sky cover…
Summer Typically the warmest season of the year during which the sun is most nearly overhead.
Summer Solstice The time at which the sun is farthest north in the Northern Hemisphere, on or around June 21.
Sump A pit or pool for draining, collecting, or storing water. A chamber located at the entrance to the pump which provides water to the pump.
Sump pump A pump used for removing collected water from a sump.
Sun Dog see Parhelion
Sun Path Diagram A circular projection of the sky vault onto a flat diagram used to determine solar positions and shading effects of landscape features on a solar energy…
Sun Pillar A bright column above or below the sun produced by the reflection of sunlight from ice crystals.
Sun Pointing Alignment of the radar antenna by locating the position of the sun in the sky, which has an exactly known position given the radar's location and the…
Sun Tempered Building A building that is elongated in the east-west direction, with the majority of the windows on the south side.
sundog A colored luminous spot produced by refraction of light through ice crystals that appears on either side of the sun. Also called parhelion.
Sunk cost A cost already incurred and therefore not considered in making a current investment decision.
Sunny When there are no opaque (not transparent) clouds. Same as Clear.
Sunrise The phenomenon of the sun's daily appearance on the eastern horizon as a result of the earth's rotation.
Sunset The phenomenon of the sun's daily disappearance below the western horizon as a result of the earth's rotation.
Sunspace A room that faces south (in the northern hemisphere), or a small structure attached to the south side of a house.
Sunspot Dark areas on the Sun created by strong magnetic fields beneath the Sun’s surface.
Sunspot Cycle The recurring, eleven-year rise and fall in the number of Sunspots.
Sunspot Group A cluster of multiple sunspots.
Sunspot Group Classification A: A small single unipolar sunspot or very small group of spots without penumbra. B: Bipolar sunspot group with no penumbra.
Sunspot Number In solar-terrestrial terms, a daily index of sunspot activity (R), defined as R = k (10 g + s) where S = number of individual spots, g = number of sunspot…
Super Cluster A cluster of clusters of galaxies. A vast collection of galaxy clusters that may contain tens of thousands of galaxies spanning over a hundred million…
Super Insulated Houses A type of house that has massive amounts of insulation, airtight construction, and controlled ventilation without sacrificing comfort, health, or…
Super Typhoon Typhoon having maximum sustained winds of 130 knots (150 mph) or greater.
Super Window A popular term for highly insulating window with a heat loss so low it performs better than an insulated wall in winter, since the sunlight that it admits…
superbug Jargon for a particular engineered strain of Pseudomonas, in which various hydrocarbon-degrading genes, derived from different plasmids, were combined…
Supercell Short reference to Supercell Thunderstorm; potentially the most dangerous of the convective storm types.
Supercell Thunderstorm Potentially the most dangerous of the convective storm types. Storms possessing this structure have been observed to generate the vast majority of…
supercoil The conformation of a double-stranded DNA molecule placed under torsional stress as a result of interactions with protein s.
Supercoiled plasmid The predominant in vivo form of plasmid, in which the plasmid is coiled around histone-like proteins.
Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) (SMES) SMES technology uses the superconducting characteristics of low-temperature materials to produce intense magnetic fields to store energy.
Superconductivity The abrupt and large increase in electrical conductivity exhibited by some metals as the temperature approaches absolute zero.
Supercool To cool a liquid below its freezing point without solidification or crystallization.
Supercooled Liquid Water In the atmosphere, liquid water can survive at temperatures colder than 0 degrees Celsius; many vigorous storms contain large amounts of supercooled…
Supercritical flow Those conditions of flow for which the depths are less than critical and the velocities are greater than critical.
Supergene A group of neighboring genes on a chromosome that tend to be inherited together and sometimes are functionally related.
Superheated steam Steam at a given pressure which is above the temperature which corresponds to boiling temperature at that given pressure.
Supernatant The soluble liquid &action of a sample after centrifugation or precipitation of insoluble solids.