angle: The space (usually measured in degrees) between two intersecting lines or surfaces at or close to the point where they meet.
behavior: The way something, often a person or other organism, acts towards others, or conducts itself.
chaos: A situation that is confused and has no order. (in physics) A situation where the behaviors of a system appear random and unpredictable. Chaos arises because the system is exquisitely sensitive to even small changes in the conditions that define it.
chaos theory: A field of research in math and physics that studies the patterns of dynamic — or chaotic — systems to better understand and predict their behavior. These patterns emerge from a relationship between these systems and related facets of math known as “strange attractors.”
climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
field: An area of study, as in: Her field of research is biology. Also a term to describe a real-world environment in which some research is conducted, such as at sea, in a forest, on a mountaintop or on a city street. It is the opposite of an artificial setting, such as a research laboratory.
mass: A number that shows how much an object resists speeding up and slowing down — basically a measure of how much matter that object is made from.
meteorologist: Someone who studies weather and climate events.
random: Something that occurs haphazardly or without reason, based on no intention or purpose. Or an adjective that describes some thing that found itself selected for no particular reason, or even chaotically.
strange attractor: (in math) The equation or fractals that can be used to describe a complex behavior and trends inside a chaotic system.
subtle: Adjective for something that may be important, but can be hard to see or describe. For instance, the first cellular changes that signal the start of a cancer may be only subtly different — as in small and hard to distinguish from nearby healthy tissues.
system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.
technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.
theory: (in science) A description of some aspect of the natural world based on extensive observations, tests and reason. A theory can also be a way of organizing a broad body of knowledge that applies in a broad range of circumstances to explain what will happen. Unlike the common definition of theory, a theory in science is not just a hunch. Ideas or conclusions that are based on a theory — and not yet on firm data or observations — are referred to as theoretical. Scientists who use mathematics and/or existing data to project what might happen in new situations are known as theorists.
tornado: A violently rotating column of air extending from the ground to a thunderstorm above.
trait: A characteristic feature of something. (in genetics) A quality or characteristic that can be inherited.
wave: A disturbance or variation that travels through space and matter in a regular, oscillating fashion.
weather: Conditions in the atmosphere at a localized place and a particular time. It is usually described in terms of particular features, such as air pressure, humidity, moisture, any precipitation (rain, snow or ice), temperature and wind speed. Weather constitutes the actual conditions that occur at any time and place. It’s different from climate, which is a description of the conditions that tend to occur in some general region during a particular month or season.