Grade 12 · Science review

Grade 12 Science review questions and answers

Biology, chemistry, and physics questions from US classrooms. Written in American English for students, parents, and teachers in the United States.

Topics

Practice quiz

Question and answer list

Open a card to see the answer. These are original practice items for US elementary students — not a state test copy.

1. The carbon cycle includes

Answer: photosynthesis, respiration, and fossil-fuel burning

CO₂ is a key greenhouse gas.

2. Biodiversity means

Answer: variety of life in an ecosystem

More diversity often means more resilience.

3. A carbon sink

Answer: stores more carbon than it releases, like a healthy forest

Oceans and forests can act as sinks.

4. Eutrophication is often caused by

Answer: excess fertilizer runoff that overfeeds algae

Algal blooms can steal oxygen when they decay.

5. An invasive species

Answer: spreads in a new habitat and can harm natives

Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes are a US example.

6. Renewable energy examples include

Answer: wind, solar, and hydro

They replenish on a human timescale.

7. The ozone layer

Answer: blocks much harmful UV from the Sun

Stratospheric ozone is helpful; ground-level ozone is a pollutant.

8. A keystone species

Answer: has an outsized effect on its ecosystem

Sea otters and wolves are textbook cases.

9. A wave’s frequency is

Answer: how many cycles occur per second (hertz)

f = 1/T.

10. The relationship v = fλ means

Answer: wave speed equals frequency times wavelength

In air, sound is much slower than light.

11. In a series circuit, current is

Answer: the same through each resistor

Voltage drops add to the battery voltage.

12. In a parallel circuit, voltage across each branch is

Answer: the same as the source (ideal wires)

Currents in the branches add.

13. Ohm’s law is

Answer: V = IR

Voltage, current, resistance.

14. Momentum is

Answer: mass times velocity (p = mv)

It is conserved in a closed system with no external impulse.

15. A transverse wave’s oscillations are

Answer: perpendicular to the direction of travel

Light and string waves are transverse.

16. Sound is a

Answer: longitudinal mechanical wave

It needs a medium; light does not.