The @keyframes rule in CSS is used to specify the keyframes for CSS animations. Keyframes describe how an animation progresses from the starting state to the ending state. They define the intermediate steps or percentage-based changes in the animation's properties, allowing for smooth and controlled animations.

The CSS property used to change the text case, such as making text all uppercase, is text-transform. It allows you to control the capitalization of text, including options like uppercase, lowercase, and capitalize. This is especially useful for headings and other text elements where you want to change the case style.

The text-transform property in CSS is used to control the capitalization of text. Setting it to "uppercase" transforms the text to all uppercase letters, while "lowercase" makes it all lowercase.

The pseudo-class :nth-of-type(2) in CSS targets the second element of its type. It allows you to select and style the second occurrence of an element type within its parent container. This is useful for creating specific styles for the second element, such as the second paragraph or the second list item.

SCSS (Sassy CSS) files have the ".scss" extension. This extension is used to indicate that the file contains SCSS syntax, which is a more CSS-like syntax with additional features provided by SASS.

In CSS, font-size can be specified in various units, including em, ex, px, and cm. However, 'cm' is not a common unit for font-size. It's typically used for specifying dimensions of other elements, like margins or padding.

The ::first-letter pseudo-element in CSS is used to target the first letter of a block-level element, such as a paragraph or a heading. It's commonly used for styling the initial letter of a text block, for decorative or typographic purposes.

To make an animation play forwards first and then reverse on alternate cycles, you would use the animation-direction property with the value alternate-reverse. This value causes the animation to run normally on odd iterations (forwards) and in reverse on even iterations.

To create a button hover effect where the button scales up gradually, you would primarily use the combination of CSS properties: transform: scale(1.2); for scaling the button and transition: transform 0.3s ease-in-out; to specify the transition duration, easing function, and the property to be transitioned (in this case, "transform"). This combination smoothly scales up the button on hover.

To vertically center a single item inside a container using Flexbox, you would set the align-items property to "center" to vertically align the item within the container, and you would set justify-content to "center" to horizontally center the item within the container.

In Styled Components, a popular library for styling React components, styles are written inside JavaScript code using tagged template literals (usually within JSX files). This approach allows developers to encapsulate styles within the components themselves.

Media queries in CSS allow you to conditionally apply styles based on the width (or dimensions) of the device or browser window. By specifying different rules for various screen sizes, you can create responsive designs that adapt to different viewing environments.