Ch 1 Vocab Flashcards
physics
a branch of science that involves the study of the physical world: energy, matter, and how they are related
scientific methods
patterns of investigation procedures that are flexible and not rigid
hypothesis
a testable explanation for a problem using what you know and what you observe
model
a representation of an idea, event, structure, or object to help people better understand it
scientific theory
an explanation of things or events based on knowledge gained from many observations and investigations
scientific law
a statement about what happens in nature and seems to be true all the time
dimensional analysis
a method of treating units as algebraic quantities that can be cancelled; can be used to check that an answer will be in the correct units
significant figures
all the valid digits in a measurement, the number of which indicates the measurement’s precision
measurement
a comparison between an unknown quantity and a standard
precision
a characteristic of a measured value describing the degree of exactness of a measurement
accuracy
a characteristic of a measure value that describes how well the results of a measurement agree with the “real” value
independent variable
the factor that is changed or manipulated during an investigation
dependent variable
the factor in an investigation that depends on the independent variable
line of best fit
a line drawn on a graph as close to all the data points as possible; used to describe data and predict where new data will appear on the graph
linear relationship
a relationship in which the dependent variable varies linearly with the independent variable
