Chapter 1 Flashcards
Science
A means of coming to understand the natural world through observation and the testing of hypotheses. Also, a collection of insights about nature, the evidence for which is an array of facts.
Theory
A general set of principles, supported by evidence, that explains some aspect of nature.
Scientific theory VS scientific fact
A scientific theory has explanatory power, while a scientific fact is merely an isolated piece of information.
Scientific method
The process by which scientists investigate the natural world. The method involves the testing of hypotheses through observation and experiment.
Hypothesis
A tentative, testable explanation for an observed phenomenon.
Variable
An adjustable condition in an experiment.
First principle of scientific process
Every assertion regarding the natural world is subject to challenge and revision based solely on evidence.
Second principle of scientific process
Any scientific hypothesis or claim must be falsifiable, meaning open to negation through scientific inquiry. The assertion that “UFOs are visiting Earth” does not rise to the level of a scientific claim because there is no way to prove that this is not so.
Third principle of scientific process
Scientific inquiry concerns itself only with natural explanations for natural phenomena. Pit another way, supernatural explanations for the working of nature lies outside the realm of science and thus cannot be examined through the scientific process.
Every finding in science is subject to _____ based on the accumulation of new _____.
Revision, evidence
Any scientific claim must be falsifiable, meaning open to _____ through means of scientific inquiry.
negation
All properly executed scientific experiments must have rigorous controls, meaning that all aspects of the experiment must be held _____ except do the condition, known as _____, which is being tested for.
constant, variable
Science concerns itself not only with _____ explanations for natural phenomena, as opposed to _____ explanations for these phenomena.
Natural, supernatural
Biology
The study of life.
Characteristics of living things:
- Can assimilate and use energy.
- Can respond to their environment.
- Can maintain a relatively constant internal environment.
- Possess a inherited information base, encoded in DNA, that allows them to function.
- Can reproduce through the use pf the information encoded in DNA
- Are composed of one or more cells
- Evolved from other living things
- Are highly organized compared to inanimate objects.
Life is highly organized in a hierarchical manner.
Lower levels of organization are progressively integrated to make up higher levels.
The building blocks of matter are _____.
Atoms
Atoms
The building blocks of matter.
Molecules
Entities consisting of a defined number of atoms that exist in a defined spatial relationship to one another.
Life sciences
A set of disciples that focus on varying aspects of the living world.
Evolution
The gradual modification of population of living things over time, with this modification sometimes resulting in the development of new species.
The most important principle in biology, the theory of evolution, concerns the gradual _____ of populations of living things over time, sometimes resulting in the development of new _____.
Modification, species.
Biology can be defined as the study of _____c
Life
Levels of organization:
Molecules, cell, organ, organism, community, ecosystem.
Describe the nature of a scientific hypothesis
A hypothesis is a tentative explanation that can be tested, usually through experimentation.
A theory, as described in scientific discourse, is:
A set of principles, supported by evidence, that explains some aspect of nature.
Pasteur’s experiments on spontaneous generation made correct use of a variable in that Pasteur:
Held all conditions constant in each test except one.
