chapter 3 (1)

Question 1

What is the bay model

Answer 1

The bay model is basically a downsized reconstruction of an area in northern california - an area the size of the state of rhode island in the US.

Over 6000 square meters large

Bay model over 1000 timest smaller than in real life

Model can be filled with water

Mimics tides and currents

Question 2

target system (or target)

Answer 2

The real world system the scientists want to study using a model

Question 3

why cant you always build identical models

Answer 3

in the case of the baymodel this wouldnt work because the model wouldve been far too big and it wouldve taken too much time to see the results

Question 4

exemplification

Answer 4

For a model to exemplify some group of target systems, it must itself be one of the target systems. Such a model is called an exemplar. Researchers can use an exemplar to represent the broader class of targets that includes the exemplar and can thus draw conclusions about the whole class of targets by investigating the exemplar

E.g. the fruit fly is a common model organism in genetics and developmental biology. Just like mendel used pea plants to understand how certain characteristics are passed from one generation to the next, biologists have used the fruit fly to learn how genes influence the development of embryos from single cells to mature organisms.

Question 5

general pattern of how models tend to be constructed and used in science

Answer 5

1. specificatino of the target system
2. construction of the model
3. analysis of the model

Question 6

parameter

Answer 6

A quantity whose value can change in different applications of a mathematical equation but that only has a single value in any one application of the equation

Question 7

assumption (models)

Answer 7

a specification that a target system must satisfy for a given model to be similar to it in the expected way

Question 8

Idealizations

Answer 8

Assumptions made without regard for whether they are true, often with full knowledge that they are false

Question 9

Robustness analysis

Answer 9

One way of determining which models are trustworth for predicion and explanation - especially when their targes are highly complex systems like the climate or predatory-prey interactions.

Question 10

Robustness analysis begins by

Answer 10

Generating multiple models of a target.

For example, climatologists develop several distinct models for prdicting changes in the temperature in a specific region. If multiple meteorological models with different variables, parameters and assumptions all predict an upcoming increase of temperature in the region, this prediction is robust