WORKING SCIENTIFICALLY Flashcards
what’s a hypothesis?
a possible explanation for an observation
what’s peer review?
other scientists check results/explanations to ensure they’re scientific before publication to detect false claims
what’s a theory?
an accepted hypothesis
never totally factual -> new evidence can be discovered
what’s a representational model?
simplified description or picture of what’s going on in real life
e.g. Bohr’s atomic model
what’s a computational model?
using a computer to make simulations of complex, real-life processes
e.g. Climate Change
what’s a limitation?
something a model can’t explain or predict
e.g. Big Bang Theory doesn’t explain what happened before the Big Bang
what’s a hazard?
something that could potentially cause harm
e.g. risk of Acid Rain due to Pollution
what do investigations do?
produce evidence to support or disprove a hypothesis
by checking patterns/relations between 2 variables
what must evidence be?
Repeatable - can get the same results with the same method/person
Reproducible - if someone else does the experiment they’ll get similar results
Valid - answers original question, fair test
how can a test become fair?
by controlling variables
what’s the independent variable?
the one you change
what’s the dependent variable?
the one you measure
what’s the controlled variable?
the one you control/keep the same
what do control experiments do?
let you see what happens when you don’t change anything in an eperiment
why is a small sample size bad?
it’s harder to spot anomalies
how can results be described as accurate?
when the results are close to the correct answer
how can results be described as precise?
when the results are close together or close to the mean
why is equipment with small resolutions better?
they can detect small changes
what’s random error?
unpredictable differences due to human error wit measuring
how can you reduce random error?
take repeat readings and find a mean
what’s systematic error?
when a measurement is wrong by the same amount each time (all results affected)
e.g. measuring from the actual start of a ruler instead of at 0cm
