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Chapter 1 – Intro to Science. Section 1 – The Nature of Science. What do you think of when you hear the term “scientist”? Maybe you imagine a guy in a lab coat, or a person holding up tests tubes of strange substances.
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Chapter 1 – Intro to Science Section 1 – The Nature of Science
What do you think of when you hear the term “scientist”? Maybe you imagine a guy in a lab coat, or a person holding up tests tubes of strange substances. • Scientist don’t all fit the general stereotype, but all scientists do perform the same types of tasks. • Scientists try to describe and explain the universe using basic rules and laws. • Scientists use the scientific method in order to do this. • Math also plays a huge role in science. Every field of science uses math in some way!
The Scientific Method begins with an observation. A scientist may see something happen, then wonder about WHY that event happened. • The next step is the hypothesis. A hypothesis is a “guess” about why something happens. • After a hypothesis is made, it needs to be tested. Scientists experiment to test hypotheses. • After the experiment is complete, a conclusion about the hypothesis can be made. • The conclusion does not always agree with the hypothesis. When this happens, the scientist must come up with a new hypothesis and repeat the process..
An easy way to remember the scientific process is the acronym “OHEC”. • O – Observation • H – Hypothesis • E – Experiment • C – Conclusion • Scientists are constantly using the scientific process to test new theories.
Understanding Graphs • We use graphs in our everyday lives. They are a quick way to show a lot of information. • Weather data, sports statistics, population, and voter response are only a few things that graphs can be used to show.
There are 3 basic types of graphs: Line, Circle or Pie, and Bar. • Each type of graph has an advantage to showing certain kinds of data. • Line graphs are used to show a constant change. • Line graphs are placed on a grid with an X and Y axis. • Time is often shown on the X axis, and the dependent variable (the thing you are measuring) is put on the Y axis.
Bar graphs are used for comparison. • When you need to compare several similar types of data, a bar graph is best.
Circle graphs (or pie charts) are used to show the parts of a whole. • Percents are shown on circle graphs, and all of the data on the graph will add up to 100%.
The SI units of measurement: • Scientists rely on the SI system when they take measurements. • This system is used by scientists around the world. SI stands for “system international”. • Many of the SI units come from the metric system…a way of measuring things based on 10’s.
Here are the common units in the metric system: • Length – meters. • Volume – liters. • Mass – grams. • Time – seconds. • The basic units of the metric system can be altered using prefixes. • When a prefix is added to a basic unit, that unit becomes larger or smaller.
Here are the prefixes that are used with metric units, from smallest to largest. • Milli (m) - .001 • Centi (c) - .01 • Deci (d) - .1 • Standard Units – 1 (meter, gram, liter, etc) • Deka (da) – 10 • Hecto (h) – 100 • Kilo (k) – 1000 • For example, a kilometer is 1000 meters. A millimeter is .001 meters, a hectometer is 100 meters, and a centimeter is .01 meters.
Scientific Notation • Many times, scientists have to work with numbers that are very big, or very small. • Because of this, a way to rewrite very large or very small numbers was created. • Definition: scientific notation – a method of expressing a quantity as a number times 10 to the appropriate power. • The definition of scientific notation may sound confusing, but once you begin writing numbers in scientific notation, it will make more sense.
Examples of Scientific Notation: • 10 = 1 x 101 • 100 = 1 x 102 • 1000 = 1 x 103 • Look at the amount of numbers behind the 1 in the original number, then compare it to the exponent number above 10…they are the same! • It may look easy with regular numbers, but what about more complicated numbers? • Let’s try 380, 3,800, and 3,8000… • 380 = 3.8 x 102 • 3,800 = 3.8 x 103 • 38,000 = 3.8 x 104 • Easy stuff once you get the hang of it! Let’s try some examples (CPS).
Now lets look at very small numbers in scientific notation: • Lets say you have the numbers .1, .01, and .001. How would they be expressed in scientific notation? • The exponents become negative when dealing with decimal numbers. • .1 = 1 x 10-1 • .01 = 1 x 10-2 • .001 = 1 x 10-3 • The exponent is the number of 0s behind the decimal +1. • So, in .1 there are no 0s, so the exponent is 1. (0 + 1)
Examples: • .0009 = 9 x 10-4 • .00056 = 5.6 x 10-4 • .0941 = 9.41 x 10-2 • EASY!