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Exploring Physical Science: What is science and scientific measurements?

This chapter explores the fundamentals of science, including the definition of science, the scientific method, hypothesis testing, observations and inferences, and the importance of accurate scientific measurements using the metric system.

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Exploring Physical Science: What is science and scientific measurements?

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  1. Chapter 1 Exploring Physical Science

  2. I. What is science? • What do scientists discover? • Theory: the most logical explanation of events that occur in nature, must be tested over and over again. • Law: a theory that has been successfully tested several times and is now regarded as true

  3. I. What is science? • Scientific Method • Stating the Problem • Gathering information on the Problem - read what earlier scientists have found out • Forming a Hypothesis hypothesis – proposed solution to a problem, an educated guess

  4. I. What is science (cont’d) • Performing Experiments to Test the Hypothesis - Independent Variable the ONE factor that is being tested - Experimental Group (setup): the part of the experiment that contains the independent variable. (Your test group) - Control Group (setup): the part of the experiment that does NOT contain the independent variable. (Your comparison group) • Recording and Analyzing data - graphs and data tables help show trends better than raw data • Stating a conclusion - hypothesis will either be correct or incorrect – either conclusion is valuable!

  5. II. Observations & Inferences • Observation: a piece of information derived from one or more of your senses. • Ex. Mr. Miller is a science teacher • Inference: an educated conclusion based upon your observations and prior knowledge. • Ex. Mr. Miller loves science.

  6. Observation or Inference? • The sky is blue ____ • Mr. Miller is over 6’ tall ____ • Mr. Miller is wearing a belt ____ • The sun will rise tomorrow ____ • It is nighttime in China right now ____ • There is a poster of a happy face at the front of the room ____ • We will be dismissed today at 2:35pm ____ • Mr. Miller is married ____

  7. How do Scientists make accurate observations and measurements?

  8. III. Scientific Measurements • Why measure? Accurate measurements make experimental observations more meaningful • Measurement – comparison with a certain standard (called a unit) • e.g., the fence is 29.4 meters long = the fence is 29.4 times longer that the length of the standard meter • metric system (aka International System of Units, SI) – the standard system used by all scientists, based on the number 10

  9. III. Scientific Measurements (cont’d) • Advantages of the Metric system: - easier conversions - standard prefixes for different size measurements - based on the number 10

  10. III. Scientific Measurements (cont’d) Metric Units of Measurement Physical QuantityMetric UnitMetric Symbol • Length meter m • Mass gram g • Volume liter L • Temperature degree Celsius ° C

  11. III. Scientific Measurements (cont’d) Metric Prefixes PrefixSymbolFactor (fraction)Factor (exponent) • Kilo- k 1000 103 • Hecto- h 100 102 • Deka- D 10 101 • (none) (none) 1 100 • Deci- d 1/10 10-1 • Centi- c 1/100 10-2 • Milli- m 1/1000 10-3 Important Note: You sometimes see the “none” factor as either ”base” or “standard”

  12. To convert to a larger unit, count the number of steps you have to take to get there, and move the decimal point that number of steps to the left. kilo- (k)1000 units hecto- (h)100 units deka-(D)10 units Base Unit -gram-meter-liter1.0 unit deci-(d)0.1 units centi- (c) 0.01 units milli- (m)0.001 units To convert to a smaller unit, count the number of steps you have to take to get there, and move the decimal point that number of steps to the right. Large Unit Small Unit Use the steps to convert metric measures between units BASE UNITSgrams (g) measure massliters (L) measure volumemeters (m) measure length

  13. III. Scientific Measurements (cont’d) • Use the “Step Chart” to Convert the following measurements • 1.2 km = ________ dm • 33.7 mg = _______ g • 2785.22 cL = ______ kL • 78 hg = _________ cg • 97.0045 Dm = _________ mm

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