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1.7: End of Chapter Key Terms

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    Elemental Beginnings: Foundations of Physics and Chemistry Key Terms

    1. Control Group: A group in an experiment that does not receive the experimental treatment or change in the independent variable, serving as a baseline to compare the effects of the independent variable.
    2. Dependent Variable: The variable that is measured or observed in an experiment, potentially influenced by changes in the independent variable.
    3. Experiments: Systematic methods of making observations or measurements under controlled conditions, ideally with only one variable altered at a time.
    4. Hypothesis: A tentative explanation for an observation or set of observations that can be tested through further investigation.
    5. Independent Variable: The variable that the scientist deliberately changes to observe its effect, representing the cause in a cause-and-effect relationship.
    6. Junk Science or Pseudoscience: Research or claims presented as scientific but lacking rigorous standards and peer review, often with predetermined conclusions or biased interpretations.
    7. Law: A verbal or mathematical description of a phenomenon that allows for general predictions, describing what happens without explaining why.
    8. Manipulative Experiment: An experiment in which a single variable is deliberately changed under controlled conditions to isolate its effect on another variable.
    9. Negative Controls: Parts of an experiment designed to give a negative result, showing that the experiment is capable of producing a negative result when it is supposed.
    10. Observational Science: A scientific approach where phenomena are studied without manipulation, often due to the impracticality of controlled experiments, such as in astronomy.
    11. Observations: Initial steps in the scientific method, which can be qualitative (describing properties or occurrences without numbers) or quantitative (measurements consisting of numbers and units).
    12. Positive Controls: Parts of an experiment designed to give a positive result, demonstrating that the experiment is capable of producing a positive result when it is supposed to.
    13. Qualitative Observations: Descriptions of properties or occurrences that do not rely on numerical measurements, such as the color of sulfur crystals.
    14. Quantitative Observations: Measurements that consist of both a number and a unit, such as the melting point of a substance.
    15. Scientific Method: A procedure for searching for answers to questions and solutions to problems through making observations, formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, and collecting data in repeated cycles.
    16. Spontaneous Generation: An outdated hypothesis suggesting that non-living material can spontaneously transform into living organisms, disproven by experiments such as those conducted by Louis Pasteur.
    17. Theory: A broad explanation for a phenomenon that has been well-tested, supported by repeated experiments, and widely accepted, explaining why nature behaves as it does.
    18. Treatment Group(s): Groups in an experiment where the independent variable is manipulated to various degrees to observe the changes that occur in the dependent variable.

    1.7: End of Chapter Key Terms is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.