1.9: End of Chapter Key Terms
- Page ID
- 101034
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Elemental Beginnings: Foundations of Physics and Chemistry Key Terms
- 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.
- Dependent Variable: The variable that is measured or observed in an experiment, potentially influenced by changes in the independent variable.
- Experiments: Systematic methods of making observations or measurements under controlled conditions, ideally with only one variable altered at a time.
- Hypothesis: A tentative explanation for an observation or set of observations that can be tested through further investigation.
- Independent Variable: The variable that the scientist deliberately changes to observe its effect, representing the cause in a cause-and-effect relationship.
- Junk Science or Pseudoscience: Research or claims presented as scientific but lacking rigorous standards and peer review, often with predetermined conclusions or biased interpretations.
- Law: A verbal or mathematical description of a phenomenon that allows for general predictions, describing what happens without explaining why.
- Manipulative Experiment: An experiment in which a single variable is deliberately changed under controlled conditions to isolate its effect on another variable.
- 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.
- Observational Science: A scientific approach where phenomena are studied without manipulation, often due to the impracticality of controlled experiments, such as in astronomy.
- 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).
- 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.
- Qualitative Observations: Descriptions of properties or occurrences that do not rely on numerical measurements, such as the color of sulfur crystals.
- Quantitative Observations: Measurements that consist of both a number and a unit, such as the melting point of a substance.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.