24.09.9 science review: methods and terms

~~Migration~~Alternate resource: https://elab.hpa.edu/apes/texts/fr3e/friedland-relyea-3rd-edition.pdf

Scientific method:

Key part of science is peer review and replication

Peer review: qualified folks who know the subject well review the process, data and interpretation
Replication: once published in ~~progress~~reputable media, the experiment must be able to be replicated using the same tools
Pons and Fleschmann: no replication possible, same with the S. Korean human cloning guy

Key skills:

Be skeptical about everything you read or hear.
Evaluate evidence and hypotheses using inputs and opinions from a variety of reliable sources.
Identify and evaluate your personal assumptions, biases, and beliefs and distinguish between facts and opinions before coming to a conclusion.

Bad example: Monty Python Witch scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii68tPIiZOo

Law vs. theory: if verified and proven cause and effect, theory can become law: tentative, open to future data

Climate change example:

Global temperatures are rising based on ice core data and recent measurements
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases follow the same pattern
The dynamics of light, heat and gases is well known
The impact is far greater than smaller variations (e.g. tilt of the earth)
Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of human fossil fuel burning
Human activity is linked to climate change

Important terms (yes, these actually show up on the AP exam):

Variable: any difference, in a planned or "natural" experiment
Independent variable: the part that does not change (like x in a graph)
Dependent variable: the part that changes-or not
Null hypothesis: proving something is NOT cause and effect (can sheep's bladders be used to predict earthquakes)
Replication: everybody must be able to get the same results, using the same materials
Sample size (n): must be large enough to be accurate
Accuracy: close to truth or true value
Precision: how close your results are to each other (gas pump is in 0.01liters, but your odometer is only in miles)
Control group: those you DON'T mess with in the experiment (think of some drug test)
Natural experiment: variation not planned (Lahaina, COVID, Mount Pinatubo and cooling of the planet, etc.)

Trivia question: what does Frankenstein have to do with an erupting volcano?

Demo: bean bags, target

Graphing:

X axis: independent variable
Y axis: dependent variable (the result)
question: in math, a function is something with only one dependent variable-why?

Units:

mks system is meters, kilograms, seconds
prefixes to know:

kilo: thousand, 1000 or 10^3
mega: million, 1000000 or 10^6
giga: billion, 1000000000 or 10^9
centi: 1/100 (like cents), 1 cm is about the width of your pinky
milli: 1/1000, millimeter is 1/1000 meter, 1/10 of your pinky
micro: 1/million
nano: 1/billion

Demo: meter stick

challenges:

how many cm tall are you?
How many mm to Kona (62 km)?
How many kg do you weigh?

Temperature:

Fahrenheit: only used by older civilizations, or the US (joke there), based on goofy science from long ago
Centigrade: based on 0° for ice, 100° for steam
Kelvin: bad guys in Star Trek, or based on molecular motion: absolute zero is 0°K, ice is 273°K, steam is 373°K
Cool idea: at absolute zero, things could vanish (actually they would get very, very small) why?

Homework: 2.1

how many nanometers tall are you? if you were weighted in grams, how many would that be? what is your body temperature in °C? In °K? an element has 3 protons and 4 neutrons, what is the symbol? what is the charge if it has 2 electrons? what do you call this? another element has 3 protons and 3 neutrons, how is this related to the element above? look up the periodic table and find this element, what column is it in? what else is in that column going up and down? why do we need a Kelvin scale and a Centigrade scale?

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