Unit 1, Week 1 Scientific Method

Why is it important that scientists have a standard way to approach solving problems (the scientific method)? In your own words, explain the difference between a hypothesis and a theory. Why do experiments need controls? A scientific problem is often discovered when an observationis made, which leads to a question. A hypothesisis formed when an explanation is proposed for an observation. Testing a proposed explanation requires designing an experiment. For the result of the experiment to be accepted, the experiment must produce the same results repeatedly. An explanation may become a theoryif the same results are found after many tests. It is January and Becky is tired of having cold feet while waiting for the school bus to come in the morning. She decided to design an experiment to test the effectiveness of wool, cotton, and nylon as insulators. She fills identical bottles with 200 ml of water at 100oC and places inside each sock. She takes the temperature of the water after 20 minutes. IV Wool, cotton, and nylon socks DV Temperature of the water after 20 minutes Constants 200 ml of water Initial temperature of 100oC A social psychologist thinks that people are more likely to conform to a large crowd than to a single person. To test this hypothesis, the social psychologist had either one person or five people stand on a busy walking path on campus and look up. The psychologist stood nearby and counted the number of people passing by who also looked up. IV 1 person or 5 people looking up initially DV Number of people passing by who also looked up Use the graph to answer the questions below. 1. At what temperature is the light intensity the highest?2. Describe the general trend for light intensity as the temperature increases.