1. Discuss the importance of the scientific process.
The scientific process is what differs us from the early humans. If the scientific process was never developed, people would still be living in caves, hunting mammoths, or living in mud houses. The scientific process has changed the whole world, it has changed thinking all by it self. The scientific process is something that is as great as when writing was invented, one of man’s greatest things.
Using the scientific process man was able to identify problems in the world they were living in, and then using these observations were able to solve these problems and make their lives better. Using the knowledge that had been found out before, man has enabled man to live in such an advanced society as he lives today.
2. Offer proof that the scientific method has changed the world. Explain!
There is proof everywhere that the scientific process has changed the world, just looking around you, there is bound to be an object changed by the scientific process unless you’re completely naked in the middle of a jungle in the amazon with only nature around you. But even then you might still might be around something affected by the scientific process since something could have been done in a jungle, etc. to restore it or improve it. All your clothing is affected by the scientific process with such things like flame retardant and anti-wrinklers. Also your T-shirt might be made of polyester or other man made material, which were developed by the scientific process. Everything has been changed by the scientific process including the earth we walk on, the air we breath, the food we eat, the transportation we use to get places, the plant life, the clothes we wear, even ourselves.
3. Explain the relationship between the scientific process and a controlled experiment.
A controlled experiment is part of the scientific method. A controlled experiment uses a "control", which is the part of the experiment in which the key factor isn’t allowed to change. The control is a group that is completely identical to the experiment except for 1 variable. Although a controlled experiment is the most often used method, the scientific method does allow not using a controlled experiment. Instead you make a theory with evidence behind it, but is not yet proved. These theories are left for the future generations to prove or disprove.
4. Design a controlled experiment to solve a real or hypothetical personal problem of your own. Show which parts of the scientific process you used and why.
This is an example controlled experiment, do not use this! Ekberg will recognize that several people had the same experiment, it is advisable that you do your own!
Controlled experiment: I own a scooter named a go-ped which is a motorized vehicle which goes approximately 20 miles per hour. The go-ped is as of now broken and doesn’t want to go when you try to start it. My experiment is to find out what’s broken
and to see how I can fix it.
Observations. The go-ped does seem to start but when it starts the motor immediately dies out when acceleration is applied by the gas trigger. To keep the go-ped running, you need to keep pushing it forward and it won’t accelerate. The gas flow seems to go regularly meaning the gas gets into the motor. The cylinder seems to react when you add gasoline and turn the engine. The go-ped has a two stroke engine.
Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that the fuel mixture is wrong. There is to little oil or to much oil in the oil-fuel mixture. Therefore oil-fuel mixture doesn’t combust right and the engine doesn’t want to accelerate since the oil-fuel mixture won’t burn right.
Predictions: My prediction is that if the fuel mixture is wrong and the new fuel mixture is put in, then the engine will start a lot easier. Then it will accelerate and run smoothly and the engine won’t shut off or do problems unless there are some other problems with the engine.
Experiment: First, I got rid of the remaining gas in the fuel tank. Then I bought an oil packet which was the correct fuel mixture for a full tank of gasoline. I put the oil in the tank and then I filled the rest up with gasoline and mixed the mixture. Then I ran the go-ped down the hill to start the engine. The engine ran and accelerated smoothly.
The Control: I had a oil packet which I added to the gas tank. This oil packet was the precise amount of oil that needed to be in the mixture for the engine to run optimally and efficiently. The oil packet is added to a liter of gasoline making the right mixture for the engine to run. This perfect mixture is the control since the mixture of gasoline to oil will always remain the same. This is the control because then if the engine didn’t work, we know the problem is not the mixture. This control proves my hypothesis because once the fuel mixture was put in the engine accelerated smoothly, the engine ran smoothly without much noise, the acceleration didn’t jerk, and the motor accelerated to maximum speed in the right amount of time, and the engine accelerated to it’s proper speed. This is the criteria the engine running optimally. When the old fuel mixture was in (the one that that’s assumed to be wrong), the engine accelerated very slowly and eventually shut down when you tried to accelerate, the engine jerked upon acceleration, the engine never reached even close to maximum speed and the engine run smoothly and didn’t even keep running at all unless you pushed the go-ped forward with your food. This criteria of how the engine should and shouldn’t run is in the manual to the go-ped and if it runs optimally like I described it when I put in the right oil mixture, then nothing is assumed to be wrong with the engine.
5.Name five tools and five techniques used in the scientific process. Give an example of
when and where these tools and techniques would be used. Give advantages and disadvantages.
In a light microscope, a beam of light passing through one or more lenses produces an enlarged image of the object or specimen being viewed. The light microscope is illuminated by an electric light bulb. The light passes through two lenses. The lens closest to the specimen is called the objective lens. Most microscopes have a series of interchangeable objective lenses that can be rotated into place. The objective lens directs light to the ocular lens in the eyepiece. The magnification of a light microscope is determined by the power of its lenses. The objective lens of a typical light microscope can magnify an object so that it appears to be 40x it’s actual size. The ocular lens can magnify an object 10x. When an object is viewed through both lenses, the magnification is 400x. The most powerful light microscopes can magnify an object about 2,000x. Scientist use light microscope to observe living organisms and preserved cells. The advantage of a light microscope is that it isn’t very heavy, isn’t expensive, and can be used to magnify living things. The disadvantage is that it only magnifies 2,000x.
B. Transmission electron microscopes
These are called TEM They transmit a beam of electrons through a very thinly sliced specimen. Magnetic lenses enlarge the image and focus it on a fluorescent screen or photographic plate, producing a visible image. Transmission electron microscopes can magnify objects up to 2,000,000x. Advantages are they have high magnification. Disadvantages are that the images are black and white, and are only 2 dimensional.
Commonly called SEM, enables biologists to see detailed three-dimensional images of cell surfaces. Specimens are places on a small metal cylinder and coated with a very thin layer of metal. The image is formed one line at a time as the beam of electrons scans the specimen from side to side. The electrons that bounce off the specimen form an image that can be viewed on a video screen, or a scanning electron micrograph can be made. The SEM magnifies up to 100,000x. The SEM can be used to study small organisms and some single celled organisms in the lab.
This microscope is called the STM. The STM maps the surface of an object atom by atom. It can magnify an object up to 100,000,000x and requires no light. It is most used to study a map DNA of viruses and human beings. The greatest advantage is that it doesn’t require the specimen to be killed, and people can actually witness living creatures.
Many biologists collect data that can best be organized and analyzed through the use of computers. A biologists studying the rain forest might collect data on factors affecting plant growth. Using a computer, the biologist can construct a model showing the effect of environmental factors on plant growth. It can be used to make calculations very fast and predictions. It was once thought it was impossible to make detailed calculations. These calculations would take a man years, but a computer seconds. The disadvantage is that computers can be expensive.
F. Cell fractionation is a technique used to release the components of a cell. Cells can be fractionated in a blender. The grinding action breaks open cells, releasing the cell parts.
G. Centrifugation is a technique used to separate cell parts by type spinning fractionated cells at high speeds. The spinning action causes heavier components to settle to the bottom of a tube while the lighter components remain at the top.
H. Chromatography is used to separate chemical components of a substance based on the varying rates of movement up a piece of paper or down a column of beads. A piece of paper with a dot of the substance to be analyzed is hung in the liquid. As the liquid moves up the paper, components of the substance are deposited as separate bands on the paper. The bands can then be identified.
I. Scientific sampling is a technique in which a small sample is used to represent an entire population. A biologist studying one region of the rain forest might identify and count the plants in one acre. From this sample the biologist could estimate the total number of plants of different species in the region. However, the biologist’s estimate will be accurate only if the acre is representative of the entire region being studied. Straw polls, are polls in which people are asked at random regardless what group of people it is, straw polls are completely useless.
J. The ability to grow cells in the laboratory has allowed biologists to study cell growth, interaction between cells, and cell’s response to substances in the environment. A population of identical cells grown in the laboratory is referred to as a cell culture . A biologist can isolate one type of cell, such as a heart cell muscle, and grow a population of these cells in a cell culture. The biologist then can use the cell culture in controlled experiments in order to study the effects of certain nutrients on these cells. The use of a cell culture allows biologists to determine how specific types of cells react without having the data obscured by the presence of other types of cells.
