Transcript Unit1.pptx

Unit 1
Methods of Science:
Hypothesis
Law
Theory
Model
Topics for Unit 1
• Basic characteristics of science (1.3)
– Hypothesis – testable and reproducible
– Law – summary of many observations
– Theory – tentative attempt to explain
observations
– Model – attempt to explain abstract ideas with
more familiar scale examples
Hypothesis
• A hypothesis is an educated guess that is
testable
• Hypotheses (plural of hypothesis) are
tentative explanations of phenomena that
can be tested by further experimentation
Law
• A law is a brief summary of large amounts of
scientific data
– A law does not attempt to explain why
something happens – it simply states that is
does
– A law is universal – under the stated sets of
conditions it has always been found to be true
– Examples: The law of the conservation of
mass, the law of gravity
Theory
• A theory provides a detailed possible
explanation as to why something
observed
– Theories are tentative – they can be modified
or discarded based upon new evidence
– Theories provide predictive capability
– Examples: Theory of Relativity, KineticMolecular Theory
Model
• A model attempts to explain abstract
phenomena with tangible approaches
– A model is often used to help picture the
description of a process provided by a theory
– Example: The processes in a gas can be
envisioned as similar to billiard balls hitting
each other – this lends a tangible visualization
to the kinetic molecular theory