Natural Sciences and Experimental Design Quiz

Study Notes

Absolute Error and Rounding

Absolute error formula: Error absolute = Scale/2
Rounding rule for numbers ending in 5: adjust to make the preceding number even.
Example: 2.25 rounds to 2.2; 2.35 rounds to 2.4.

Experimental Design

Involves reading a passage and identifying variables, constants, title, and hypothesis.
Title structure: "The effect of (Independent variable) on (Dependent variable)."
Hypothesis format: "If (condition), then (outcome), because (reason)."
Independent variable: manipulated variable.
Dependent variable: variable affected by manipulation.
Control variable: original state prior to independent variable manipulation.
Constants: conditions that remain unchanged throughout the experiment.

Natural Sciences

Two main fields: Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences.
Biological Sciences: studies living organisms (e.g., Botany, Zoology, Microbiology).
Physical Sciences: focuses on non-living matter and laws of nature (e.g., Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy).

Chemistry

Chemistry: science rooted in experimentation leading to observations, theories, and mathematical evaluations.
Branches of Chemistry:
- Organic Chemistry: study of carbon-containing compounds.
- Biochemistry: reactions in living organisms.
- Inorganic Chemistry: study of non-carbon compounds (e.g., minerals).
- Analytical Chemistry: statistical analysis and methodologies for observations.
- Physical Chemistry: relation between energy and matter composition.
Key concepts:
- Mass: measure of matter in an object.
- Volume: space occupied by an object (solid, liquid, gas).

Mathematics

Scientific notation: consists of a coefficient, base (10), and exponent (positive/negative).
Negative exponent indicates a small number; positive exponent indicates a larger number.
Significant figures rules:
- Leading zeros do not count.
- Zeros between numbers count.
- Trailing zeros after a decimal point count; before a decimal, they don’t unless after a number.
- Example: 700 has 1 significant figure; 700.0 has 4 significant figures.

Arithmetic with Significant Figures

Addition/Subtraction: result has the smallest number of decimal places among the input values.
- Example: 22.92 + 7.08 = 30.00 (2 decimal places).
Multiplication/Division: round to the lowest significant figures from initial values.
- Example: 3.00 x 12 x 78.201 = 2800 (rounded to 2 significant figures).

Metric System

Length: meter (m), time: second (s), volume: liter (L), mass: gram (g).
Metric prefixes:
- Tera (T) = 1 x 10^12
- Giga (G) = 1 x 10^9
- Mega (M) = 1 x 10^6
- Kilo (k) = 1 x 10^3
- Deca (da) = 1 x 10^1
- (Base unit)
- Deci (d) = 1 x 10^-1
- Centi (c) = 1 x 10^-2
- Milli (m) = 1 x 10^-3
- Micro (µ) = 1 x 10^-6
- Nano (n) = 1 x 10^-9
- Pico (p) = 1 x 10^-12
- Femto (f) = 1 x 10^-15

Volume and Density

Water displacement method: used for irregular objects; measure water level before and after submerging the object and subtract.
- State volume in cm³ or m³ (1000 L = 1 m³; 1 mL = 1 cm³).
Regularly shaped objects: volume calculated by multiplying length, width, and height.
Density formula: d = m/v (density = mass/volume).
Dimensional analysis: converting between different units.

Description

Test your knowledge on the concepts of absolute error and rounding while exploring the fundamental aspects of experimental design in natural sciences. This quiz covers the identification of variables, the structure of hypotheses, and the distinctions between biological and physical sciences.