Science: Core Concepts and Scientific Method: 22 flashcards
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1. What is science, in one sentence?
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A method for testing claims about the natural world against evidence through observation, measurement and experiment.
2. List the seven steps of the scientific method loop.
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Observe, ask a question, hypothesise, predict, test, analyse, revise — then repeat.
3. What is a hypothesis?
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A testable proposed explanation that makes a prediction you could actually check.
4. What does falsifiability mean?
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There must be some possible observation that could prove the claim wrong.
5. Define the independent variable.
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The factor the experimenter deliberately changes.
6. Define the dependent variable.
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The factor that is measured as the outcome of the experiment.
7. What are controlled variables?
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Factors kept constant so they do not confuse the result.
8. Why is a control group needed?
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It provides a baseline for comparison and isolates the effect of the one thing being tested.
9. What is a placebo-controlled trial?
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A trial where one group receives a dummy treatment so expectation alone does not distort the result.
10. Why does correlation not imply causation?
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Two variables can move together because a hidden third factor drives both.
11. What does 'theory' mean in science?
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A well-tested explanatory framework that unifies many observations and has survived repeated attempts to disprove it.
12. How does a scientific law differ from a theory?
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A law describes what happens; a theory explains why it happens.
13. Why do measurements need units?
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A number without a unit is meaningless; units give every scientist a shared standard.
14. What is measurement uncertainty?
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The limit to a measurement's precision, which honest science always reports.
15. How does peer review strengthen science?
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Other experts scrutinise the methods and reasoning before publication, catching flaws early.
16. Why is science called self-correcting?
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Wrong ideas are eventually caught and revised because results must be reproducible and survive scrutiny.
17. Give three everyday applications of science.
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Vaccines, antibiotics, GPS, refrigeration, weather forecasting, and cooking.
18. What kinds of questions can science NOT answer?
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Moral, aesthetic and value-based questions — those belong to ethics, art and philosophy.
19. Why is astrology not considered a science?
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Its claims are not testable in a way that could ever prove them wrong.
20. What is the SI system?
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A shared international standard of units — metres, kilograms, seconds, kelvin, mole, ampere, candela.
21. Why does repetition by independent teams matter?
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Confidence in a result grows when different people, in different places, get the same answer.
22. What is the defining feature that makes a field a science?
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The process — evidence over authority and testability over tradition — not the subject matter.
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