Accepting Scientific Ideas

Your Measurements  All measurements should be in metric values. The United States in the only place that doesn’t use metric as a normal.  Page 870 in the reference section of the text, has common metric units and conversion to English standards.

 With your measurements, accuracy and precision are two important concepts.  Accuracy is how close you are to a measurement. Example: You guess the length of a meter stick is 3 feet. This is very close.  Precision would say the meter stick is inches. Inches are a more precise unit. ( more specific)

Error….oops!  Error is the expression of the amount of imprecision or variation there is in an measurement.  Percent error =  (Accepted value – experimental value) X100 Accepted value Accepted value

 When scientists reach a conclusion they introduce their finding to the scientific world. It must be reviewed by the peers of the scientist.  When others have repeated the experiment and it reaches a general acceptance, it then becomes a theory.  To be a scientific law, No exceptions can be found to the theory.

Science and Society  Scientific knowledge helps us understand our world. It creates new possibilities as well as new problems. The Alaskan pipe line built in the 1970’s, brought much needed oil to the US. However, the pipeline and its workers encroached on wilderness ; this affected wildlife and its habitat.