Download Background Biology and Biochemistry

Background Biology and Biochemistry Homework Practice
Questions/Answers A
1. What is science? What is the goal of science?
Science is a distinctive way of gaining knowledge about the natural world.
The goal of science is to understand the natural world.
2. Outline the steps of a scientific investigation.
Make observations→Ask a question→Form a hypothesis→Test the
hypothesis→Draw conclusions→ Communicate results
3. What is a scientific hypothesis? What characteristics must a hypothesis
have to be useful in science?
A hypothesis is a possible answer to a scientific question.
A hypothesis must be based on scientific knowledge, and it also must be
logical.　In addition to these, it must be falsifiable.
4. Give an example of a scientific question that could be investigated with
an experiment. Then give an example of scientific question that could not be
investigated in this way.
Birds might avoid eating a moth that has eye spots on its wings .
Birds living in the current world might eat the moth that has already gone
extinct.
5.What might be an advantage of collecting evidence in a natural setting
rather than in a lab?
Collecting evidence in a natural setting gives us more chances to be able to
find consistent principles from it. (i.e. Laws and principles must be true
regardless of the changes of the various factors that exist in nature.)
6. Identify the independent and dependent variables in the following exp
eriment:
A scientist grew bacteria on gel in her lab. She wanted to find out
if the bacteria would grow faster on gel A or gel B. She placed a
few bacteria on gel A and a few on gel B. After 24 hours, she
observed how many bacteria were present on each type of gel.
Independent variable is the type of gel.
Dependent variable is bacteria growth.
7. Explain why science cannot provide answers to all questions.
This is because things that cannot be observed or measured by current
means-such as supernatural beings or events-are outside the bounds of
science.
8. Contrast how the term theory is used in science and in everyday language.
Theory in science is a broad explanation for events that is widely accepted
as true.
Theory in everyday language is used as a guess or a personal opinion.
9. Explain how a hypothesis could become a theory.
Only a hypothesis that can withstand the tests done under various kinds of
conditions could become a theory.