Sy14 15 Scientificmethod Chap 1sec 2 HW 8 11 14

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston; a Division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Interactive Reader and Study Guide 7 Science in Our World

Name Class Date
SECTION
2
Scientific Methods
Science in Our World CHAPTER 1

What Are Scientific Methods?
Two scientists wanted to find a better way to move
ships through the water. To solve their problem, they
followed a series of steps called scientific methods.
Scientific methods are the ways in which scientists
answer questions and solve problems. As scientists look
for answers, they follow a series of steps. However, there
is more than one way to use the steps. Look at the figure
below.
Steps of Scientic Methods
No
Yes
Draw Conclusions
Do they support
your hypothesis?
Make
Observations
Form a
Hypothesis
Test the
Hypothesis
Analyze
the Results
Ask a
Question
Communicate
Results
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This figure shows six steps that are part of most
scientific methods. Scientists may use all or just a few of
the steps during an investigation. They may repeat some
of the steps or do the steps in a different order.
After you read this section, you should be able to answer
these questions:
What are the steps in scientic methods?
How do scientists form a hypothesis?
What do scientists do before telling others about their
experimental results?
STUDY TIP
Outline As you read this
section, make a chart
showing how two engineers
used the steps in scientic
methods to improve ships.
READING CHECK
1. Describe What are
scientic methods?
TAKE A LOOK
2. Identify What is the usual
next step after analyzing
results?
BEFORE YOU READ
Tennessee Science
Standards
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SECTION 2 Scientific Methods continued
Why Do Scientists Ask Questions?
Asking questions helps scientists focus on the reason
for an investigation. However, the focus of an investiga-
tion often comes from observation. Observation is the
process of using your senses to collect information.
A REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
Two engineers, James Czarnowski and Michael
Triantafyllou, wanted to improve the way ships move
through the water. An engineer is a scientist who builds
things using scientific knowledge. These engineers used
scientific methods and technology to improve how ships
move. Technology is the application of science for practi-
cal purposes.
The engineers studied how the propellers on ships
work. They found that ships use a lot of fuel to turn the
propellers and move through the water. They asked,
How can we make ships move faster using less fuel?
That is, they wanted to improve the efficiency of ships.
A ship that is efficient does not use as much fuel as other
ships to travel the same distance. Saving fuel means
saving natural resources.
The engineers looked to nature to find a way to
make ships more efficient. They observed sea animals to
learn how some of them swim faster than others. The
engineers observed that penguins are very efficient swim-
mers. Penguins have stiff bodies, just like ships. Yet, they
are able to push themselves through the water with ease.
Now, the engineers had a slightly different question.
They wanted to know, How can we make a ship that
moves through the water more easily?
Penguins use their wings as ippers to swim
underwater. As they pull their ippers toward their
bodies, the ippers push against the water, moving them forward.
READING CHECK
3. Dene What is
observation?
Critical Thinking
4. Explain How does using
less fuel help save natural
resources?
TAKE A LOOK
5. Describe How do
penguins use their wings to
move through the water?
Name Class Date
How Do Scientists Form a Hypothesis?
Once a scientist has made observations and asked
questions, he or she is ready to predict an answer. This
is called forming a hypothesis. A hypothesis (plural,
hypotheses) is a possible explanation or an answer to
a question.
A POSSIBLE ANSWER FROM NATURE
The two engineers had observed the slow movement of
ships and the fast swimming of penguins. Their observa-
tions led them to form a hypothesis. They guessed, A ship
that can move through the water the way a penguin swims
would be more efficient than a ship that uses propellers.
ANOTHER WAY TO WORD PREDICTIONS
Scientists often predict what they think might
happen when they test their hypothesis. They often state
their predictions as if-then statements. For example,
Czarnowski and Triantafyllou might have made the
prediction, If we use flippers instead of a propeller to
move a boat, then it will be more efficient. An if-then
statement makes it easier to determine whether your
prediction is true.
The table below gives some examples of if-then statements.
If statement Then statement
If car A uses less gasoline than
car B during the same trip
then car is more
efcient than car .
If more force is needed to stop
an object with a large mass than
an object with a small mass
then force is
needed to stop a large truck than
a small car.
Why Do Scientists Test a Hypothesis?
A good hypothesis is testable. Scientists test a hypoth-
esis to find out if it answers their question correctly. A
scientist tests a hypothesis by making observations or by
doing experiments. A hypothesis that is not testable is
not necessarily wrong, but it is not very useful because
you cannot prove it or disprove it.
READING CHECK
6. Dene What is a
hypothesis?
Critical Thinking
7. Explain How does an
if-then statement make it
easier to determine whether
a prediction is correct?
TAKE A LOOK
8. Identify In the table,
complete the then
statements.
Name Class Date
CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS
One way to test a hypothesis is to do a controlled
experiment. A controlled experiment is an experiment in
which only one factor changes at a time. The factor that
changes is called the variable.
Suppose you want to know how much air will make
a basketball bounce highest. You gather 15 basketballs
that are all made by the same company. The basketballs
are the same size and are made of the same material. You
divide the basketballs into three groups.
You inflate the balls in the first group with the recom-
mended amount of air. You put more air in the balls in the
second group, and less air in the third group. Then, you
drop each ball from the same height and measure how
high it bounces. This is a controlled experiment. The only
variable is the amount of air in the basketballs.
A controlled experiment allows a scientist to investi-
gate the effects of a variable more easily. Suppose you
had used basketballs that were not all made of the same
material. Then there would have been two variables: air
level and material. It would have been much harder to
determine which variable caused some balls to bounce
higher than others.
It is not always possible to do a controlled experiment.
In these cases, scientists test their hypotheses by making
observations or researching the work that other scientists
have done.
BUILDING A TEST BOAT
The engineers who wanted to design an efficient ship
tested their hypothesis by building a model boat. They
built Proteus, a boat that has flippers like a penguin.
Proteus was a model boat used to test the ippers hypothesis.
Proteus has two ipper-like paddles,
called foils. Both foils move out and
then in, as the ippers of a penguin do.
As the foils ap, they push water backward.
The water pushes against the foils to propel the boat forward.
READING CHECK
9. Dene What is a variable?
READING CHECK
10. Explain Why is doing a
controlled experiment a good
way to test a hypothesis?
TAKE A LOOK
11. Identify What does
Proteus use instead of a
propeller to move through
the water?
Name Class Date
How Did the Scientists Test Proteus?
Another way to do a controlled experiment is to repeat
the same test several times. For each test, one variable is
changed. This is how the engineers tested Proteus.
The engineers used Proteus to test their hypothesis
about how the ship would move through the water. They
took it to the Charles River in Boston. For each test, the
boat moved across the river for the same distance under
the same weather conditions. The variable that changed
each time was the speed of the flippers, called the
flapping rate.
Proteus, the penguin boat, was tested in the Charles River in Boston.
The engineers collected data on the speed of the boat
and the amount of energy used to move its flippers. Data
(singular, datum) are pieces of information collected
from experiments.
The data recorded for the first trip were control data.
Control data are used as the standard to compare to
other data. The experimental part of the test began with
the second trip. The engineers changed the variable by
increasing the flapping rate of the flippers. Then, they
recorded the speed and the energy used during the trip.
Proteus made several more experimental trips. Each
time, the engineers changed the flapping rate and col-
lected data on the energy used and the speed of the boat.
When all the data were collected, the engineers
compared the results of the trips. They interpreted their
results to find out which flapping speed used the least
energy, or was the most efficient.
READING CHECK
12. Identify What two
factors stayed the same
when Proteus was tested?
13. Identify What was the
variable for each trip?
READING CHECK
14. Dene What are data?
Name Class Date
How Do Scientists Analyze Results?
After scientists collect data, they must analyze them.
To analyze data means to interpret what the data mean.
One way to analyze data is by doing calculations. Another
way to analyze data is by organizing them into tables and
graphs. Tables and graphs make the patterns in the data
easier to see.
It is always a good idea to repeat your experiment
several times. If you get similar results for each test,
then it is more likely that the results are accurate. If the
results support your hypothesis, you know that your
hypothesis is probably correct.
ANALYZING PROTEUS
The engineers collected data about the energy used
and the speed of each trip. They used the data to calcu-
late Proteus efficiency. Then, they made a graph of their
data, shown below.
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Flaps per second
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
0.7 1.2 1.7 2.2
This graph shows the
efciency of Proteus when
the ippers are moving at
different rates.
The engineers also used the data to compare the effi-
ciency of Proteus with the efficiency of a boat that uses
propellers. The bar graph below shows the comparison.
70%
87%
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Propeller-
driven boat
Proteus
This graph shows that the
Proteus has 17 percent more
efciency than the propeller-
driven boat.
READING CHECK
15. Describe What does it
mean to analyze data?
Math Focus
16. Analyze Which apping
rate gave Proteus the highest
efciency?
TAKE A LOOK
17. Compare Which boat
was more efcient?
18. Calculate How much
more efcient was it?
Name Class Date
What Are Conclusions?
At the end of an experiment, you must draw a
conclusion. After you analyze your data, the results tell
you whether your results support your hypothesis. If
they do, then you can say that your results support your
hypothesis. That is your conclusion.
You may also conclude that your results do not
support your hypothesis. In this case, you can gather
more information or ask new questions. Whether your
hypothesis is supported or not, the results are important.
Drawing a conclusion usually leads to more questions,
even if your results do not support your hypothesis. More
questions lead to more investigations. This is how
scientific progress continues.
PROTEUS CONCLUSION
After analyzing the data, the engineers found that
flippers are more efficient than propellers. They
concluded that the results support their hypothesis.
The engineers were able to reach this conclusion
because they did many tests. They were careful to control
all the factors except the variable. They measured every-
thing accurately. Their data showed the same relationship
many times. This showed that their results were not acci-
dental. Therefore, their results were probably accurate.
How Do Scientists Share Results?
Other scientists will want to know about your results.
There are three main ways to communicate the results of
your investigation. You can use any or all of them.
Method of communicating results Audience
Write a paper for a scientic journal scientists and others who read the journal
Give a talk scientists and others who attend the talk
Create a Web site anyone interested in the work
Sharing your results also allows other scientists to
continue your investigation, ask more questions, and
find more answers. Sharing makes it possible for others
to repeat your experiments. The more an experiment is
repeated, the more reliable the results are.
READING CHECK
19. Explain How do you
draw a conclusion?
READING CHECK
20. Explain How did the
engineers know that their
results were probably
accurate?
Name Class Date
Section 2 Review
SECTION VOCABULARY
data any pieces of information acquired through
observation or experimentation
hypothesis an explanation that is based on prior
scientic research or observations and that can
be tested
observation the process of obtaining information
by using the senses
scientic methods a series of steps followed
to solve problems, including collecting data,
formulating a hypothesis, testing the
hypothesis, and stating conclusions
1. Identify Fill in the missing steps in the table.
Steps in Scientic Methods

Form a hypothesis.

Test the hypothesis.

2. Define What is a controlled experiment?
3. Describe How can a scientist do a controlled experiment if it is not possible to
use several different groups?
4. Explain Why is it important to have control data?
5. Explain How can a scientist determine if a hypothesis is correct?
6. Interpret a Graph According to the graph below, at what flapping rate was Proteus
least efficient?
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Flaps per second
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
0.7 1.2 1.7 2.2
Efficiency of Proteus
GLE 0807.Inq.1, GLE 0807.Inq.2, GLE 0807.Inq.3,
GLE 0807.Inq.4, GLE 0807.Inq.5

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Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston; a Division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Interactive Reader and Study Guide 7 Science in Our World

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