Investigating Science Preliminary Review Flashcards

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering foundational concepts, scientific methods, theories, laws, and key scientific milestones.

Observation

Any information acquired through the direct use of the senses, including sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch.

Inferences

Conclusions or guesses drawn from assumptions, logic, and reasoning that attempt to explain scientific observations.

Archimedes' Principle

The principle stating that when a body is submerged in water, the volume of water displaced is equal to the volume of the body submerged.

Penicillium notatum

The fungus species discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 that produces an antibacterial substance capable of destroying or inhibiting bacterial pathogens.

Firestick Farming

An ecosystem management technique used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples involving controlled burns to fertilise soil, promote germination, and reduce large wildfires.

Qualitative Data

Non-numerical information that describes qualities or characteristics of data, such as soil color, skin softness, or cell shape.

Quantitative Data

Numerical information based on measurements that is often expressed in specific units, such as meters, degrees Celsius, liters, or seconds.

Primary Data

First-hand data directly collected or observed by the person conducting the investigation.

Secondary Data

Second-hand data collected by someone other than the primary user, gathered from sources such as textbooks, journals, or web pages.

Analogue Technologies

Measuring devices that represent continuous physical quantities without discrete sampling points, such as dials and scales.

Digital Technologies

Devices that convert information into discrete digits or bits (0s and 1s), removing line-of-sight parallax errors common in analogue tools.

Parallax Error

A measurement error commonly occurring in analogue instruments as a result of improper line-of-sight positioning.

Empirical Data

Information gathered through rigorous testing, experimentation, and observation under controlled scientific conditions.

Independent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is intentionally changed or manipulated by the experimenter.

Dependent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is measured to assess the effect of changing the independent variable.

Controlled Variable

A factor kept constant throughout an experiment to prevent it from affecting the validity of the results.

Pareidolia

The psychological phenomenon in which the human mind perceives familiar patterns, shapes, or images in random visual information.

Outliers

Values in a data set that differ significantly from other observations, potentially indicating experimental error, bad data, or areas requiring further investigation.

Spontaneous Generation

The obsolete scientific hypothesis that living organisms can arise spontaneously from non-living matter.

Germ Theory

The established scientific theory holding that specific infectious diseases are caused by microscopic living organisms.

Transmutation

The conversion of one chemical element or isotope into another.

Radioactivity

The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus spontaneously loses energy by emitting radiation, shown by Marie Curie to originate from within the atom.

Phlogiston Theory

A superseded chemical theory proposing that a fire-like element called phlogiston is present in combustible materials and released during burning.

Feynmanium

Hypothetical element 137, named after Richard Feynman, who calculated that neutral atoms cannot exist beyond this atomic number because inner electrons would require speeds exceeding the speed of light.

Redshift

The displacement of spectral lines toward longer wavelengths in light from distant galaxies, providing evidence that the universe is expanding.

SIR Model

An epidemiological model that tracks disease dynamics by dividing a population into Susceptible, Infectious, and Recovered categories.

Geocentric Model

An astronomical model, associated with Ptolemy, that posits the Earth as the stationary center of the universe around which all celestial objects revolve.

Heliocentric Model

The astronomical model placing the Sun at the center of the solar system, supported by Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei.

Epicycles

Small circular orbits centered on larger circular orbits, introduced into the geocentric model to explain planetary retrograde motion.

Plum Pudding Model

J.J. Thomson's 1904 atomic model depicting negatively charged electrons embedded within a positively charged sphere.

Rutherford's Atomic Model

Ernest Rutherford's 1911 nuclear model placing positive charges in a dense central nucleus, demonstrating that most of the atom consists of empty space.

Scientific Law

A formal descriptive statement or mathematical rule that summarizes repeated, consistent empirical observations of natural phenomena under specific conditions.

Scientific Theory

A testable, well-substantiated explanation of natural phenomena that details cause-and-effect mechanisms to answer how and why things occur.

Miasma Theory

An obsolete medical theory attributing diseases such as cholera and plague to noxious air or poisonous smells from decaying organic matter.

Koch's Postulates

A series of four experimental criteria established by Robert Koch in 1884 to establish a direct causative link between a specific microbe and a disease.

Oxygen Theory of Combustion

Antoine Lavoisier's late 18th-century theory stating that combustion is a chemical reaction involving the combination of a fuel with oxygen in the presence of heat.

Bernoulli's Principle

The fluid dynamics principle stating that an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in static pressure.

Newton's First Law of Motion

The Law of Inertia stating that an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue at constant velocity in a straight line, unless acted upon by an external force.

Newton's Second Law of Motion

The physical law stating that acceleration is directly proportional to net force and inversely proportional to mass, represented by $F = ma$.

Ohm's Law

The law stating that electric current through a conductor is directly proportional to voltage across it and inversely proportional to resistance, given by $V = IR$.