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INC1 FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning? | Deductive involves moving from the General to more specific. Inductive involves making a generalization based on MANY observations. |
| Does science have limitations? | YES. Science deals only with hypotheses that are testable. Therefore, science is restricted to the observable, natural world. |
| If an experiment's findings cannot be replicated, can the study's results be considered valid? | No; replication of results is an important component to evaluate a study's validity. |
| What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis? | A hypothesis is a prediction, or educated guess based on observation. A hypothesis can be disproven, but not proven to be true. An example of a theory in science is gravity. |
| What is falsifiability? | Falsifiability was put forth by Karl Popper and says that for a hypothesis to be considered scientific it must be testable and aim to prove things to be false, rather than aiming to prove things true. |
| How is creativity used in science? | Creativity is used throughout science, across all fields and disciplines and is often what results in new discoveries, procedures, technologies, questions, and of course new knowledge. |
| Do simple machines change the amount of work? | Simple machines do not change the amount of work but rather they affect the amount of input force needed to do the work. Simple machines decrease the amount of force by increasing the distance over which the force is applied. |
| What themes unify biology? | Unifying themes in biology include cells, heritable information, regulation, environmental interaction, energy, unity and diversity, evolution, structure and function, scientific inquiry, and the relationship of science and technology. |
| What are some of the requirements of scientific inquiry? | Hypotheses must be testable and falsifiable. Experimental data must be able to be replicated. |
| What is the inverse square law? | The inverse square law relates to the intensity of an effect being inversely related to the square of the distance from the cause. The law holds for all phenomena where something from a localized source spreads uniformly throughout the surrounding area |
| What is Coulomb's Law? | Coulomb's Law describes the relationship among force, charge, and distance. It says if charges are alike, the force is repelling; if the charges are unlike, the force is attractive. |
| What is thermal energy? | Thermal energy involves the total internal energy (kinetic and potential)of particles that make up a substance. |
| How can objects that have different mass and different volume have the same density? | Since Density = mass/volume or D =m/v Density is measuring how much mass occupies a given space. So objects can have different mass and different volume but can have the same density. |
| What is Newton's law of Universal Gravitation? | States that every body in the universe attracts every other body in the universe with a mutually attracting force, and this will be directly proportional to the product of their masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them |
| Why do two objects of different masses fall at the same speed in a vacuum but not outside a vacuum? | In a vacuum the only force acting on the object is weight whereas in the presence of air, air resistance opposes the gravitational force and therefore decreases the downward force of weight. |
| According to Newton's first law of motion, an object at uniform speed will continue moving unless acted on by a nonzero force. What force causes a hockey puck to stop moving on ice? | The friction between the hockey puck and the ice is a nonzero force that eventually brings the puck to a stop. |
| What is inertia? | Inertia has to do with how much an object resists changing its motion; therefore an object with more mass has more inertia and takes more force to move. |
| What is the source of all magnetism? | The source of all magnetism is moving electric charge; and these moving electric charges will interact with both electric fields and magnetic fields. |
| Can light act as both a wave and a particle? | Yes, light has both a wave nature and a particle nature-this is often called a wave-particle duality. In fact, light behaves as a particle when it interacts with matter. |
| What changes the pitch of sound? | Sound is caused by air vibrating, and vibration frequency is what changes the pitch of sound. For example, a high pitch comes from high frequency sound wave with rapid vibrations. |
| What is reflection? | Reflection is the bouncing of a wave (such as light) from a medium of origin, to a barrier, and back to the medium of origin. An example is a reflection in a mirror. |
| What causes electromagnetic waves? | Electromagnetic waves are produced when an electrically charged object is moved back and forth. |
| Which type of electromagnetic radiation contains the most energy? | Gamma rays are the electromagnetic waves with the highest energy. They are used in cancer treatments to kill cancerous cells. |
| How is ultraviolet radiation different than infrared radiation? | Ultraviolet radiation consists of shorter wavelengths and a higher frequency than infrared. As a result, ultraviolet radiation is higher in energy. |
| What does Einstein's equation E=mc^2 show? | E=mc2—Einstein's famous equation shows that mass and energy are manifestations of the same thing. Known as the mass-energy equivalence, this is an important unifying concept in science. |
| What are the components of an atom? | An atom is composed of subatomic particles-- electrons, protons, and neutrons.The protons and neutrons are located within the atom's nucleus, while the electrons are found surrounding the outside of the nucleus. |
| How does the mass of each nucleon in a uranium-235 nucleus differ from the mass of each nucleon in its fragments? | During fission mass is converted to energy resulting in less mass per nucleon in the uranium fragments compared with the original uranium-235 nucleus. |
| What is the general chemical composition of stars? | Stars are composed of mostly Hydrogen (H), some Helium (He), and very small traces of heavier chemical elements. |
| Why do massive stars have shorter lives? | Massive stars must be more luminous in order to offset the gravitational force of contraction. To be more luminous they burn hydrogen fuel at a faster rate than small-mass stars resulting in shorter lives. |
| What is the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram? | It is a diagram that plots the luminosity and surface temperature of stars. There are distinct regions on the diagram including main sequence, red giants, and white dwarfs. |
| After our sun burns up its supply of hydrogen, what kind of star will it most likely become? | It will become a Red Giant. Like all stars, our Sun follows a life cycle, and it is currently classified as a yellow dwarf star about 5 billion years old. Upon its death, it will be a cold, black dwarf. |
| How does the sun influence the organization of the solar system? | The Sun is the center of our solar system, and also happens to be the closest star to Earth. Objects in the solar system are gravitationally bound to the sun, therefore it is the sun's gravity that organizes the shape of our solar system. |
| Which planet in our solar system most closely resembles Earth? | Venus. It is a similar distance from Sun and is close to the same size and density. |
| Where does thermonuclear fusion occur in the Sun? | Thermonuclear fusion occurs in the core of the Sun and then is radiated outwards towards the surface. |
| What are the Jovian planets? | The Jovian planets are gaseous planets including Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune.The Jovian planets are found further out from the sun, and are gaseous in nature. |
| What is a pulsar? | A pulsar is a core of neutrons (neutron star) that remain after a supernova and emit rapidly varying sources of low-frequency radio waves. |
| What is cosmic background radiation? | Cosmic background radiation is faint microwave radiation detected in the Universe and is thought to be emitted as a result of the Universe cooling off following the Big Bang explosion. |
| What are elements? | Any material made up of 1 type of atom |
| Why is the number of valence electrons in an atom's structure important? | Valence electrons are the electrons exposed to the environment and have the capacity to interact with other atoms by forming chemical bonds. |
| How does carbon-12 differ from carbon-14? | Carbon-12 and carbon-14 both have the same number of protons and electrons because they are the same element. They differ in the number of neutrons found in the nucleus. |
| How do elements, minerals, and rocks relate to one another? | Think of elements, minerals, and rocks as building blocks to one another; Elements are atoms, the smallest unit of matter,Minerals are elements stacked together in a crystal structure, andRocks are composed of 1 or more minerals. |
| What is the core of the Earth composed of? | The Earth's core is composed of iron and nickel; the most dense of these metals settled to form the solid inner core, and less dense materials comprise the liquid outer core of the Earth's center. |
| What is the Mohorovicic discontinuity? | The Mohorovicic discontinuity refers to the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle, marking the lower limit of Earth's crust. It exists roughly (on average) 32 km beneath continental surfaces, and 8 km beneath ocean basins. |
| How does the cooling time of igneous rocks affect their structure? | Intrusive (plutonic) rocks cool slowly beneath the Earth's surface and are composed of large mineral crystals. Extrusive rocks cool quickly at the Earth's surface and are composed of small crystals. |
| What is the structural unit of silicate minerals? | The structural unit of silicate minerals is the tetrahedron. The silicate mineral structure can consist of a single tetrahedron or more complex arrangements such as single chains, double chains, sheets, and three-dimensional networks of tetrahedra. |
| What are the differences among the types of tectonic plate boundaries? | Divergent means to move away from each other, and it is here that oceans grow wider. Convergent means to move towards each other, and this forms mountains and volcanoes. Finally, transform-fault refers to plates sliding past each other. |
| What are some causes of tectonic plate motion? | Plate tectonics describes and explains this; and convection currents are a force that drives the plates. |
| How does the troposphere differ from the stratosphere? | The troposphere contains most of the atmosphere's mass and is where weather occurs. The stratosphere contains ozone molecules and absorbs the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. |
| What is the Coriolis Effect? | Objects deflect to the right in the northern hemisphere, and to the left in the S hemisphere. This affects air movement. It describes this as air moves from high to low pressure in northern hemisphere, it is deflected to the right by the it. |
| What are the most abundant gases in Earth's atmosphere? | The most abundant gases include Nitrogen and Oxygen. |
| How does a seismometer work? | During an earthquake the paper shakes harder and the size of the wave drawn increases. Seismometers are used to determine the magnitude of an earthquake and are measured using the Richter scale. |
| How is GPS used to study the Earth? | GPS can be used for detecting changes in the heights of mountains, the movement of tectonic plates, and for mapping the Earth's surface. |
| What are some applications for Doppler radar? | Doppler radar can be used for detecting changes in speed, determining the location and type of precipitation, measuring the intensity of storms, and detecting the motion of wind and rain drops. |
| What does symbiosis refer to? | Symbiosis describes when individuals of two species live in close association with one another. |
| What is an example of ecological competition? | An example of ecological competition within a niche would be two species of owls, hunting the same fields at night competing for similar prey. |
| What is a niche? | A niche refers to the total set of abiotic and biotic resources a species uses in a given ecological community. |
| What is an abiotic factor? | An abiotic factor refers to non-living components in an environment. Examples of abiotic factors include: sunlight, rain, rocks, and temperature. |
| How does solar energy drive photosynthesis? | Photosynthesis literally means synthesizing the sun’s light energy into chemical energy used by the plant to sustain its life. By capturing light energy from the sun, and converting the energy to glucose, plants are able to feed themselves. |
| What do biogeochemical cycles refer to? | refer to cycles that involve both abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) components of an environment and describes substances that cycle between the living "bio" and the Earth "geo", |
| In ecological succession, what is the difference between primary and secondary succession? | Primary succession begins on sites that lack living organisms, and these sites are also usually devoid even of soil. Secondary succession begins on sites that contain living organisms that have survived the most recent disturbance. |
| What are trophic levels? | Since a trophic level refers to a position in a food chain/food web shared by organisms with similar feeding patterns (1) producers (2) primary consumers, (3) secondary consumers , and finally (4) tertiary consumers |
| What is an example of a vestigial organ? | A vestigial organ is one that has lost all or most of its original function.Some examples of vestigial organs among various vertebrates include: wings on flightless birds, hind leg bones in whales, the human tailbone, and the human appendix |
| What are some examples of evidence for evolution? | the fossil record, vertebrate embryo development commonalities, DNA and genes, homologous vertebrate limbs, Biogeography, ) Radiometric dating, and evolution we see in action today |
| What does "fitness" mean in science terms? | In life science, fitness refers to the number of offspring an organism produces in its lifetime compared to other organisms in the population. |
| What is natural selection? | Natural selection is a force in evolution that refers to those organisms with heritable, advantageous traits survive, thrive, and reproduce in a given environment, causing the advantageous traits to become more common in populations over time. |
| What is an example organism that is a member of Domain Eukarya, Kingdom Fungi? | An organism classified as Domain Eukarya, Kingdom Fungi, must be a eukaryote (have a true nucleus) and must also be a fungus. In fact, penicillin, the first antibiotic was made from a fungus! |
| What are the three (3) Domains of Life? | The three (3) Domains of Life are: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. |
| What is the hierarchical order of the Linnaean system of taxonomic classification? | Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species |
| What is a cladogram? | Reflects and illustrates evolutionary relationships among organisms; It is a diagram depicting patterns of shared and derived characteristics of organisms - features that evolve for the first time and are passed on to all of the organisms' descendents. |
| What is an example organism that is a member of Domain Eukarya, Kingdom Protista? | A member of Kingdom Protista, must be a protist and must also be a eukaryote (have a true nucleus). |
| What is a catalyst in a chemical reaction? | A catalyst is a substance that increases (speeds up) the rate of a chemical reaction by lowering its activation energy. A catalyst also remains chemically unchanged in a chemical reaction. |
| What are chloroplasts? | Chloroplasts are organelles in the plant cell that contain chlorophyll and conduct photosynthesis. |
| How can you tell if a chemical reaction is balanced? | In order to decipher whether a chemical reaction equation is balanced, you would look to see that the number of times each element appears as a reactant, equals the number of times it appears as a product. |
| What is the Kreb's Cycle? | The Kreb's Cycle is the beginning two stages of cellular respiration, in which glucose is transformed into a useable energy form known as ATP. The Kreb's Cycle occurs in the cell's mitochondria and its reactions yield energy and CO2 (Carbon Dioxide). |
| What is glycolysis? | Glycolysis literally means "glykys", "sweet sugar", and "lyein", to "loosen". So glycolysis in cellular respiration refers to a simple sugar (glucose) being broken down to yield ATP, as energy. |
| What is the Calvin Cycle? | The Calvin Cycle is a three-stage metabolic pathway (carbon fixation, reduction, and regeneration) located in the stroma of the chloroplast in which carbon enters as CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and leaves in a useful form of energy (sugar). |
| What is the difference between a prokaryote and a eukaryote? | "Pro" means "before"; and "karyote" means "nucleus"; therefore a prokaryote refers to a cell without a nucleus. "Eu" means "true"; and "karyote" means "nucleus"; therefore a eukaryote refers to a cell with a true nucleus. |
| What is the Principle of Independent Assortment? | The Principle of Independent Assortment states that allele pairs separate independently during gamete formation, and therefore traits are transmitted independently of one another by chromosomes. |
| What is the Principle of Segregation? | The Principle of Segregation put forth by Mendel, states that an individual inherits an allele for each trait from each parent, and that during gamete (sex cell) formation (meiosis), the alleles inherited are a matter of chance. |
| What is crossing over and why is it important? | Crossing over is part of meiosis and it is responsible for genetic diversity, and even what contributes to siblings looking different from one another! |
| What are some tools used to study organisms? | Some research tools include: assorted microscopes (such as the scanning electron microscope), ultrasound technology, CT scans, and MRI. |
| Why would an earth scientist need to know about chemistry? | There is a great deal of chemistry that serves as a foundation for earth science. For example, an earth scientist would need to be very familiar with the Periodic Table of Elements in order to more fully understand Earth structure and processes. |
| What is refraction? | Refraction refers to the bending of waves (such as light) due to a change in the medium. An example is looking at an object in a glass of water. |
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