Study Guide for Module #2

Study Guide for Module #2
1. Define the following terms:

a. Counter-example

b. Hypothesis

c. Theory

d. Scientific law
2. When someone tells you that “science has proven” something, what should you say?

3. Does a scientific theory have to make sense?

4. A feather and a penny are dropped from the top of a building. Which will hit the ground first?

5. A feather and a penny are dropped down a long tube which has no air in it. Which will hit the bottom of the tube first?

6. What does it take to destroy a scientific law?

Questions 7-10 refer to the following story:

In 1682, Edmund Halley studied a bright object that moved in the night sky. After searching other scientists’ works, he noted that similar objects were observed in 1456, 1531, and 1607 that followed a similar path. He decided that those objects were, in fact, the same thing he was studying, and that this object passed by the earth roughly every 76 years. He then predicted that the object would be seen again in 1758. On Christmas day, the object was, indeed, seen again. It is now called Halley’s comet, and it comes into view of the earth every 76 years.

7. What was the observation that Halley made to form a hypothesis?

8. What was the hypothesis?

9. What was the experiment that confirmed the hypothesis?

10. Regular appearances of Halley’s comet have been found in history as far back as 2,000 years ago. Is the existence of Halley’s comet a theory or a scientific law?

11. Put the following steps of the scientific method into their proper order:

a. Form a hypothesis

b. Theory is now a law

c. Make observations

d. Hypothesis is now a theory

e. Perform experiments to confirm the hypothesis

f. Perform many experiments over several years

12. If a hypothesis does not agree with the experiment which was designed to confirm it, what two choices do you have?

13. If a theory does not agree with the experiments which were designed to test it, what two choices do you have?

14. In the text, I told you about Lowell’s belief that there were canals on Mars. Name the observations which led to his hypothesis and the experiments that were used to confirm the hypothesis.

15. Why was the discovery of high-temperature superconductors so startling to scientists?

16. What are the three limitations of science?

17. Can science be used to study events that will never, ever happen again?

18. Can science be used to study religious ideas?

19. What were the observations I used in the last section of the module to form a hypothesis about the Bible?

20. What was my hypothesis?

21. What were the experiments I designed to confirm the hypothesis?

22. Did I prove my hypothesis?