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The substance of the physical world
What is matter?
Factors that remain the same throughout the experiment
What is controlled variables?
The component of the scientific method which involves gathering data
What is observing?
Speculating about objects or events and formulating a sensible explanation
What is hypothesizing?
The "then"part of an if/then statement
What is a consequent?
The study of matter
What is science?
The soil layer containing more mineral and less organic material
What is the subsoil?
The top 5 to 15 cm. of soil
What is topsoil?
The soil material that has the smallest and most tightly packed particles
What is clay?
The type of soil that allows the most air and water into itself
What is sandy soil?
The general term for water below the soil's surface
What is groundwater?
The surface of the water under the ground
What is groundwater?
The model of a design that will be used for testing
What is the prototype?
The minimum characteristics a design must have to function
What is criteria?
Anything that provides a partial representation of something else
What is a model?
The term for a nourishing substance
What is a nutrient?
The upward movement of water through a tiny space
What is capillary action?
Reasoning from specific evidence to a more general conclusion
What is inductive reasoning?
How tightly packed matter is
What is density?
Substance composed of only one type of atom
What is an element?
Atoms linked together in a group
What is a molecule?
The amount of matter in an object
What is mass?
A substance containing two or more types of atoms bonded together
What is a compound?
A soil sample has a pH of 9 which makes it
What is basic?
Soil derived from from living organisms
What is organic material?
A conclusion based on reasoning
What is an inference?
The ability of a hypothesis to be proven false
What is falsifiability?
Pedologists use this to describe standard names and descriptions of colors
What is the Munsell chart?
A form of inductive reasoning that compares two situations that are the same except for one factor
What is the method of difference?
The factor changed when testing a hypothesis
What is the independent variable?