Scientific Method and Variables
What is the term for gathering information using your five senses or measurement tools?
Observation
What is the standard metric unit for mass?
Gram
Baking bread is an example of which type of change: physical or chemical?
Chemical change
What is the primary role of flour in bread making?
To provide structure and gluten.
What type of domain (the ending of a website) generally indicates a Government agency?
.gov
"The liquid is blue." Is this a quantitative or a qualitative observation?
Qualitative observation (It describes a quality, like color, without using numbers or measurements.)
A scientist changes the amount of light a plant receives to see if it affects plant height. Which type of variable is the amount of light?
Independent Variable (It is the variable changed or manipulated on purpose by the scientist.)
Which tool would you use to measure the volume of a liquid?
A Graduated Cylinder.
What kind of change is it when a substance changes its appearance or state of matter, but not its chemical identity?
Physical change
What is the name of the process where the yeast consumes sugars and releases carbon dioxide gas?
Proofing or Fermentation.
What does putting quotation marks around a phrase like "solar power" tell a search engine to do?
Search for results that have that exact phrase in that exact order.
What type of website publisher is a domain ending in .com most likely to be?
Commercial/Business (for profit).
You observe a student drawing furiously and conclude, "The assignment is due today." What type of logical conclusion is this?
An Inference (It is a logical conclusion based on prior knowledge, not a direct observation.)
Convert 4.5 meters into millimeters.
4500 mm (You multiply 4.5 by 1000).
Give an example of a chemical change mentioned in the unit, besides yeast fermentation.
Rust forming on a pan, Fruit rotting, Baking soda bubbling (in a reaction with an acid), etc.
Explain how leavening bread with baking soda is different from leavening bread with yeast?
Yeast leavening is a slower, biological process where yeast consumes sugars to release CO2 gas. Baking soda leavening is an immediate chemical reaction that requires an acid to release CO2.
Why is it important to know when a website was last updated?
Information changes, and you need the most current scientific data.
What is the term for variables that are kept the same (constant) in an experiment to ensure a fair test?
Controlled Variables.
In an experiment, what is the purpose of the control group?
The Control Group does not receive the special treatment (the independent variable) and is used as a baseline for comparison.
Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true value. What does precision refer to?
Precision refers to how close a series of measurements are to each other (how consistent or reproducible the measurements are).
Explain the difference between a physical change and a chemical change, and provide a new example for each.
A physical change is a change in appearance or state without changing the chemical identity of the substance (e.g., boiling water). A chemical change results in a new substance being formed (e.g., burning wood).
What structural component, formed by mixing flour and water, is often developed through kneading?
Gluten
Give two reasons why poor grammar, spelling errors, or broken links are a "red flag" for a website's credibility.
It suggests the site is not professional or has not been properly reviewed, which increases the likelihood of inaccurate information.
What does it mean if a website is biased, and why does that matter for your research?
A website is biased if it presents information in a way that unfairly favors one point of view over another. This matters because the information might be incomplete or distorted to persuade you, making it an unreliable source for objective facts.
Explain why a well-designed experiment should have only one independent variable.
If an experiment had more than one independent variable, a scientist would not be able to tell which variable was responsible for the changes observed in the dependent variable.
Convert 3,600 seconds into hours.
1 hour (You divide 3600 seconds by 60 to get minutes, then divide by 60 again to get hours: 3600/3600 = 1 hour).
What ingredient is responsible for controlling yeast growth and enhancing flavor in bread?
Salt.
Name two of the four main ingredients in bread and explain how changing their ratio or using a different baking technique can create a unique type of bread.
The four ingredients are typically flour, water, yeast, and salt. Examples include: Focaccia (high water ratio for moistness, topped with oil), Bagels (low water ratio for dense dough, boiled before baking), or No-Knead Bread (very wet dough, long, slow fermentation).
Why should you avoid using Wikipedia as a primary source for research, even though it's often accurate?
It is an open-source platform anyone can edit, which may lead to inaccuracies.
Label the following as an inference, a qualitative observation, or a quantitative observation: "That rock's luster is shiny and metallic." Explain why.
Qualitative Observation. This is an observation because it is gathered using the sense of sight, and it is qualitative because it describes a quality (shiny and metallic) without using numbers.