Chapter 1 The Nature of Science

Section 1 What is science?

Objectives Define science and identify questions

that science cannot answer Compare and contrast theories and laws Identify the three main branches of

science

Science is a way of learning more about the natural world.

Scientists want to know why, how, or when something occurred.

Scientist ask many questions, but some can not be answered by science

Science can not answer questions about art, politics, personal preference, or morality.

Science can’t tell you what is right, wrong, good, or bad.

Science can answer questions only with the information available at that time.

Science can’t answer questions with certainty because new information is being discovered all the time. People will never know everything about the world around them.

Scientific theories explain patterns in nature

Theories are not simply guesses or opinions

Theories are not vague ideas Theories must be supported by

observations and results from many investigations

As new data become available, scientists evaluate it if it does not support the theory then the theory is changed to fit it.

Scientific law is a rule that describes a pattern in nature

For an observation to become a law it must be observed repeatedly

A law predicts that if you drop an apple it will fall it does not explain how gravity works or why it exists

A law does not explain why something happened it just tells what happened

The difference between a theory and a law is the theory explains or gives an explanation for why something happened the law describes or tells what happened

Scientific law example- “The Sun rises in the east every morning”.

Scientific theory example- “The Sun rises every day because gravity keeps Earth in orbit around the Sun”.

The three main branches of science are life science, Earth science, and physical science.

Life science is the study of living systems and the ways in which they interact

Physical science is the study of physics and chemistry

Earth science is the study of Earth systems and the systems in space

Technology is the practical use or application of science in our everyday lives.

Using scientific knowledge to create something is technology

Example- The study of how to use the energy of sunlight is science. Using this knowledge to create solar panels is technology.