Foundations of Physical Science flashcards

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What is physical science?What Physical Science Studies: Study of matter, energy, and their interactions.
What does physics investigate?What Physical Science Studies: Motion, forces, energy, waves, and related phenomena.
What does chemistry investigate?What Physical Science Studies: Composition, properties, and changes of matter.
Why can branches overlap?What Physical Science Studies: A phenomenon can involve both material change and energy transfer.
What is a system?What Physical Science Studies: A defined part of the world chosen for analysis.
What are surroundings?What Physical Science Studies: Relevant parts outside the chosen system boundary.
What is a variable?What Physical Science Studies: A feature that can be measured or changed.
Why define a boundary?What Physical Science Studies: It identifies which transfers cross into or out of the system.
What is a testable question?What Physical Science Studies: A question answerable with specified observations or measurements.
What is an engineering constraint?What Physical Science Studies: A limit a designed solution must satisfy.
What is a hypothesis?What Physical Science Studies: A proposed explanation or prediction that can be tested.
Must all science use controlled laboratory experiments?What Physical Science Studies: No; observational studies also test ideas.
What is an independent variable?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: A factor deliberately changed or compared.
What is a dependent variable?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: The measured response.
What is a confounder?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: Another factor changing with the target variable.
Why repeat trials?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: To estimate variation and make results more reliable.
What is a scientific model?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: A representation used to explain or predict selected features.
What is a model assumption?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: A condition treated as true for the model.
What is a prediction?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: An expected observation under stated conditions.
What is model revision?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: Changing a model when evidence shows a limitation.
What is a scientific claim?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: A conclusion proposed about a phenomenon.
What is evidence?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: Relevant observations or measurements used to evaluate a claim.
What is reasoning?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: The connection between evidence and a claim using a model.
What is an inference?Investigations, Models, and Evidence: An explanation drawn from observations rather than observed directly.
What is an SI unit?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: A unit in an internationally agreed measurement system.
What does kilo- mean?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: One thousand times the base unit.
What does centi- mean?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: One hundredth of the base unit.
What is dimensional analysis?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: Tracking units through equations and conversion factors.
What is accuracy?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: Closeness of a measurement to a suitable reference.
What is precision?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: Agreement among repeated measurements.
What is resolution?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: The smallest change an instrument can distinguish.
What is systematic bias?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: A consistent shift in measurements caused by method or instrument.
What is density?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: Mass divided by volume.
What is the density formula?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: ρ = m/V.
What is volume displacement?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: Estimating an object's volume from displaced fluid.
Does calculation remove measurement uncertainty?Measurement, Units, and Uncertainty: No; input uncertainty affects the result.
What is an axis label?Graphs and Scientific Communication: A named quantity and unit on a graph axis.
What is a data point?Graphs and Scientific Communication: A plotted measured pair or observation.
What is a graph scale?Graphs and Scientific Communication: How axis intervals map to numerical values.
Why separate points from a model line?Graphs and Scientific Communication: The line may include estimates between measurements.
What is slope?Graphs and Scientific Communication: Change in vertical value divided by change in horizontal value.
What is a y-intercept?Graphs and Scientific Communication: The model's vertical value at horizontal value zero.
What are slope units?Graphs and Scientific Communication: Vertical quantity units divided by horizontal quantity units.
What does a changing slope indicate?Graphs and Scientific Communication: The rate of change is not constant over the graph.
What is interpolation?Graphs and Scientific Communication: Estimating within the range of measured data.
What is extrapolation?Graphs and Scientific Communication: Estimating beyond the measured range.
What is a best-fit line?Graphs and Scientific Communication: A model line summarizing a trend in data.
What is a qualified conclusion?Graphs and Scientific Communication: A conclusion stating conditions and limits of evidence.