1. WHAT IS BIOLOGY?
&
The Scientific Method

2. Biology Day 2 Pass in signed paperwork
Lab reports (Go over expectations)
Matter
What is Biology?
Scientific Method

3. Biology: The study of anything that was living or is living now.
the study of living organisms, divided into many specialized fields that cover their morphology, physiology, anatomy, behavior, origin, and distribution.
Living organisms are made up of carbon, nonliving organisms are not made up of carbon.
What is Biology

4. The Experiment Variables: factors that may change in an experiment
Independent variable (manipulated by the person running the experiment)
Only change one variable at a time: an example could be the amount of fertilizer used on a plant.
Dependent variable (Responds to the change in the independent variable).
What you measure during the experiment: an example could be How high the plant grows when you add an amount of fertilizer.
Controlled Variable: Everything else in an experiment that must be held constant, so they don’t influence the results.
An example is the amount of water, amount of sunlight and the type of soil used for each plant, must be the same (constant)
The Experiment

5. Scientific Method is a systematic approach to learning about the world.
Observe-an event or process. State the problem and gather background information.
Form a Hypothesis-suggested explanation for the event or process.
Perform Experiments-test the hypothesis
Recorded and analyze the data-
Data-recorded observations and measurements
Create a table of data and/or graphs
Analyze-make calculations and use statistics
Draw Conclusions-create a theory to explain your results
SCIENTIFIC METHOD

6. Multiple trials-To ensure accuracy
The Experiment Continued
Control Setup-Exactly like the experimental setup except it DOES NOT contain the variable of interest. Used for comparison
Multiple trials-To ensure accuracy

7. Hypotheses, Theories, and laws
Hypothesis: testable predictions to explain observation
EX. If I drop 2 objects with different weights, will they hit the ground at the same time?
Scientific Law: a fact of nature that is observed so often it becomes truth.
Make predictions about what will happen.
EX. The sun will rise every morning in the East
But does not explain why something happens
Theory: an explanation on many observations and experiments
They answer the question “WHY”?
EX. Why does the sun rise in the East? (Heliocentric Theory— Copernicus: It has to do with the orbit and rotation of the Earth around the Sun.

8. SCIENTIFIC MEASUREMENTS Scientists use the SI System of units
Mass-kilogram (gram)
Length-meter
Temperature-kelvin (Celsius)
Time-second
DERIVED UNITS: consist of a combination of base units
volume: l x w x h  liter (liquid) cm3 (solid)
Density: mass/volume  g/ml or g/cm3

9. DENSITY Density = mass/volume Units: g/ml or g/cm3
Why is density important????
It can help to identify an unknown substance
You can compare the density to reference tables of known densities

10. Lab Notes and Report Instruction
LAB REPORT OUTLINE

11. Measurements A number (magnitude) A unit (label) Ex. 25 mg
All measurements MUST HAVE:
A number (magnitude)
A unit (label)
Ex. 25 mg
Note: Read a graduated cylinder from the
BOTTOM of the meniscus!
Measurements

12. Accuracy vs. Precision
Accuracy: how close a measurement is to the correct (true) value
Precision: how close a series of measurements
are to each other (consistent)

13. GRAPHING Most common type of graph in chemistry  line graph
When constructing a graph:
Title it.
Label axes.
* x-axis  indep. Y-axis
* y-axis  dep. X-axis
Scale axes evenly and show units.

14. GRAPHING CONTINUED Interpreting relationships from graphs:
Direct Proportions – both variables increase or both decrease
Indirect Proportions – one variable increases as the other decreases