PHYS 1023 Midterm: Exam 1 Review
24 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Chapter 1 the way of science: experience and reason. Science: the observation and theoretical understanding of the natural world. Physics: the branch of science that studies the most general principles underlying the natural world. Scientific process: the dynamic interplay between experience (experiments and observations) and ideas (theories and hypothesis). Observation: the fact-gathering process; a measurement is a quantitative observation, and an experiment is a controlled observation. Theory: a well-confirmed idea or group of ideas that explains or unifies a range of observations; a model is a theory that can be visualized; a principle or law is a single idea, often within a larger theory. Model: a theory that can be visualized. Hypothesis: an educated suggestion or guess, a tentative theory. Symmetry: an object is said to have symmetry when it can be viewed from several perspectives and still look the same. Pseudoscience: claims presented so that they appear scientific even though they lack supporting evidence and plausibility.
