The Nature of Chemistry
  • Home
  • Recent news
  • NOC
    • The scientific method
    • Observation and inference
    • Evidence, modelling and prediction
    • Theories and paradigm shifts
    • Cause and effect
    • Accuracy, validity and reliability
    • Reason and imagination
    • Bias and the role of humans in science
    • Communication of science
    • Contrasting with other areas of knowledge
    • (IB TOK outline)
  • Topics
    • Stoichiometry
    • Atomic structure
    • Periodicity
    • Chemical bonding and structure
    • Energetics
    • Chemical kinetics
    • Equilibrium
    • Acids and bases
    • Redox processes
    • Organic chemistry
    • Measurement and data processing
  • IB Options
    • A - Materials
    • B - Biochemistry
    • C - Energy
    • D - Medicinal chemistry
  • People
  • Answers
    • NOC answers
    • Topics answers

Topic 11 and 21 - Measurement

Picture

Activity 1 - Faster than the speed of light?

Sub topic 11.1 - Uncertainty and error in measurements and results.
NOS statement 1.7 - Scientists must adopt a skeptical attitude to claims.
NOS statement 3.3 - Scientists need to be aware of random errors and systematic errors.
Time: 15 mins.
Task: In 2011, a group of scientists claimed that they had discovered that neutrinos (a type of sub-atomic particle) travelled faster that the speed of light between CERN and the Gran Sasso laboratory as shown in the diagram (Ruyet, 2011).

Read this article and answer the questions below:
Picture
  1. How many times did the group repeat the process?
  2. Was the error "random" or "systematic"? Explain your answer?
  3. Which parts of the scientific method ensured that these results were not published as an official discovery?
Extension: How was the cold fusion "discovery" in 1989 similar to this?
References:
​Ruyet, D. (2011). Einstein, Steve Jobs, los neutrinos y el cambio renovador. El blog de David Ruyet. Retrieved 16 January 2016, from https://davidruyet.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/einstein-steve-jobs-los-neutrinos-y-el-cambio-renovador/

Activity 2 - Bike safety

Sub topic 11.2 - Graphical techniques
NOS statement 1.7 - Evidence is used to develop theories, generalise from data to form laws and propose hypotheses. These theories and hypotheses are used to make predictions that can be tested.
Picture
("Bike crash", 2016)
Time: 30 mins.
Task: One surprising study in the UK has shown that wearing a bike helmet might actually be more dangerous for cyclists.
  1. Consider a possible hypotheses for this correlation.
  2. Design a simple investigation to test this hypothesis.
  3. State some control variables that would need to be considered.
Reference:
​Bike crash. (2016). Upload.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 29 June 2016, from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/MTB_over_the_bar_crash.jpg/1280px-MTB_over_the_bar_crash.jpg
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Recent news
  • NOC
    • The scientific method
    • Observation and inference
    • Evidence, modelling and prediction
    • Theories and paradigm shifts
    • Cause and effect
    • Accuracy, validity and reliability
    • Reason and imagination
    • Bias and the role of humans in science
    • Communication of science
    • Contrasting with other areas of knowledge
    • (IB TOK outline)
  • Topics
    • Stoichiometry
    • Atomic structure
    • Periodicity
    • Chemical bonding and structure
    • Energetics
    • Chemical kinetics
    • Equilibrium
    • Acids and bases
    • Redox processes
    • Organic chemistry
    • Measurement and data processing
  • IB Options
    • A - Materials
    • B - Biochemistry
    • C - Energy
    • D - Medicinal chemistry
  • People
  • Answers
    • NOC answers
    • Topics answers