Question

1. In presenting the parts of the scientific method, give an example of how people use the scientific method in everyday life. One example may be the use of premium versus regular gasoline. You can propose conditions which should remain constant as well as the type of mathematical data that could be collected and analyzed

Answer 1

We will use the same example that the question is providing you. The first step of the scientific method is to stablish an observation. You notice that the premium gasoline is more expensive than the regular gasoline (this is your observation). Base on that, you have to make a question that you must answer with an experiment. Cars with premium gasoline can travel more distance than cars with regular gasoline?

After that, you need to propose a hypothesis, a prediction about what would you expect. Your hypothesis would be: “If the premium gasoline is better, cars with premium gasoline will travel more distance”

To test this, you need two groups:

•5 cars with premium gasoline

•5 cars with regular gasoline

You will propose a easy experiment. The cars will be provided with gasoline at the same time and the same gasoline volume. Additionally, this cars must be the same brand, model and they must be brand new (this are your controlled conditions or constant condition). Each car will travel the same distance every day (another constant condition). We will wait that all of the cars use the gasoline completely. However, we will count the time that took each car to use the gasoline. It is recommended that you repeat the experiment 2 times more. After you completed the experiments, you will calculate the mean time that the 5 cars of each group took to consume the gasoline.

If your hypothesis is right, the group supplied of premium gasoline will take more time to consume the gasoline that the regular group.