Reflection on Design & Investigation

 A scientific experiment can separate science as a tool to understand the natural world from other methods. Experiments are designed and performed to verify whether or not a hypothesis can hold water. 

Human bias usually plays a typical role in our everyday life decisions; therefore, designing and executing an experiment with a clear set of variables can help counteract that bias. 

Last week, the professors asked our team to design and produce an experiment about velocities. It is crucial to determine the cause and effects in the investigation, otherwise known as the independent and dependent variables. The independent variable is what affects the dependent variables. In our case, measuring the velocities at different heights, we've designated the ramp's elevation as our independent and velocities as dependent variables. This step's importance is to demonstrate the claim that there is a proportional relationship between height and velocity; plotting velocity as a function of height can intuitively show that relationship. 

We must control for some of the variables when designing an experiment. For example, our team held the travel distance (ramp), the material in which the ramp is made, the release point, and the apparatus (iOLab) as the controlled variables. Accounting for those different variables can help future investigators understand and re-design our experiment to examine the claim that our team has made.

Suppose another scholar wanted to re-run our experiment and decided to keep the independent, dependent variables the same; however, change the ramp's length, use different material with different coefficients of kinetic friction, and various release points. The results may vary. More importantly, one cannot make accurate claims about the role that the independent variables play in affecting the experiment's outcome. 

So, one might wonder about our investigation if it is science? Well, I must say yes. 

One of my definitions of science is that it has a self-correcting mechanism; that is, a claim about a natural phenomenon is not valid or perhaps needs more in-depth examination if it disagrees with the experiment. 

In our experiment, the team hypothesized that the moving car's velocities, iOLab measuring device, tend to increase as the ramps' elevation continues to grow. In other words, we claimed that the ramp's height is affecting the value of velocity. Thus, we have decided to assign the ramp's elevation as the independent variable and perform the experiment. 

The results of the experiment agreed with the hypothesis. 

One can predict the future consequences for higher elevations without the need to perform for every single height, which fits another definition of science. That is the ability to predict an outcome based on observations and experiments. And that is how a scientific theory can be born.