Physical Quantities and Units

On 11 February 2014, my teacher taught us about physical quantities and units!

We learned that Observations and Variables are part of Physical Quantity,

So, what is physical quantity? Well, physical quantity can be measured and is made up of a base quantity and derived quantity.

Base Quantities are the building blocks of other physical quantities, such as metre, kilogram and etc.

So, the BASE QUANTITY, is also the SI unit (Symbol for Unit)

Derived Quantities are derived from base quantities through defining and equation.

As such, we need to have prefixes to represent the gigantic  numbers and the very small numbers.

For example, we have prefixes such as "Tera" and "Giga" to describe large. and also "micro" and "milli" to describe very small numbers.

So, why do have Prefixes? Feel free to click on the links below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0&list=PLE3A4122C317C2CE7 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRjGarICal4&list=PLE3A4122C317C2CE7

 Lastly, we also learned about unit conversion. 

http://www.purplemath.com/modules/metric.htm 

 

Graphing Scientific Data

On 22 January 2014, we learned about how to graph scientific data.

Firstly, we learned about interpolation and extrapolation.In simple terms, interpolation is just a method used to approximate values that are between points of a graph, while extrapolation is a method for approximating values that are beyond the range of the measurements obtained.

So firstly, there is the BEST-FIT LINE. The best-fit line is basically a line that has roughly the same amount of points on each side of the line.

Secondly, there is a more advanced type of line, which is called the  "Best Fit Curve". As the name suggests, we draw a smooth curved line through the points, not a straight line.

Science Laboratory Lesson "Boiling Point of Water"

On 5 February 2014, we conducted an experiment regarding the boiling point of water, as mentioned in the above header.

Firstly, we learned how to read the thermometer properly, in which it is essential that the eye be at the same level as the mercury meniscus, so as to prevent parallax error.

Secondly, we carried out the experiment and we recorded the experiment results, placing the raw data into the tables. However, we noticed that the water had some impurities as the water boiled at 101.5 degrees Celsius.

Afterwards, we plotted the results on a graph, joining the points with a best fit curve, and we also learned how to make accurate predictions from the graph.