Scientific Method
In this discussion I would like you to think about how you use the scientific method in your everyday life. You can use a simple example, or you can go complex. It can be real or something that you made up as an example of how you would use the scientific method in your daily life. A simple example would be something like this.
Background: I left milk in my refrigerator and went on a one week vacation.
Hypothesis: I hypothesize, even though it was cold in the refrigerator the whole time I was gone, that the milk has spoiled.
Procedure: I will pour the milk in my coffee cup and see if it is curdled. To control for this I actually have a second half gallon of milk that is the same brand and lot number that I bought at the same time and froze when I got home from the store that I will thaw out and test. Another control will be that I will buy milk fresh from the store and see if that milk has a similar reaction when poured in the coffee.
Data: I poured two tablespoons of each milk into three separate cups of coffee, I also had a cup of coffee to which I added nothing. I stirred each cup ten times and looked at the coffee afterwards.
Findings: The coffee with the week old milk that had been in the refrigerator had chunks of protein, while the coffee cups with the fresh milk and frozen milk were a pleasing tannish beige color without chunks. Therefore, I conclude that the week old milk was curdled after being left in the refrigerator for a week.
Importantly, I included a control in this experiment and that allowed me to make a conclusion about the results that I obtained.
As I said, you can go simple or complex, but this is something that might happen in your everyday life. By the way, I did make up the part about the frozen milk… it is the best control for this experiment, but that part didn’t happen. The milk in the refrigerator and week vacation, that definitely happened.
