![]() We will use the energy in that oil as fuel for our candle. ![]() The oil is an energy supply for the young plant. Remember that the purpose of the nut is to grow a new plant. We need to find a different way to light our edible candle.įor our wick, we will use a sliver of almond. A banana does not melt, and even if it could, the liquid would not burn. In a real candle, the wick carries melted wax up to feed the flame. OK that looks something like a candle, but there is no way we can light the banana on fire. The more fancy the holder, the better the illusion. Once you have the length of banana, place it into the candle holder. ![]() What you are trying for is something that looks like a candle. I use one that is still slightly green, as they are firmer and lighter in color. You also want to be sure that it has no brown spots. You want it to be as straight as possible. To try this fun trick, you will need:Ĭarefully peel the banana and cut a section about 3 or 4 inches long. Sometimes we see what we expect to see instead of what is really there. Observations are essential to the process of science, but they are only part of the picture.This experiment is a classic trick that science teachers use to teach students about observation. Scientific knowledge is built as people come up with hypotheses and theories, repeatedly test them against observations of the natural world, and continue to refine those explanations based on new ideas and observations. A falling ball (no matter how detailed our observations of it may be) does not directly tell us how gravity works, and collecting observations of all the different finch species of the Galapagos Islands does not directly tell us how their beaks evolved. However, theories and hypotheses (the fundamental structures of scientific knowledge) cannot be directly read off of nature. Observations inspire, lend support to, and help refute scientific hypotheses and theories. Do they support one idea over others, help refute an idea, or suggest an entirely new explanation? Though data may seem complex and be represented by detailed graphs or complex statistical analyses, it’s important to remember that, at the most basic level, they are simply observations. Scientists analyze and interpret data in order to figure out how those data inform their hypotheses and theories. Whether the observation is an experimental result, radiation measurements taken from an orbiting satellite, an infrared recording of a volcanic eruption, or just noticing that a certain bird species always thumps the ground with its foot while foraging - they’re all data. Observations yield what scientists call data. Photo credits: Flickr user Hubble ESA, Wikimedia, and Wikimedia. Tools like the Hubble Space Telescope, microscopes, and submersibles help us to observe the natural world. Through these tools, we can make many more observations much more precisely than those our basic senses are equipped to handle. In such cases, we must rely on indirect observations facilitated by tools. And these tools do a better job of observing than we can! Further, humans cannot directly sense many of the phenomena that science investigates: No amount of staring at this computer screen will ever let you see the atoms that make it up or the UV radiation that it emits. Of course, we can make observations directly by seeing, feeling, hearing, and smelling, but we can also extend and refine our basic senses with tools: thermometers, microscopes, telescopes, radar, radiation sensors, X-ray crystallography, fMRI machines, mass spectroscopy, etc. We typically think of observations as having been seen “with our own eyes.” But in science, observations can take many forms.
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