Question

You find a yellow rock and wonder if it is gold. how could you apply the scientific method to this problem

Answer 1

You need to form a hypothesis based on what is already known about gold and then devise an experiment to test this hypothesis.

For example, the density of gold is well known. So your hypothesis would be that if the rock were gold, you could predict the amount of water displacement in a beaker simply by measuring the weight of the rock.

The steps would be:

1. research what is already known about your field of investigation (in this case gold).
2. Using that information, formulate a hypothesis that allows you to make predictions.
3. Devise an experiment that can test your predictions.

Answer 2

The scientific method approach to answer and explain any natural event or phenomenon.

The method involves various steps which involves making observations, ask a scientific question, do background research, propose a hypothesis, perform experiments, collecting the data, analyzing the data and suggest conclusions in the sequence.

In the given question, the scientific method will be applied in the same way by doing background research, predicting and proposing a hypothesis, and performing the experiments to prove and disprove the hypothesis. The collected data will be analysed and conclusions will show whether the yellow rock is gold or not.