What is a hypothesis?
No. A hypothesis is sometimes described as an educated guess. That's not the same thing as a guess and not really a good description of a hypothesis either. Let's try working through an example.
If you put an ice cube on a plate and place it on the table, what will happen? A very young child might guess that it will still be there in a couple of hours. Most people would agree with the hypothesis that:
An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes.
You could put sit and watch the ice cube melt and think you've proved a hypothesis. But you will have missed some important steps.
For a good science fair project you need to do quite a bit of research before any experimenting. Start by finding some information about how and why water melts. You could read a book, do a bit of Google searching, or even ask an expert. For our example, you could learn about how temperature and air pressure can change the state of water. Don't forget that elevation above sea level changes air pressure too.
Now, using all your research, try to restate that hypothesis.
An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.
But wait a minute. What is the ice made from? What if the ice cube was made from salt water, or you sprinkled salt on a regular ice cube? Time for some more research. Would adding salt make a difference? Turns out it does. Would other chemicals change the melting time?
Using this new information, let's try that hypothesis again.
An ice cube made with tap water will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.
Does that seem like an educated guess? No, it sounds like you are stating the obvious.
At this point, it is obvious only because of your research. You haven't actually done the experiment. Now it's time to run the experiment to support the hypothesis.
A hypothesis isn't an educated guess. It is a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.
Once you do the experiment and find out if it supports the hypothesis, it becomes part of scientific theory.
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Problem 1. a) There is a positive relationship between the length of a pendulum and the period of the pendulum. This is a prediction that can be tested by various experiments. Problem 2. c) Diets ...
A hypothesis, which is a tentative explanation, can lead to a prediction. Predictions forecast the outcome of an experiment but do not include an explanation. Predictions often use if-then statements, just as hypotheses do, but this does not make a prediction a hypothesis. For example, a prediction might take the form of, "If I do [X], then ...
A hypothesis is a tentative, testable answer to a scientific question. Once a scientist has a scientific question she is interested in, the scientist reads up to find out what is already known on the topic. Then she uses that information to form a tentative answer to her scientific question. Sometimes people refer to the tentative answer as "an ...
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for an observation. The definition depends on the subject. In science, a hypothesis is part of the scientific method. It is a prediction or explanation that is tested by an experiment. Observations and experiments may disprove a scientific hypothesis, but can never entirely prove one.
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A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for some event or problem. Cardinal Bellarmine gave a well known example of the older sense of the word in his warning to Galileo in the early 17th century: that he must not treat the motion of the Earth as a reality, but merely as a hypothesis. Today, a hypothesis refers to an idea that needs to be tested.
An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes. You could put sit and watch the ice cube melt and think you've proved a hypothesis. But you will have missed some important steps. For a good science fair project you need to do quite a bit of research before any experimenting. Start by finding some information about how and why water melts.
Definition: Hypothesis is an educated guess or proposed explanation for a phenomenon, based on some initial observations or data. It is a tentative statement that can be tested and potentially proven or disproven through further investigation and experimentation. Hypothesis is often used in scientific research to guide the design of experiments ...
Hypothesis Definition. A hypothesis is a proposed or predicted answer to a question. The purpose of writing a hypothesis is to follow it up by testing that answer. This test can take the form of an investigation, experiment, or writing a research paper that will ideally prove or disprove the hypothesis's prediction.
A hypothesis is an educated guess about what will happen in your experiment. It is NOT just a random guess! Your hypothesis should have some reason or factual basis for happening. A good hypothesis almost always follows this pattern: It is brief. It answers the "Question". It uses the same word pattern as the "Question".
In simple terms, the scientific method is a way for scientists to study and learn things. It doesn't matter what the scientist is trying to learn, using the scientific method can help them come up with an answer. The first thing to do with the scientific method is to come up with a question. You can't find the answer until you know the question ...
Hypothesis Definition (Science) A hypothesis is an explanation that is proposed for a phenomenon. Formulating a hypothesis is a step of the scientific method . Alternate Spellings: plural: hypotheses. Examples: Upon observing that a lake appears blue under a blue sky, you might propose the hypothesis that the lake is blue because it is ...
5.2 - Writing Hypotheses. The first step in conducting a hypothesis test is to write the hypothesis statements that are going to be tested. For each test you will have a null hypothesis ( H 0) and an alternative hypothesis ( H a ). When writing hypotheses there are three things that we need to know: (1) the parameter that we are testing (2) the ...
Today, a hypothesis refers to an idea that needs to be tested. A hypothesis needs more work by the researcher in order to check it. A tested hypothesis that works may become part of a theory —or become a theory itself. The testing should be an attempt to prove that the hypothesis is wrong. That is, there should be a way to falsify the ...
Hypothesis. A statement that could be true, which might then be tested. Example: Sam has a hypothesis that "large dogs are better at catching tennis balls than small dogs". We can test that hypothesis by having hundreds of different sized dogs try to catch tennis balls. Sometimes the hypothesis won't be tested, it is simply a good explanation ...
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hypothesis, something supposed or taken for granted, with the object of following out its consequences (Greek hypothesis, "a putting under," the Latin equivalent being suppositio ). Discussion with Kara Rogers of how the scientific model is used to test a hypothesis or represent a theory. Kara Rogers, senior biomedical sciences editor of ...