Pseudoscience Sometimes looks like science, but it ain t. If the results of an experiment vary from repetition to repetition, there must be at least one variable that governs the result that we have not specified. To determine cause and effect relationships, the ideal method is to repeat an experiment under two nearly identical conditions, changing only one variable. The experiment with the variable unchanged is called the control. Error and uncertainty Errors are unavoidable in any experiment because there are always uncontrolled variables.
Common dimensions are length, time, mass, temperature, volume, and energy.
Kelvin, or degrees Centrigrade Conversions can be made if necessary. Powers of 10 Metric prefixes allow us to look at orders of magnitude For energy issues, we will consider things like billions of barrels of oil. Return to table of contents. This document was last modified on September 9, 2000.