Designing the experiment
I guess this is where I say Happy New Year! Done. Onto other things. Based on my years of living I am an unlikely candidate to lecture on science or scientific method. At least according to my friends. After all I spent all those years in university in the arts faculty. That does not mean that I am artistic either. What I was taught to question during my time in school was it the idea of being scientific meant only be interested in numbers. Not according to me. The whole point of science and scientific method is to be predictable and offer repeatable results. As someone who spent time in music I insist that we also have that ability. There is little that is more predictable or repeatable than watching someone in band practice. We know how long to spend on any given task and we know how to repeat it. With that in mind I find myself drawn to videos that show people doing things that are clearly based upon science. Even if they fail to meet the test. Watching someone design an experiment to test a battery pack fits perfectly with the idea of being scientific but so many people out there our week in scientific skills. What did I learn this afternoon? Well, with some careful measurement you can find out how long a portable battery pack will work in a given task. Not really important until it is. And for many people trying to present their material they do not know how to explain the why or the what of the results they receive. In one case the video was clearly designed to back up a claim that a battery pack they had purchased was fit for the task. It probably was but the author of the experiment had no idea how to present his approach or his results so it’s forced to return to the title of the video to find out what to buy. We are constantly shopping for better gear period. In our case for Internet access. The idea of using a battery pack with a system of reception reception had not crossed my mind before today but now I will be looking for experiments that show me the way to do it properly. I am too old to cobble together different adapter cables to do what should be a straightforward job.
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