Preview - Ideal Gas Laws - Connected Chemistry 2019

Using models in scientific inquiry: simplifications vs. the real world


In the beginning of this lesson, you experimented with a real (physical) bike tire and then you also experimented with a computational bike-tire model. A distinct feature of our model was that it simplified some aspects of the real world object. For example, the walls in our computational model did not expand or shrink. 

Before ending this lesson, let's reflect on the differences between the two and why might we (and scientists) want to use such computational models.

 

 


Questions

Please answer the questions below.

List any simplifications that you can think of in the bike tire model compared to a real world bike-tire. (min 2. simplifications)


In the model, the bike tire does not change inflate (increase its volume) when air particles are pumped into it. Why do you think this simplification was made?


Why would we (and scientists) need to build models that are less detailed than the real world? Is it out of necessity? Do these simplifications offer any advantages? (min. 2 sentences)


Notes

These notes will appear on every page in this lesson so feel free to put anything here you'd like to keep track of.