PHSC1011
Physical Science

Study Guide Final Exam

The student should be able to know and understand the following things:

• Scientific Method

  • What is science and what is its purpose?

  • What are the three characteristics of a good experiment?

  • What role does chance play in the Scientific Method?

  • Why is the Scientific Method successful at arriving at accurate conclusions?

  • What are the three types of sources from which you can find information and how reliable is each source?

  • What is a law?  What is a theory? What is a hypothesis?

  • What is a model and what is it used for?

  • What are the characteristics of the modeling process?

  • What is an indirect observation?  Why are they useful for science?

   

• Electricity

  • What does it take to light a light bulb?

  • What is the difference between series and parallel?

  • What do current, voltage and resistance mean?

  • How are the above ideas related in Ohm's Law?

  • Be able to use Ohm's Law to make simple circuit calculations.

  • What the effects of adding resistors in series and in parallel are.

  • How to use a "Water Model" to explain how electricity flows in a circuit.

   

• The Atom

  • What is the structure of the atom?

  • The student should be able to accurately describe the following models and give their strengths and weaknesses:

    • Dalton's Model

    • J. J. Thomson's Model

    • Rutherford's Model

    • Bohr's Model

    • Bohr/Quantum Hybrid Model

  • Understand the Laws of Definite and Multiple Proportions and how they lead to Dalton's Model

  • Describe Thomson's discovery of the electron

  • List and describe the three types of spectra and how the Bohr model of the atom explains two of them.

  • Be able to accurate describe Rutherford's experiment and its results that led him to the nuclear model of the atom.

  • Discuss the Uncertainty Principle and the probability Principle.

   

• Astronomy

  • Solar System

    • Ptolomy's Geocentric Model

    • Copernicus' Circular Heliocentric Model

    • Kepler's Ellipitical Heliocentric Model

    • Brahe's observational contributions

    • Galileo's observational contributions

    • Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

    • Newton's Laws of Motion and Universal Law of Gravitation

  • Naked Eye Astronomy

    • Why the Earth has seasons

    • Why the Moon has phases

    • Apparent Motions of the Heavens

      • Daily, Monthly and Yearly Motions

      • Motions of the "fixed" stars, the planets, the Sun and the Moon

      • Differences in the apparent motions between winter and summer.

• Geology

  • Rock Cycle

    • Know the different rock types and sub-types: Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Sediment, Magma/Lava

    • Know the different processes and how they relate to the rock types: Crystallization, Uplift, Erosion, Transport and Deposition, Cementation and Compaction, Lithification

  • Geologic Dating

    • Know the principles of Hutton's Uniformitarianism

    • Know the principles of relative dating: Horizontality, Superposition, Cross-Cutting Relationships, Faunal Succession

    • Understand the methods and limitations of absolute dating using radiometric techniques including:

      • The definition of Half-Life

      • The use of parent/daughter ratios

  • Plate Tectonics

    • Know the Theory of Plate Tectonics

    • Be able to list and describe five lines of evidence that support the theory

    • Be able to list, describe and diagram the three types of plate interactions as well as give geographic examples of each.

  • Structure of the Earth

    • Be able to diagram and describe the structure of the Earth

Copyright © 2000, Gordon College. All rights reserved.
Revised: April 26, 2007