Scientific English as a Foreign Language
Answers to Lesson of September 19, 1997
Experience and Experiment

An experiment is what you do to investigate something. It is the process by which you learn something. Also, please don't use the word "experiment" to refer to the instrumentation with which you do the experiment. You can say "experimental setup", but the experiment is the PROCEDURE you use to test a hypothesis.

An experience is something that happens to you that is memorable in some way. Here are some of the definitions.

EXPERIENCE:

EXPERIMENT:

To summarize, experiences are personal, and experiments are scientific. Test your knowledge!

1. I went helicopter skiing last year. What an experience!
2. The experiment indicates that the modulus of a single nanotube is approximately 1 TPa.
3. The sample is not fixed rigidly in place. Why don't you experiment with different glues?
4. I have little experience with research. I'm still an undergraduate.


There was a young fellow named Cole
Who ventured too near a black hole.
His dv by dt
Was quite wonderous to see
But now all that's left is his soul.


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Created May 11, 1998, by Nancy Burnham and Fred Hutson.