For science aficionados who conduct home experiments, following the rules is necessary in order to maintain high standards. If procedure standards were not followed, who would give the results a second glance?
Therefore proper experimentations depend on the following procedures: To EXPERIMENT, begin with a HYPOTHESIS. Gather your MATERIALS, follow a PROCEDURE, document the RESULTS, and then reach a CONCLUSION. It's that simple.
Since coming up with an original idea is an added chore, I often re-conduct the experiments of others. For my most recent experiment, I'll use existing data, provided on the wrappers of Snickers Fun Size confections, which depict "Dexter's Silly Science Facts" on their undersized labels.
As you may know, Dexter is a renowned scientific practitioner who has his own animated reality show on Cartoon Network, Dexter's Laboratory. My hypothesis? Dexter's too smart to be wrong about his "Silly Science Facts."
Fact one: "It is anatomically impossible for humans to lick their elbow." Dexter is right on the money on that one. I can lick my armpit, but not the elbow.
Fact two: "Your foot and your forearm (from the wrist to the inside of your elbow) are the same length." For this experiment, I burst into the bathroom with a tape measure, where my "sexual colleague" is bathing in pink, bubbly bath water. Except for a little choking on her part, I find Dexter's claim to be true, yet again. The foot matches the forearm in length! I also discover that my friend's nipples are exactly 8 inches away from each other, and that she will from now on be bathing with something called a Super Soaker.
Fact three: "The lungfish can live out of water for as long as 4 years!" Crap! This falls into the MATERIALS aspect of the experiment, and frankly, I'm not prepared. Since I'm fresh out of lungfish, back to the tub I go!
My preliminary conclusion? Dexter is a genius.