Tinkerhackscience is the raw unbridled act of interacting directly with the physical thing you're studying. It involves three components, and, you guessed it, they are the three words that compose tinkerhackscience. Tinkering is the exploring part--getting to know something by screwing around with it. Hacking is when you understand something enough to try to get it to do what you want it to. And, er, science is the study of natural phenomena.