Chapter 1 lecture about sciecnce
- 1. Chapter 1 Lecture: About Science
- 2. This lecture will help you understand: • A Brief History of Advances in Science • Mathematics and Conceptual Integrated Science • The Scientific Method—A Classic Tool • The Scientific Hypothesis • The Scientific Experiment • Facts, Theories, and Laws • Science Has Limitations • Science, Art, and Religion • Technology—The Practical Use of Science • The Natural Sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, and Astronomy • Integrated Science
- 3. A Brief History of Advances in Science • The beginnings of science go back thousands of years to a cause-and-effect way of looking at the world.
- 4. A Brief History of Advances in Science • Forward steps in the history of science, as highlighted in the text, occurred in – Greece – Italy – China – Polynesia – Arab nations – Poland – Germany
- 5. A Brief History of Advances in Science • During the Dark Ages in Europe, – previous scientific knowledge was lost as religion became established. • During the 10th through 12th centuries, – Islamic people brought books into Spain that had been banned by the church. – universities emerged.
- 6. A Brief History of Advances in Science • Advances during the 15th century: – Invention of Gutenberg's printing press – Experiments of Galileo – Arrival of the Renaissance period, which provided a foothold for the advance of science and rational thinking
- 7. Mathematics and Conceptual Integrated Science • Mathematics – is an important tool in science. – makes use of equations, which are shorthand notations for the relationships between scientific concepts. – abbreviates a relationship that can be stated in words. – makes common sense. – uses equations to guide your thinking.
- 8. Mathematics and Conceptual Integrated Science • Example: – Concept—When you stretch a spring, your pull is proportional to the stretch. – Proportion—expressed as F ~ ×, where F is your pulling force, and x is the distance the spring stretches • Proportions and equations tell you: – If one thing changes a certain way, another will change correspondingly.
- 9. The Scientific Method—A Classic Tool • Scientific method – Outlined in Section 1.3—NOT to be memorized – One of the ways good science is performed • More important than a particular method is: – Attitude of inquiry – Experimentation – Willingness to accept findings, even those that are not desired
- 10. The Scientific Hypothesis • Principle of falsifiability: – For a hypothesis to be considered scientific, it must be testable—it must, in principle, be capable of being proved wrong.
- 11. The Scientific Experiment • Rather than philosophize about nature, Galileo went an important step further—he experimented! • "The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific truth." Richard Feynman • "No number of experiments can prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong." Albert Einstein
- 12. Experiment, not philosophical discussion, decides what is correct in science
- 13. Facts, Theories, and Laws • Fact: a phenomenon about which competent observers can agree • Theory: a synthesis of a large body of information that encompasses well-tested hypotheses about certain aspects of the natural world • Law: a general hypothesis or statement about the relationship of natural quantities that has been tested over and over again and has not been contradicted— also known as a principle
- 15. Science Has Limitations • The domain of science – is in natural phenomena. – does not deal with the "supernatural," – a domain "above science." • Claims to supernatural phenomena, true or otherwise, lie outside the domain of science.
- 16. Science, Art, and Religion • Science asks how. • Religion asks why. • Art bridges the two. • When science and religion address their respective domains, conflict between the two is minimized or absent.
- 17. Technology—The Practical Use of Science • Technology – is an important tool of science. – is sometimes the fruit of science, as in medicine that cures disease. – is a human endeavor. – can be used to elevate or to diminish the human condition. • Shouldn't its potential be to elevate?
- 18. The Natural Sciences: • Natural philosophy – was at one time the study of unanswered questions about nature. – became science as answers were found.
- 19. The Natural Sciences: • Physics is the study of basic concepts, such as motion, force, energy, matter, heat, sound, light, electricity, and magnetism. • Chemistry builds on physics and studies how matter is put together to produce the growing list of materials and medicines that we use in our everyday lives. • Biology, built on chemistry, is the study of life—the most complex of the sciences. • Earth science is the study of geology, meteorology, and oceanography. • Astronomy is the study of nature beyond the confines of planet Earth' the far-out science.
- 20. Integrated Science • The fields of science – overlap. – merge into one another, such as biophysics, biochemistry, geophysics, astrophysics, and bioastrophysics. – are acknowledged to present a cohesive study of the natural world.