1 About Science
1 About Science
Science is the study
of nature’s rules.
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We can’t control
Earth’s motion, but we
have learned the rules
by which it moves.
The study of nature’s
rules is what this
course is about.
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1.1 The Basic Science—Physics
Physics is about the nature of basic things such
as motion, forces, energy, matter, heat, sound,
light, and the composition of atoms.
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1 About Science
1.1 The Basic Science—Physics
The study of science branches into the study of living things
and nonliving things.
• The life sciences include biology, zoology, and botany.
• The physical sciences include geology, astronomy,
chemistry, and physics.
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1.1 The Basic Science—Physics
You can understand other sciences much better if you first
understand physics.
• Physics is the most basic of all the sciences.
• The three most important aspects of physics are
space, time, and matter.
• Chemistry is about how matter is put together.
• Biology is still more complex and involves matter that
is alive.
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1.2 Mathematics—The Language of Science
When scientific findings in nature are expressed
mathematically, they are easier to verify or to
disprove by experiment.
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1 About Science
1.1 The Basic Science—Physics
What is physics about?
1 About Science
1.2 Mathematics—The Language of Science
When the ideas of science are expressed in mathematical
terms, they are unambiguous.
The equations of science provide compact expressions of
relationships between concepts.
The methods of mathematics and experimentation have led
to enormous successes in science.
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How to quantify the Universe
• On earth, we use two systems of
measurements
– English or standard
– Metric or SI
The Basis of
English
Measurements
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Cubit (2,700 B.C.) –
Chain—
• the length of the forearm
from the elbow to the tip
of the middle finger
•100 links [typically
66 feet]
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1 About Science
Rod—
Yard—
•average length of 16
different men’s feet
[typically 16 ½ feet]
•the distance from the
tip of the king’s nose
to the fingertips of the
outstretched hand
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1 About Science
Foot—
•the rod divided by
16
Inch—
•length of 3 barley
corns, round and
dry, and taken from
the center of the
ear
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SI units
• International System of
Units (abbreviated SI)
• Used to standardized
measurements
• Why is it important?
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meter (m) :SI unit of
length
• one ten-millionth of the distance
from the Equator to the North Pole
through Paris
• 1 meter is equal to 1,650,763.7321
wavelengths of orange krypton light.
• the distance travelled by light
(krypton bulb) in free space in
1⁄
299,792,458 of a second
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Killing Horses Dead Makes
Dick Clark Mad!!!
• To Convert, all you need to do is
move the decimal!!!
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Come up with a
saying for
converting the
metric system
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It Matters
• Kilogram (SI): weighs 2.2 pounds on earth
– Unit of mass, not weight
– Weight is how much force gravity is pulling an
object
• Gram: 1/1000 of a kilogram
– 453.6 grams weigh 1 pound
• Slug (English): 32.2 pounds on earth
mass vs weight
• Mass--tendency of an object to
remain at constant velocity unless
acted upon by an outside force
• F = ma
• “Stubbornness of an object”
– If you weigh 161 lbs on earth, you have a
mass of 5 slugs
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How much longer are these
notes?
• SI for time is seconds
• Seconds can be broken down
–Millisecond 1/1,000 of a second
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1.2 Mathematics—The Language of Science
Why is mathematics the language
of science?
• 86,400,000 milliseconds in one
day
–Jiffy: 1/60 of a second
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1.3 Scientific Methods
Scientific methods generally include some, if
not all, of the following:
1. Recognize a problem.
2. Make an educated guess—a hypothesis—
about the answer.
3. Predict the consequences of the hypothesis.
4. Perform experiments to test predictions.
5. Formulate the simplest general rule that
organizes the main ingredients: hypothesis,
prediction, and experimental outcome.
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Scientific ideas are developed
through reasoning.
• Inferences are logical conclusions based
on observable facts.
• Much of what we know from scientific
study is based on inferences from data,
whether the object of study is a star or an
atom.
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1.3 Scientific Methods
There is no such thing as “THE Scientific Method.”
Although the scientific method is popular, it is not the
universal key to discoveries and advances in science.
• Trial and error, experimentation without guessing,
and accidental discovery account for much of the
progress in science.
• The success of science has more to do with an
attitude of inquiry, experimentation, and humility than
with a particular method.
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1.3 Scientific Methods
What are the steps of a
scientific method?
– No person has ever seen inside an atom, yet
we know, by inference, what is there.
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1.4 The Scientific Attitude
If a scientist finds evidence that contradicts a
hypothesis, law, or principle, then the hypothesis,
law, or principle must be changed or abandoned.
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– Science is based on the premise that our
senses, and extensions of those senses
through the use of instruments, can give us
accurate information about the Universe.
– Science follows very specific "rules" and its
results are always subject to testing and, if
necessary, revision.
– Even with such constraints science does not
exclude, and often benefits from, creativity
and imagination (with a good bit of logic
thrown in).
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1.4 The Scientific Attitude
1.4 The Scientific Attitude
In science, a fact is a close agreement by competent
observers who make a series of observations of the same
phenomenon.
A scientific hypothesis is an educated guess that is not
fully accepted until demonstrated by experiment.
When hypotheses about the relationship among natural
quantities are tested over and over again and not
contradicted, they may become laws or principles.
Scientists must accept their findings
even when they would like them to
be different. They must distinguish
between what they see and what
they wish to see.
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1.4 The Scientific Attitude
Scientific Theories
A scientific theory is a synthesis of a large body of
information that encompasses well-tested and
verified hypotheses about certain aspects of the
natural world.
Scientific claims are subject to peer review and
replication.
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Theories are central to
scientific thinking.
• Theories are supported, modified, or replaced
as new evidence appears.
• The scientific definition of “theory” should not be
confused with the way the term is commonly
used to mean a guess or a hunch.
• In science, a theory means much more and is far
more well-founded.
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1.4 The Scientific Attitude
The theories of science evolve as
they go through stages of redefinition
and refinement.
• The refinement of theories is a
strength of science, not a
weakness.
• More important than defending
beliefs is improving upon
them.
• Better hypotheses are made by
those who are honest in the
face of experimental evidence.
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Science is not always a direct
ascent toward the truth
• Before Galileo challenged the system,
geocentrism was the rule.
• Speciation can occur relatively rapidly.
• Alfred Wegener’s ideas about continental
drift were not taken seriously until viable
mechanisms for moving continents began
to be recognized.
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Pitfalls of Stupid “Scientist”
• Falling in love with one’s own hypothesis
and becoming so attached to it that one
refuses to consider new or conflicting data.
• Being drawn in by preconceptions
Science, sooner or later, overcomes
prejudices and misapprehensions that are
due to cultural influences and personal bias.
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Science is not always a direct
ascent toward the truth.
• Despite the meticulous efforts of those
who practice it, science sometimes
proceeds in false starts.
• In some cases, scientific ideas that
dominated a particular time were later
recognized as inaccurate or incomplete.
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Science is not democratic.
• Scientific ideas are subject to scrutiny from
near and far, but nobody ever takes a vote.
– If the question of plate tectonics had been
decided democratically when it was first
presented in the early twentieth century, we
would, today, have no explanation for the origins
of much of Earth’s terrain.
• Scientific ideas are accepted or rejected
instead on the basis of evidence.
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1.4 The Scientific Attitude
When must a hypothesis, law, or
principle be changed or abandoned?
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1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
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Science Has Principles
• Science seeks to explain the natural
world and its explanations are tested
using evidence from the natural world.
To determine whether a hypothesis is
scientific or not, look to see if there is a
test for proving it wrong.
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– Elves and gnomes are great fun to read about
and even to enjoy as statues in our gardens,
but they do not dwell in the natural world.
– That means they are not
appropriate for scientific study.
– Although they are probably not
real, science cannot test that!!!
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1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
A scientific hypothesis must be testable.
• It is more important that there be a way of proving it
wrong than that there be a way of proving it correct.
• If there is no test for its possible wrongness, then it is
not scientific.
Here is a hypothesis that is scientific:
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“No material object can travel faster than light.”
Even if it were supported by a thousand other experiments,
this hypothesis could be proven wrong by a single
experiment. (So far, we find it to be true.)
1 About Science
1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
Here are hypotheses that are not scientific:
• The hypothesis: “The alignment of planets in the sky
determines the best time for making decisions” cannot
be proven wrong, nor can it be proven right. It is
speculation.
• The hypothesis: “Intelligent life exists on other planets
somewhere in the universe” can be proven correct, but
there is no way to prove it wrong if no life is ever
found.
• The hypothesis: “Most people stop for red lights”
doesn’t link up to our general understanding of
nature, so it doesn’t fit into the structure of science.
Experiments are conducted to test scientific hypotheses.
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1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
think!
think!
Which of these is a scientific hypothesis?
a. Atoms are the smallest particles of matter.
b. The universe is surrounded by a second universe, the
existence of which cannot be detected by scientists.
c. Albert Einstein was the greatest physicist of the 1900s.
Which of these is a scientific hypothesis?
a. Atoms are the smallest particles of matter.
b. The universe is surrounded by a second universe, the
existence of which cannot be detected by scientists.
c. Albert Einstein was the greatest physicist of the 1900s.
Answer:
(a) is scientific, because there is a test for its wrongness.
(b) has no test for possible wrongness and is therefore
unscientific.
(c) is an assertion that has no test for possible wrongness.
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Occam's razor
• “entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter
necessitatem”
• "entities must not be multiplied beyond
necessity“
• AKA: With everything equal, the simplest
explanation is usually the correct one.
– Simplest is not defined by the time or number
of words it takes to express the theory; its the
theory with the fewest new assumptions
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1.5 Scientific Hypotheses
How do you know if a
hypothesis is scientific?
Is the refrigerator empty
because
• a gang of international
thieves stole the food
• the refrigerator is an
alien artifact that
makes food disappear
• my roommate and his
friends were hungry
last night?
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1.6 Science, Technology, and Society
Science is a method of answering
theoretical questions; technology is a
method of solving practical problems.
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1.6 Science, Technology, and Society
1.6 Science, Technology, and Society
Science has to do with
discovering facts and
relationships between observable
phenomena in nature and with
establishing theories that
organize and make sense of
these facts and relationships.
Technology has to do with
tools, techniques, and
procedures for putting the
findings of science to use.
Science and technology make
up a larger part of our everyday
lives than ever before.
The scientific way of thinking
becomes vital to society as new
facts are discovered and new
ideas for caring for the planet
are needed.
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1.6 Science, Technology, and Society
What is the difference between
science and technology?
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1 About Science
1.7 Science, Art, and Religion
Science is mostly concerned with
discovering and recording natural
phenomena, the arts are concerned with
the value of human interactions as they
pertain to the senses, and religion is
concerned with the source, purpose, and
meaning of everything.
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1.7 Science, Art, and Religion
1.7 Science, Art, and Religion
The domains of science, art, and
religion are different, even though
they overlap.
• The domain of science is
natural order.
• The domain of religion is
nature’s purpose.
The principal values of science and the arts are comparable.
• Literature describes the human experience.
• The arts do not necessarily give us experiences, but
they describe them to us and suggest what may be in
store for us.
• Science tells us what is possible in nature.
• Scientific knowledge helps us to predict possibilities
in nature even before these possibilities have been
experienced.
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Science cannot make moral
or aesthetic decisions.
• Scientists can infer the relationships of
flowering plants from their anatomy, DNA,
and fossils, but they cannot scientifically
assert that a rose is prettier than a daisy.
• Being human, scientists make moral and
aesthetic judgments and choices, as do all
citizens of our planet, but such decisions
are not part of science
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1.7 Science, Art, and Religion
think!
Which of the following involves great amounts of human
passion, talent, and intelligence?
a. art
b. literature
c. music
d. science
Answer:
All of them!
1 About Science
1.7 Science, Art, and Religion
think!
Which of the following involves great amounts of human
passion, talent, and intelligence?
a. art
b. literature
c. music
d. science
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Science is non-dogmatic.
• Nothing in the scientific enterprise or
literature requires belief.
– To ask someone to accept ideas purely on
faith, even when these ideas are expressed
by “experts,” is unscientific.
• While science must make some
assumptions, explanations and
conclusions are accepted only to the
degree that they are well founded and
continue to stand up to scrutiny.
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1.7 Science, Art, and Religion
How are science, art, and
religion different?
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