concept summary batesville high school physics
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About Science. Concept Summary Batesville High School Physics. Natural Philosophy. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle Were the “authorities” in Western thought from about 500 BCE to 1600 AD Believed that there was a perfect world, but this world isn’t it. Natural Philosophy. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Concept SummaryBatesville High School Physics
Natural PhilosophySocrates, Plato, Aristotle
Were the “authorities” in Western thought from about 500 BCE to 1600 AD
Believed that there was a perfect world, but this world isn’t it
Natural PhilosophyAristotle’s “perfect world” was
accessible only through thought and contemplation.
Observation or experiment on this dirty, nasty imperfect world was useless in understanding “timeless truth.”
Beginnings of ScienceScience, as we know it, evolved from
“natural philosophy” (literally “thinking about nature”) starting about the year 1600 due to the work of Galileo, Bacon, and many others.
Scientific Progress In the last 400 years, scientists have
made incredible strides in their efforts to understand our universe (although there is still much to know).
Scientific progress has brought about technological progress that Galileo could not have imagined.
Scientific MethodsThe progress of science has not been
due to adherence to a simple-minded step-by-step process, as many elementary texts would have you believe.
Scientific MethodsTo quote our text (p. 2): “The success of science has more to do
with an attitude common to scientists than with a particular method. This attitude is one of inquiry, experimentation, and humility before the facts.”
Scientific MethodsSomething to keep in mind:
Since science is such a huge and complex enterprise with no central governing body, just about any generalization about science and scientific methods is not going to be strictly true.
Many people naively expect certainty and absolute truth from science - science doesn’t have any of that.
Science TerminologyWe need a common science vocabulary
in order to communicate effectively with one another.
Keep in mind that the scientific meaning of a word is often different than its everyday meaning.
Observation An observation is something you
notice. May be casual or even accidental May be formal - experimental data are
observations.Not all observations are correct - people
make mistakes.
Scientific ObservationsThe primary way we have to tell if an
observation is correct is to repeat it, and have other competent people repeat it.
Therefore, scientific observations must be repeatable.
Non-repeatable observations are called “anecdotal evidence”.
Scientific FactsAn observation that many competent
observers agree is correct is a fact.All scientific facts are not correct -
people make mistakes.
Facts are NOT Immortal If further observations show that a fact
is not correct, it must be replaced.This often happens when new
technology becomes available to make observations that could not be made before.
Aren’t Facts True?Often people naively assume that
“facts” must be absolutely true - but how can we know this?
Facts are true to the best of our current ability to tell - but that is all we can really say about them.
ConclusionsA conclusion is a decision based on
observations, facts, or experimental data.
Scientific LawsA scientific law is a powerful summary
of many facts. Laws describe what happens, they don’t
generally explain why they happen. Laws can often be expressed very
conveniently and concisely in mathematical form.
HypothesesA hypothesis is an educated guess
about why something happens. A scientific hypothesis must be testable by
observation - there must be observations that we can make to tell whether the hypothesis is correct or not.
A hypothesis that is not testable is called “speculation”.
“Falsifiability”An experimental test that could show
that a hypothesis is wrong (if it’s wrong) is a much more useful test than a test that can only confirm the hypothesis.
Some scientists insist that scientific hypotheses have such tests - they must be “falsifiable”.
Scientific TheoriesAs experimental evidence
(observations) accumulates, we can become more confident that a hypothesis is true.
A theory is a synthesis (powerful combination) of well-tested hypotheses.
TheoryScientific theories tend to explain why
scientific laws operate the way they do - theories are often called “models”.
Physical theories tend to be highly mathematical in nature.
TheoryThe word “theory” is probably the most
misused science term - certainly by laymen, but even by scientists!
The Process of Science In science, evidence for the truth of
any idea is experimental observation - not tradition, authority, or anything else.
The Process of ScienceThis process of testing facts,
conclusions, laws, and theories with experimental observations NEVER ENDS.
The Process of Science In science NOTHING (well, hardly
anything) is ever “proven once and for all”.
Science & TechnologyScience is about discovering new
things about nature, and about how nature works.
Technology is about using scientific discoveries to make (hopefully) practical structures and devices for society.
Science & TechnologyScience uses technology, and
technology uses science.Although science and technology are
not the same, neither could exist for long without the other.
The End