Geology 1 / Planet Earth 1Geology 1 / Planet Earth 1

Fall 2008J.D. Price

Fall 2008J.D. Price

Website

Your hosts for the semester

The evil and charismatic Jonathan Price (prof)JSC 1W13, 276-2372pricej@rpi.edu

Teaching assistants:

Karen Merill

Lingbo Xing

Mailboxes are in the outer office of JSC 1W19

Class Website: http://ees2.geo.rpi./edu/PE1GEO1

Our Subject:

A guide to your planet inside and out

Why is this class important?

Humankind faces a number of challenges in the near future

•Energy resources

•Carbon budgeting - climate change

•Waste management

•Agricultural production

•Water resources

•Natural disasters

A working knowledge of the Earth is needed by all to make useful progress on any of these fronts.

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This is as simple as it gets…

Not so long ago, Geology I and Planet Earth I were offered as separate and distinct courses. These grew to be so similar over time that they were merged into one glorious learning experience.

In short - one course with two numbers

A tale of two classes…A tale of two classes…

TextAuthor: Stephen MarshakTitle Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 3rd EditionPublisher NortonISBN 0-393-92502-1

Lab bookAuthors: Norris W. Jones and Charles E. JonesTitle Laboratory Manual for Physical Geology, 8th editionPublisher McGraw-Hill

The online lecture slide set

Related on-line reading

Google Earth placemark sets (on-line)

Required learning aidsRequired learning aids

Working Together

• A good thing!

• Discuss Text

• Assignments

But… all submitted work should be your own

Needless to say –exams and quizzes are an individual effort.

You may collaborate on these assignments, but your submitted paper should reflect your own unique, individual effort.

Assignments & lab workAssignments & lab work

EvaluationEvaluation

•3 in-class examinations

•Weekly quiz (you may drop two)

•Only offered on single date

•Lab assignments

•Cannot miss more than three and pass

•Labs/recitations start Sept. 10.

Excuses offered in advance always sound better

• You trust that we’ve made appropriate decisions about this course

• We trust that all assignments and exams are your own work.

• Various forms of academic dishonesty are in the Rensselaer Handbook.

• All forms are violations of student-teacher trust and ultimately undermine the validity of your degree.

• Penalties for cheating are quite harsh!

Academic Integrity (Trust):Academic Integrity (Trust):

A word about vocabulary

• Large number of new terms

• Helps to know word roots (origins)

• Watch out for your instructor’s assumptions

• Ask questions when you do not understand a word or a concept.

• Familiarize yourself with the material on a daily basis.

The Nature of ScienceThe Nature of Science

“Supposing is good, but finding out is better.”

-Mark Twain

The Science of Nature

Why?Why?

Science is often misrepresented by popular culture

Specifically, it is often confused with advocacy

Fair-and balanced coverage of advocacy correctly requires varying opinions.

However, science seeks to understand nature in ways that should be self-evident from observations.

Science is often misrepresented by popular culture

Specifically, it is often confused with advocacy

Fair-and balanced coverage of advocacy correctly requires varying opinions.

However, science seeks to understand nature in ways that should be self-evident from observations.

Science is not about finding truths. It’s about asking perceptive and often difficult

questions about nature It’s about discovering interrelationships It seeks increase human understanding of our

world in an observer-independent fashion. It acknowledges that our current

understanding is subject to revision in the light of new and better observations

Science is not about finding truths. It’s about asking perceptive and often difficult

questions about nature It’s about discovering interrelationships It seeks increase human understanding of our

world in an observer-independent fashion. It acknowledges that our current

understanding is subject to revision in the light of new and better observations

The truth about scienceThe truth about science

What is Science?What is Science?

ObservationIndependent of the individual observer ExplanationConsistent with other explanations PredictionIdeas are transferable in time and space Validation / ObservationFurther observations validate or reject

explanation

ObservationIndependent of the individual observer ExplanationConsistent with other explanations PredictionIdeas are transferable in time and space Validation / ObservationFurther observations validate or reject

explanation

Science is driven by critical thought

ObservationObservation

24.5

25.0

25.5

26.0

26.5

-50 0 50 100 150

Temperature (F)

Mileage (miles per gallon)

The above graph shows a relationship between automobile mileage and temperature.

Generally: MPG T Specifically: MPG = (T - 25)2

Scientific LawScientific Law

Describes a phenomena Relative to measurable parameters Is repeatable

Describes a phenomena Relative to measurable parameters Is repeatable

Always empirical and consistent – but not necessarily unbreakable.

A "scientific principle" is usually more specific than a law, but the distinction is not always clear.

ObservationObservation

Note:

•It is incorrect to say that something occurred because of a particular law.

•It would be correct to say that an observation is consistent with a particular law.

ObservationObservation

Atoms in NaCl (Table Salt)

Bohr model of an atom

Cooling a sphere over time

Models – conveying an ideaModels – conveying an ideaModels – conveying an ideaModels – conveying an idea

ExplanationExplanation

theory: An explanation consistent with observations but not necessarily tested (not very different from an hypothesis or idea)

 

Theory: A unifying explanationusually of a complex natural system or phenomenonthat is widely accepted on the basis of extensive testing. Probably as close to "truth" as you can get in science. Examples: Relativity; Evolution; Plate Tectonics.

Theory and theoryTheory and theory

ExplanationExplanation

Reproducibility

Neither

Both

Accurate

Precise

ExplanationExplanation

Observations

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5

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0 5 10 15 20 25

blebs

bleebs

Prediction

Interpolation

Extrapolation

Bleebs = 2 blebs

Observations

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5

10

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45

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blebs

bleebs

Prediction

Observations

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blebs

bleebs

Bleebs = 2 x blebs

Prediction

Bleebs = blebs 5/4

Observations

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20

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0 20 40 60 80 100

blebs

bleebs

Prediction

Cyclic behavior

Cyclic behavior allows for precise predictions (extrapolations)

Ideas (even sound ones) are ideally always open to scrutiny and evaluation.

Modern procedure:

•Develop idea

•Get someone to pay for it

•Test idea thoroughly

•Present idea to others

•Submit idea and results of test in written form

•Receive critical review from a small group of peers

•Respond to criticism

•Idea and results are evaluated by scientific community

ResearchResearch

PresentPresent

WriteWrite

ReviewReview

PublishPublish Popular PressPopular Press

Non scienceNon scienceNon scienceNon science

That which is untestable, and varies between individuals

•Aesthetics

•Values

•Beliefs

•Extranatural

Examples: Art, spirituality and religion, philosophy, love, taste, and fashion.

Non science is not inferior to science – they are different facets of the human experience (i.e. it is not science vs. religion)

Jacob Jordaens Pablo Picasso

Three Musicians

Non scienceNon scienceNon scienceNon science

You are an insignificant mass in the universe bent on your own survival and the replication and survival of your genome.

Without nonscience…

© M. Crawford Samuelson

1026 m

1055 g101m

104 g

The known universe

PsuedosciencePsuedosciencePsuedosciencePsuedoscience

Claims to be validated by the scientific method, but is not.

•Good – makes scientist examine weaknesses

•Not so good – never overcomes its criticisms

Pseudoscience is inferior to science – (i.e. it is science vs. psuedoscience)

Examples: Advertising, astrology, “creation science,” perpetual motion machines, etc…

Science Theory

An explanation consistent with the bulk of observer independent data

Evolution is the accepted explanation that is consistent with observations.

A good scientist will concede that this Theory may be discarded in light of new observations

Nonscience belief

A statement of faith based on individual experience and societal interactions.

The belief that nature is ordered by a designer is one philosophy (a nonscience endeavor).

Nonscience is very important - don’t do science without it!

Pseudoscience

Co-opting selected scientific terms or process to forward a favored explanation

All observations must prove that there is a designer; those that do not are disregarded

One can’t prove nonscientific concepts using science.

Galileo Galilei Pope Urban VIIIMaffeo Barberini

Science vs. PsuedoscienceHeresy vs. Religion

Tactlessness vs. Spite

The classic (but oft misunderstood) example of scientific persecution

Galileo’s observations (Jovian mooons, sunspots, lunar features) confirm the Copernican hypothesis - the Earth and the other planets orbit around

the sun. Presented to the common man…in ItalianDialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (1632) - A tale of three

people discussing the two theories, Salviati (Copernican), Sagredo (undecided), and Simplicio (Ptolemaic*).

Note - the inquisition of the Church officially supported the Tychonic system - stationary Earth with Venus and Mercury orbiting the Sun.

Copernican hypothesis contradicted an interpretation and tradition that planetary bodies revolve around Earth.Heaven surrounds the world, and Hell is beneath it.

•Copernican hypothesis dismissed because of predisposition of the church (psuedoscience)

•Galileo was determined to be a heretic by the inquisition, perhaps exacerbated by the accessibility of his publication (religion)

•Galileo’s presentation of the hypothesis was personally insulting to the Pope and conservative philosophers (spite)

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Giordano Bruno was imprisoned for seven years, tried, and burned at the stake in 1600. His heretical views are thought to include those of an infinite universe, a heliocentric solar system, and multiple star systems

A kinder, gentler inquisition…A kinder, gentler inquisition…

Science can forward human Science can forward human development and quality of lifedevelopment and quality of life

Example: increases human health and life expectancy result from advances in medical science

Science can dispel fears based in Science can dispel fears based in ignoranceignorance

Example: we can prepare for inclement weather, as opposed to appeasing the wrath of the gods.

Science can advise the use of Science can advise the use of resources.resources.

Example: we can allocate energy sources to provide the most work for the least cost.

But Science cannot solve all the But Science cannot solve all the problems of our society.problems of our society.

It must play a key role in issues ranging from environment and energy to biotechnology and the world's food supply. Many of the answers lie at some confluence of science, politics, ethics and sociology.

Science is a human endeavorScience is a human endeavor..

Sometimes scientists don’t do the right thing. Luckily, there are some self-correcting mechanisms built in.

•Science labors to describe the universe in understandable terms.

•This is achieved by careful, repeatable measurement, and deduction of connections between measurements.

Explanations for repeatedly observed phenomena are called Laws

Consistently supported deductions are called Theories.

•Science is intrinsic to human behavior, and can be applied to enrich human life.

Summary