HOW OLD IS SCIENCE?

SPINNING/WEAVING?GLASS?

SMELTING/METALWORKING?PLANTING/CULTIVATING?

FERMENTATION?COOKING?POTTERY?

ARCHITECTURE?ANIMAL HUSBANDRY?

WHEN DID THEY INVENT?

GOD INVENTED BIOLOGYTHEN TO EXPLAIN IT: CHEMISTRYTHEN PHYSICSTHEN MATHEMATICS

A.C. CLARKE’S LAWS• WHEN A DISTINGUISHED BUT ELDERLY (40+)

SCIENTIST STATES THAT SOMETHING IS POSSIBLE, HE IS ALMOST CERTAINLY RIGHT. WHEN HE STATES SOMETHING IS IMPOSSIBLE,

HE IS PROBABLY WRONG• THE ONLY WAY OF DISCOVERING LIMITS OF THE POSSIBLE IS TO VENTURE A LITTLE WAY

PAST THEM INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE• ANY SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

IS INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM MAGIC

• WHAT KIND OF PERSON BECOMES A SCIENTIST?

THE SCIENTIST?

• WHY?

•WHEN DID YOU STOP BEING CURIOUS?

Definitions of key terms

Technology: the set of procedures and tools that predictably and reproducibly produces a specified desired effect in the material environment

Science: the social system that involves three sequential and interrelated activities: research conducted according to a prescribed method (the scientific method), processes for accepting (or not) the results of research as fact, and finally predictions based on facts

Engineering: the professional activity of creating artifacts and systems to meet people’s material needs, with design as the central process, scientific knowledge and economic considerations as its essential inputs, and public safety as its overriding concern

The main form of creative intellectual activity in science is research; it is both research and design in engineering. The context for creative intellectual activity in science is an experiment, and in engineering it is a project.

Definitions of key terms

Research: the process of learning what is not known (by anyone)

Basic research: research with the object of discovery

Project research: research with the object of solving a problem that cannot be solved with existing knowledge

Definitions of Basic Research

• Its merit lies in the importance and excellence of the program,

as judged by peers.

BASIC RESEARCH in science and engineering in the universities has these attributes:

• Its object is discovery.

• Its context is the state of knowledge in the field world-wide.

• Its format is a program of research activity defined by the investigators.

• It educates highly qualified people in finding the sources of current knowledge, in creating new knowledge in the context of current advances around the world, and in understanding its trends and its limitations.

Innovation• Innovation is the link between research and economic activity

Innovation is the process of bringing new goods and services to market, or the result of that process

• Commodities are products available from many sources with comparable functionality and quality and, therefore, the producers of commodities must take the price offered in the commodity market

• Producers of innovations can set the price for their products, with margins high enough to recover the R&D costs and to invest in the R&D for future products

• Innovation is classified in several ways: product vs. process,radical vs. incremental, disruptive vs. sustaining

• There are also other kinds of innovation that are less directly linked to research: marketing innovation, institutional innovation, complementary innovation

ATTRIBUTES OF SCIENCE

IMAGINATIONLOGIC

CREATIVITYJUDGEMENTMETAPHOR

WHIMSYHONESTY

SCEPTICISMOPEN-MINDEDNESS

CURIOSITYFREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

“TOOLS” OF SCIENCE

QUESTIONSOBSERVATIONSRELATIONSHIPSPATTERNSVARIATIONSSYMMETRYLUCK (SERENDIPIDY)IMAGINATIONINSPIRATION

DEDUCTIONSMODELS PREDICTIONSEXPLANATIONS HYPOTHESES THEORIESFACTSLAWSTECHNIQUESINSTRUMENTATION

THE SEARCH FOR PATTERNS

ELEUSIS:

WHAT ARE THE UNDERLYING LAWS?

Francis Bacon 1561-1626“invented” the inductive

scientific method

Karl Popper (20th Century)suggested science is deductive

Falsification by hypothesis testing:experiment and prediction

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

OBJECTIVE REALITY EXISTSGENERAL PRINCIPLES EXISTCAUSE AND EFFECT EXIST

KNOWLEDGE IS CUMMULATIVETRUTH IS REPEATABLE

FALSENESS IS REFUTABLE

SEE, GUESS, TEST, PREDICT

Laws, Theories and Models

A Law is a statement or description of the relationships among observable phenomena, such as Boyle’s law about the relationship between V,P and T in gasses.

A Theory is a construction, built out of logic and mathematics, an inferred explanation, that tries to describe the actual universe that we live in, such as the kinetic molecular theory which explains Boyle’s Law.

A Model is a construction that describes a much simpler universe, including some features of the actual universe

and neglecting others

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

ANY THEORY OR LAW MUST

REFER TO THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSEBE TESTABLE

BE ABLE TO MAKE PREDICTIONS

FROM PERCEPTIONTO EXPLANATION

FROM EXPLANATION TO THEORY

FROM THEORY TO VALIDATION

FROM VALIDATION TO PREDICTION

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

MAJOR GOAL

MINOR GOAL

TOOLS

UNDERSTANDING

CONCEPTUALIZATIONMODELLING

IDEALIZATION

TESTINGPREDICTINGFALSIFYING

GENERALIZATIONUNIFICATION

EXPLANATION VALIDATION

STARTING POINT

PROCESS OF DISCOVERY

LUCKPATIENCE

SKILLMONEY

EXPERIMENTATION

TRY TO CONTROL THE VARIABLES

IT IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE

Measure change of volume of a balloon as temperature changes?

MODELS

DELIBERATELY SIMPLIFIEDVERSIONS OF REALITY

WHEN IS THE EARTH LIKE A FLAT PLANE?WHEN IS THE EARTH LIKE A SPHERE?WHEN IS THE EARTH LIKE A POINT?

IN THIS SITUATION, IT SEEMS TO BE LIKE...

FAMOUS SUPERMODELS

THE ELECTRONTHE ATOMCRYSTALS

GASSES

The model of the electron

What colour is an electron? What is its shape? Is it hard or soft? How big is it?What does it weigh (mass)?

Too small to reflect lightToo small to seeWhat to “poke” it with?Best assumption: a pointCan determine from its motion

A better question…How does an electron behave?

How does an electron behave?

You will be sorry you asked...

An electron is best described by an equationfor a probability function. Dirac

For most purposes we can view it as a spinning ball with a negative charge. It isn’t really, but as a model it works!

FAMOUS PATTERNS

PERIODIC TABLESHAPES OF SHORELINESMOTIONS OF THE PLANETS

PROPERTIES OF MATTER

WHAT’S THE MATTER?

Metal Melting Boiling Heat ofHardness

Point oC Point oC Fusion (cal)Lead 327 1744 4.77 1.5Magn. 651 1107** 8.95 2.0Copper 1083 2595 13.05 2.5Nickel 1453 2732 17.61Plat. 1769 3827 19.66 4.3Irid. 2410 4527 26.36 6.5Tung. 3410 5927 35.23

Model of a metal

A lattice of balls (atoms)interconnected by springs (forces)

Heat of Fusion Energy to break one atom away - break the spring

Melting/BoilingPoints

~Strength of bond

Hardness Compressibility of spring

PROPERTIES OF MATTER

WHAT’S THE MATTER?

Metal Melting Boiling Heat HardnessPoint Point of Fusion

Lead 327 1744 4.77 1.5Magn. 651 1107 8.95 2.0Copper1083 2595 13.05 2.5Nickel 1453 2732 17.61Plat. 1769 3827 19.66 4.3Irid. 2410 4527 26.36 6.5Tung. 3410 5927 35.23

Can the model predict?

Elasticity

0.160.541.261.97*1.74*5.384.05

AN EXPERIMENT IN MOTION

APPARATUS

EXPERIMENT

REPORT

Car, odometer, watch, paper, pencil, driver, observer/recorder

Record the odometer reading every minute, on the minute, during a ride through the city, of at least 30 minutes duration.

Plot a graph of distance vs time