Chapter 1: About Science (From Lecture Slide) Flashcards
This is a class lecture studying flashcard
Science
The collective findings of humans about nature, and the process of gathering and organizing knowledge about nature
Ancient roots
Traces back to ancient times, notably flourishing in ancient Greece during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, spreading across the Mediterranean
European Interruption
After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, Europe experienced a scientific halt due to invasions, destruction, and the rise of religious dominance
Global Continuation
Chinese, Polynesian, and Arab civilizations continued astronomical and mathematical advancements despite the challenges faced in Europe
Islamic Revival
Greek science experienced a revival in Europe during the 10th-12th centuries through Islamic influences
Art and Science Convergence
In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci seamlessly combined art and scientific exploration
Printing Press Revolution
The 16th century intervention of the printing press significantly accelerated the dissemination of scientific thought and ideas, fostering a new era of knowledge sharing
Science’s journey demonstrates its
Resilience, adaptability, and transformative power across civilizations and eras
Measurement are
A hallmark of good science and how much you know about something is often related to how well you can measure it
Scientific measurements are not
Something new, go back to ancient times
During 3rd century, accurate measurements were made of
The sizes of the Earth, Moon, and Sun as well as the distances between them
Size of Earth first measured in Egypt by
Eratosthenes in about 235 BC
Size of Moon first measured by
Aristarchus in 240 BC also found distance to the moon and distance to the sun
Equations serve as
Concise representations of relationships between concepts
Mathematical expression of natural findings
Facilitates experimental validations
Ideas of science are
Unambiguous when expressed in mathematical terms and unlike common language that can have multiple interpretations
When findings in nature are
Expressed mathematically, they are easier to verify or to disprove by experiment
Scientific methods (The Steps)
1) Recognize a questions, problems, puzzle, or unexplained fact (observe something)
2) Make a hypothesis
3) Predict consequences of the hypothesis
4) Perform experiments or make calculations to test the predictions
5) Formulate the simplest general rule
Fact
Close agreement by competent observers who make a series of observations about the same phenomenon
Scientific Hypothesis
An educated guess that is only presumed to be factual until supported by experiment
Hypothesis must require a test of falseness if
It can be proven false, and we can test it
Hypothesis must be capable of being
Proven wrong in principle (falsifiable)
In most case, a falsifiable statement just needs
One observations to disprove it
A statement that is not falsifiable usually needs some sort of
Exhaustive search of all possibilities to disprove it
Most statement dealing with
Ethics, morals, or justice fall into this category
Law (Principle)
A hypothesis that has been tested over and over and has not been contradicted
Scientific Theory
A synthesis of a large body of information that encompasses well-tested and verified hypotheses about certain aspects of the natural world
Is the following statement a fact, or a law?
- Statement: An objects falls to Earth
- Proper term: Fact!
- The law would be: F = G m1m2/r^2
