Foundations - Ch 22 Sec 1 - Scientific Revolution Flashcards
What was the scientific revolution?
a new way of thinking about the natural world based on careful observation and a willingness to question accepted beliefs
What were the causes of the scientific revolution?
- exploration (navigation and astronomy) which led to technological advances
- the reformation
- people started questioning the old beliefs and coming up w/ new ideas
- medieval universities
- the renaissance (curiosity)
what was the reformation
religious division between catholics and protestants
questioning of church authority
what was the geocentric theory
the earth-centered view of the universe
where did the geocentric theory come from
Aristotle, a greek philosopher
who expanded on the geocentric theory
Ptolemy, a greek astronomer
how did christianity contribute to the geocentric theory
it taught that God placed Earth in the center of the universe
what is the heliocentric theory
the sun-centered view of the universe
what didn’t the geocentric theory explain
the movements of the sun, moon, or planets
who proposed the heliocentric theory?
Copernicus
what did Copernicus reason
that the stars, earth, and planets revolve around the sun
what couldn’t Copernicus explain
the planet’s orbits
What did Brahe do
built on Copernicus’ findings and recorded the movements of the planets
what did Kepler do
continued Brahe’s work and concluded that planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits
demonstrated mathematically that planets revolve around the sun
why didn’t the church like the heliocentric theory
it disagreed with Scripture and they didn’t want people to start questioning their authority
what is the scientific method
logical procedure for gathering and testing ideas
who developed the modern scientific method
Bacon and Descartes
what did Bacon do
urged scientists to experiment and draw conclusions and not rely on the ancient beliefs and studies
were Bacon and Descartes even really scientists?
no, Bacon was a writer and Descartes was a mathematician. They were both just interested in Science
what did Descartes do
developed analytical geometry, which provided a new tool for scientific research
also believed that scientists needed to reject the ancient teachings but instead of experimentation, he relied on math and logic to gather information
what was the difference in Bacon’s and Descartes’ thinking?
Bacon thought you should experiment to gather info, Descartes thought you should use math and logic
What is the modern SM
- state a problem
- gather information (observations)
- state hypothesis
- experiment to test hypothesis
- record and analyze data
- state conclusion
- repeat
how did scientists react to the scientific revolution
a lot of them were happy because they were finally able to have a voice and discover new things about the universe, which is what scientists like to do
how did the church react to the scientific revolution
the church was very angry about the scientific revolution because a lot of it challenged their beliefs. The church was all about having power, and they thought if people started questioning them and thinking for themselves, they wouldn’t have as much power over them
what did Galileo do that started his stuff
built on the new theories about astronomy by making his own telescope and used it to study the sky
what did Galileo’s book “Starry Messenger” do
shattered Aristotle’s theory that the moon and stars are made of pure, perfect substance
showed that he supported the theories of Copernicus
why did Galileo’s findings frighten the church
they didn’t want people to question the church
what did the church do to Galileo for his beliefs
under threat of torture, he was made to read a signed confession that said Copernicus was false and they put him under house arrest for the remainder of his life
what did the church finally do in 1992
acknowledged that Galileo had been right
what did Newton do
brought together the breakthroughs of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo under a single theory of motion
what was Newton’s law of universal gravitation
every object in the universe attracts to every other object
what did Newton’s “The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” do
described the universe like a giant clock where all parts worked together in mathematical ways
what is a revolution
a sudden, extreme wide reaching change in the way people live
people working together for a common cause
what were major effects of the scientific revolutions
led to huge discoveries gave more power to the common citizen led to the enlightenment Led to the scientific method Created the scientific community, they shared their findings w each other
before the scientific revolution, what had been two sources of scientific knowledge
the Bible/scripture
Greek philosophers, like Aristotle
what did medieval science have a strong emphasis on
tradition and dogma
