Science Flashcards
Give two non-Christian men in history who claimed that modern science was born out of the Christian world view
• Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), widely respected mathematician and philosopher
• J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), atomic scientist and director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton
(Schaeffer, 132-133)
What was Whitehead’s rational for the claim that modern science came from the Christian world view?
Because the universe was made by an all-knowing God, we should not be surprised to find order in the universe. The early scientists were Christians and believed this.
Does Whitehead’s rationale apply to early non-Christian scientists?
Yes, because the early scientists were operating within the pattern of thought that derived from western Christianity. They didn’t have to be Christian to accept the presupposition that the universe had order and therefore that science was worth doing.
To which area did Arabic scholars contribute in science during the Middle Ages?
Mathematics, especially trigonometry and algebra
Who was Omar Khayyam
(c. 1048-1122)?
Arabic scholar who calculated the solar year and made advances in algebra
What is the main difference between medieval science and modern science?
Medieval science was based on authority of philosophers rather than observation
Why did the Roman Church attack Copernicus and Galileo?
Because their findings conflicted with church orthodoxy, which by that time had become melded with Aristotelian science. Their findings did not contradict the Bible, only Aristotle.
In what year was Galileo forced by the Roman Inquisition to recant his findings of astronomy?
1632
Who wrote, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres?
Copernicus, published posthumously in the 1540’s
When did Leonardo da Vinci live?
1452-1519
When did Luther die?
1546
Who was Johannes Kepler?
German astronomer during the time of Galileo who showed that the orbits of the planets are elliptical, not circular
Who wrote, The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy?
Sir Isaac Newton (1687)
What was Descartes’s religion?
Catholic
True or false: Francis Bacon didn’t take the Bible seriously?
False, he believed the Bible to be compatible with science
What is the “indeterminacy principle” (1927)?
Principle developed by Werner Heisenberg that the exact location and speed of particles can’t be observed
True or false: in quantum theory, light, whether functioning as a wave or particle, does not function at random?
True
Who discovered that Einstein had divided by zero when he formulated the cosmological constant?
Russian mathematician Alexander Friedmann in 1922
Who discovered the “red shift” in every observable galaxy?
Edwin Hubble in 1927, at Mt. Wilson Observatory, California
According to Geisler and Turek, what is one of the strongest lines of evidence for the existence of a theistic God?
General Relativity
(Geisler and Turek, 74)
What is the fundamental principle of science?
The Law of Causality
Who said, “True knowledge is knowledge by causes”?
Francis Bacon in The New Organon
What is the First Law of Thermodynamics?
The amount of energy in the universe remains constant
What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
The universe is running out of usable energy
What is the Law of Entropy?
Nature tends to bring things to disorder (also known as The Second Law of Thermodynamics)
How do we distinguish a scientific theory from a made up explanation (pop-metaphysics)?
A legitimate scientific theory will have scientific evidence supporting it
Who discovered the cosmic background radiation?
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1965 in their lab in New Jersey
What is cosmic background radiation?
Light and heat from the initial Big Bang explosion
Which theory of the universe does this radiation contradict?
The eternal steady state theory
Who wrote God and the Astronomers?
Robert Jastrow, agnostic astronomer
What are the great galaxy seeds?
Variations in temperature of the cosmic background radiation that allowed matter to congregate through gravitation and form galaxies
What is important about the galaxy seeds other than that they were found as predicted, and in accordance with General Relativity?
They are finely tuned, too much temperature variation would have caused the universe to collapse back onto itself
What was the name of the satellite built to find the cosmic background radiation and when was it launched?
COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer), launched 1989
Who led the project on COBE and when did he announce his finings?
Astronomer George Smoot, announced his findings in 1992
What does Geisler and Turek’s acronym SURGE stand for?
Second Law of Thermodynamics Universe is expanding Radiation afterglow Great galaxy seeds Einstein’s General Relativity
Could natural forces have caused the universe?
No, because nature itself was created at the Big Bang
What does it mean to say that time, space and matter are
co-relative?
They cannot exist separately, they’re interdependent
List four problems with Cosmic Rebound Theory according to Geisler and Turek
1) no EV for an infinite number of bangs;
2) not enough matter to cause the universe to collapse back in on itself, it seems that it will expand indefinitely;
3) The Second Law of Thermodynamics still holds;
4) today would have never arrived if it had been rebounding forever
How does uranium support the theory that the universe is not eternal?
Uranium decays into lead, so if the universe was eternal, all the uranium would have become lead by now, but uranium still exists, therefore the universe is not eternal
Give the Kalam Cosmological Argument
1) an infinite number of days has no end;
2) but today is the end day of history;
3) therefore, there were not an infinite number of days before today
Nothing can be added to something infinite.
This is why the Kalam argument is so strong.
Who made the statement that every watch requires a watchmaker?
William Paley (1743-1805)
True or false: there is some evidence for the Multiple Universe Theory?
False, there is no evidence for it
Why would the Multiple Universe theory actually require a designer to be accurate?
Because precise design is required to get the universes started
How does the Multiverse Theory reduce to absurdity?
If it can create a statistically improbable universe, then it can explain away anything we want as a mere product of chance
What is the main line of proof for the Teleological Argument?
The anthropic constants
How many anthropic constants are there in the universe?
More than 100
According to Geisler and Turek, what is the number one problem facing Darwinists?
Explaining the origin of the first life
Who discovered DNA, and when?
James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953
What is DNA?
It’s the chemical code used for constructing and replicating all life on earth
What are the four nitrogen bases that comprise the DNA helix?
Adenine Thymine Cytosine Guanine (ATCG)
What is the central principle in forensic science?
The Principle of Uniformity—the causes in the past are like the causes we see today
Who said, “biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved”?
Francis Crick
What is the non-material part of DNA?
It’s code (message)
Name four scientists who admit that science is currently not able to explain the origin of first life
Klaus Dose, biochemist
Francis Crick
Fred Hoyle (panspermia)
Chandra Wickramasinghe (panspermia)
Does the Second Law of Thermodynamics apply to living systems?
Yes, living systems eventually lose energy
List four things that science cannot prove
The laws of logic, Law of Causality, Principle of Uniformity, and the reliability of the five senses
How does macro evolution occur?
Natural selection
What is natural selection?
Survival of the fittest (tautology)
What is the main thing to look for when someone gives evidence for natural selection?
Look for whether there is intelligence guiding the process (i.e. scientific attempts to replicate evolution)
What is Michael Behe’s definition of irreducible complexity?
Any system “composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning [for its intended purpose].”
Critique Darwinist Ken Miller’s four-part mousetrap response to Behe’s classic mousetrap
1) “system” is defined as any individual system, not a general type or class of system (such as a brake system or engine system);
2) Miller’s mousetrap requires intelligence;
3) it is not a physical precursor to Behe’s mousetrap system;
4) Miller’s mousetrap would be nonfunctional during the transition period, which is inconsistent with Darwinism;
5) living systems are exponentially more complex than a mousetrap
Why is the fossil record not relevant for proving macroevolution?
Because anatomy (skeletal structure) is a simplistic way of representing an organism; physiology of the organism accounts for 99 percent of its biological development, something which Darwin was not aware of.
What is punctuated equilibria?
The explanation created by Harvard paleontologist Steven Jay Gould to explain the gaps in the fossil record; he claimed that the species evolved faster over a shorter period of time than previously thought, which explained why there were no transitional forms in the fossil record
What is evolution’s God-of-the-Gaps?
Natural Selection, time and chance
What is wrong with the claim that Intelligent Design is not science?
It’s circular reasoning due to the fact that science is a search for causes, and there are only either intelligent or non intelligent causes
Who said, “materialism is absolute for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door”?
Darwinist Richard Lewontin of Harvard University
According to Geisler and Turek, what are the criteria for true miracles?
1-instantaneous beginning of a powerful act;
2-no natural explanation (supernatural);
3-confirms a truth or a messenger of truth;
4-promotes right behavior (not connected with error or immortality)
