STS 3 Prelims Flashcards
1
Q
spread new ideas
A
Printing Press
2
Q
fueled a great deal of scientific research because of technology needed for navigation
A
Age of Exploration
3
Q
Translation of the works of ______ ________ opened the minds of European thinkers to new scientific knowledge
A
Muslim scholars
4
Q
________ __________was a Polish mathematician and astronomer who studied in Italy.
A
Nicolaus Copernicus
5
Q
- In 1543 __________ published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres).
- In his book, Copernicus made two conclusions: The universe is heliocentric, or sun-centered.
The Earth is merely one of several planets revolving around the sun.
- In his book, Copernicus made two conclusions: The universe is heliocentric, or sun-centered.
A
Copernicus
6
Q
Copernicus’ model of the solar system: (8)
A
- Sun
- Moon
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
7
Q
- Copernicus came to these conclusions using ____________ ________.
A
mathematical formulas
8
Q
- In the late 1500s, the Danish astronomer _____ _____ provided evidence that supported Copernicus’ heliocentric theory.
A
Tycho Brahe
9
Q
- Brahe set up an astronomical ___________.
A
observatory
10
Q
- Every night for years he carefully observed the sky, accumulating data about the movement of the _____ and _______.
A
stars and planets
11
Q
used Brahe’s data to calculate the orbits of the planets revolving around the sun.
* his calculations supported Copernicus’ heliocentric theory.
* His calculations also showed that the planets moved in oval shaped orbits, and not perfect circles, as Ptolemy and Copernicus believed.
* ______‘_ finding help explain the paths followed by man-made satellites today.
A
Johannes Kepler
12
Q
- was an Italian astronomer who built upon the scientific foundations laid by Copernicus and Kepler.
- assembled the first telescope which allowed him to see mountains on the moon and fiery spots on the sun.
- He also observed four moons rotating around Jupiter – exactly the way Copernicus said the Earth rotated around the sun.
- also discovered that objects fall at the same speed regardless of weight.
- The Church punished him for his belief in this idea. He was questioned by the Inquisition and forced to confess that his ideas were wrong.
- The Church came against Galileo because it claimed that the Earth was fixed and unmoving.
- When threatened with death before the Inquisition in 1633, Galileo recanted his beliefs, even though he knew the Earth moved.
- was put under house arrest, and was not allowed to publish his ideas.
A
Galileo Galilei
13
Q
- was an English scholar who built upon the work of Copernicus and Galileo.
- was the most influential scientist of the Scientific Revolution.
- He used math to prove the existence of gravity - a force that kept planets in their orbits around the sun, and also caused objects to fall towards the earth.
- published his scientific ideas in his book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.
- He discovered laws of light and color, and formulated the laws of motion:
1. A body at rest stays at rest
2. Acceleration is caused by force
3. For every action there is an equal opposite reaction - He invented calculus: a method of mathematical analysis.
A
Sir Isaac Newton
14
Q
- Studied medicine at Edinburgh, theology at Cambridge
- Interest in natural history
- Taught by a freed black slave who told him exciting tales of the South American Rainforest
- developed the biological theory of evolution that explains how modern organisms evolved over long periods of time through descent from common ancestors
- In 1831, he began a 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle that would change his life.
- observed that the characteristics of many animals and plants varied noticeably among the different Galapagos Islands. Among the tortoises, the shape of the shell corresponds to different habitats.
- thought about the patterns he’d seen on his voyage
- He realized that there were many similarities between the animals he’d seen.
- There was evidence that suggested that species were not fixed and that they could change by some natural process.
A
Charles Darwin
15
Q
- To find an explanation for change in nature, Darwin studied the changes produced by plant and animal breeders
- Some plants bear larger or smaller fruits than others
- Some cows give more or less milk than others in their herd
- This told Darwin that variation could be passed from parents to offspring and used to improve crops and livestock
- In artificial selection, nature provides the variations, and humans select the ones they find useful
- Darwin knew that variation occurs in wild species as well as domesticated species
- He realized that that natural variation provided the raw material for evolution
- Darwin wanted to gather as much evidence as he could to support his ideas before he made them public
- In 1858, Darwin read an essay by Alfred Wallace whose thoughts about evolution were almost identical to his!
- In order to not get “scooped”, Darwin decided to present his work at a scientific meeting in 1858 along with some of Wallace’s essay
- The next year, Darwin published his complete work on evolution: On the Origin of Species
- Struggle for Existence
- From Malthus’ theory of supply and demand, Darwin reasoned that if more individuals are produced than can survive, they will have to compete for food, living space and other necessities of life
- Darwin described this as the struggle for existence
- Variation and Adaptation
- Individuals have natural variations among their inheritable traits
- Some variations are better suited to life in their environment than others
- Fast predators capture prey more efficiently
- Prey that are faster, better camouflaged or better protected avoid being caught.
A
Artificial Selection
