What is Science?

• The study and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena

•Any systematic activity requiring study and method

•Knowledge, especially knowledge gained through experience

•Science is a way of knowing, a process for gaining knowledge and understanding of the natural world.

•KEY WORDS:

–Systematic, Way of Knowing, Repeatable

The Scientific Method

•      Claude Ville –

–   The scientific method is just “organized common sense”

•      “The Big 6”

–   Look at poster

•      Let’s look at some ways you can use “common sense”

•       Sponge

•       MedicalHealthClinic - Grlsrgood.doc

•      Situations you’d use common sense:

•       You get sick and require medical attention.  A neighbor suggests you see her friend who cures disease spiritually.

•       Your boss at work assigns you to use the electrical floor scrubber, but doesn’t tell you how.

•       Your pet fish doesn’t look too good lately.  It stays in the bottom corner of the tank and rarely eats. 

 

 

Science vs. Pseudoscience

•      Science

–    Uses the scientific method correctly

–    Can be proven false

–    Examples?

•      Pseudoscience

–    Set of ideas based on theories put forth as scientific, when they are not scientific.

–    Does not follow scientific method correctly

–    The entire theory cannot be proven false

–    Uses statistics wrongly

–    Examples?

•      Non-Science

–    Does not try to be science

–    Cannot be proven false

–    Examples?

 

Astronomy vs. Astrology

•      Astronomy is the study of everything about a mile above the surface of the Earth.

–  Astronomers use telescopes, spectroscopy, radio waves, etc. to collect and analyze data.

•      Astrology is the study of the movement of the planets in relation to each other and how their energies interact in order to make predictions about the future.

–  astrology.doc

What are these?

•      Phrenology – “the study of the structure of the skull to determine a person’s character and mental capacity.  Mental faculties are located on the surface of the brain and can be detected by visible inspection of the skull.”

–  Brain is where character, emotions, perception, intellect, etc. are located

–  Different parts of the brain are responsible for different mental functions

What are these?

•      Sociology – “the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior.”

–  Collect data by observing and polling people, analyzing populations, etc.

•      Metoposcopy – “the interpretation of facial wrinkles, especially those on the forehead, to determine the character of a person.”

What are these?

•      Advertisement

–   Breakup Spell.doc

–   calastrology

•      Art – any creative work or its principles. Any branch of of creative work, as painting or sculpture.

•      Religion – a specific system of belief, worship, etc. often involving a code of ethics

•      Mathematics – deals with quantities, forms, etc. and their relationships , by the use of numbers and symbols.

Psychology

•      The study of the causes, conditions, and immediate consequences so far as these can be ascertained, of states of consciousness…such as sensations, desires, emotions, cognitions, reasonings, decision, volitions, and the like.

•      The data collected:

–   Thoughts and feelings (transitory states of consciousness)

–   Knowledge, gained by way of thoughts and feelings

•      Is this a science or a pseudoscience?

Psychology

•      Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

•      Treatments

–   Purpose: Stop obsessions

–   Research: Pavlov’s Dogs, watch obsessions

–   Hypothesis: If punish when obsess, the person won’t obsess

–   Experiment: Shock every time person obsesses

–   Data: Frequency of obsessions

–   Conclusion: Right or wrong?

–   Retest:  Many trials needed

•      Is this science?

Psychology

•      Schizophrenia

•      We cannot “measure” this disease

•      One treatment

–    Purpose:  Bad dreams

–    Research: Read Freud’s work

–    Hypothesis:  Working out issues with mother will stop bad dreams

–    Experiment: Therapy with mother, but it’s a little hard to measure bad dreams because they aren’t always remembered

–    Data:  Maybe works a little, but what do you measure?

–    Conclusion:  ??????

–    Retest:  Lots of expensive therapy

•      Is this science?

•      Sometimes, things don’t fit in one category.

Fact vs. Inference

•       Fact: a thing that has already happened or is thought to be true

•       Infer: to derive or conclude by reasoning from something known or assumed

•       Examples:

•       There is a tree in the picture

•       The tree is tall

•       There are three wolves

•       The wolves are hungry

•       The wolves are picky eaters

•       The wolves are holding a paper

•       The wolves are going to help natural selection move along quicker

 

Metric System

•      Le Systemé International (official name)

–  Abbreviated as “SI system”

–  Also called the metric system in US (unofficial name)

•      Official system of measurement in every major country in the world but one.

The Meter

•      Today’s definition of a meter

–  The distance that light travels in a very small amount of time in a vacuum                          (in 1 / 299,792,458 sec)

•   This is a good definition because the speed of light never changes (c = 3 x 10⁸ m/s)

•      French scientists created a set of prefixes that multiplied or divided the meter by fractions of 10 to make smaller and greater units of measurement

Prefixes

Prefix                                         Abbreviation                 How it Equates         

Tera……………………………………..T………………1 Tm = 1,000,000,000,000 m

Giga…………………………………….G………………1 Gm = 1,000,000,000 m

Mega …………………………………..M………………1 Mm =1,000,000 m

Kilo……………………………..k.……….... 1 km = 1,000 m

Hecto ………………………….h.………….1 hm = 100 m

Deka………………………….da….…….…1 dam = 10 m

Basic Unit (Meter, Liter, Gram)..m, L, g…... 1 m = 1 m

deci………………………..….d……….…. .1 dm = 0.1 m

centi……………………..……c……..……..1 cm = 0.01 m

milli……………………………m…….……..1 mm = 0.001 m

micro…………………….…...............µ………....………1 µm = 0.000001 m

nano ………………….………………n ………………….1nm = 0.000000001 m

pico……………………………………p…….…………….1pm = 0.000000000001 m

 

The Liter

•      Once they had a basic unit for distance, they used it to create units for volume and mass

•      The unit for volume is the liter

–  Written as a cursive letter ‘l”

–  Typed as a capital letter ‘L’

^•       1 milliliter = 1 cm³

Other Units

•      1 gram equals the mass of one cm³ (1 mL) of pure water at 0° C (273 Kelvin)

•      The unit for temperature is Kelvin (no degrees)

–  Kelvin = °C + 273

•      Other basic units

–  Energy : Joule (J)

–  Time: second (s)

–  Force: Newton (N)