1Atoms and Stars, Class 2

Atoms and StarsIST 2420

Class 2

Winter 2009

Instructor: David BowenCourse web site: www.is.wayne.edu/drbowen/aasw09

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On the Table in Front…

• Initial the sign-in sheet

• Turn in lab report in foldero Handwritten data sheet and typed analysis

stapled together – one report.

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Email Problem

• Who is “lashun.johnson524”?

• Someone in this class forwards their WSU email to lashun.johnson524@wayne.eduo This is an invalid email address (does not exist)o If this is you, you may be missing all of your

WSU email from me, other Instructors, etc.o Suggestion: call WSU computer help desk at

313-577-4778

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Tonight’s Schedule• What is due tonight?

• What is science?

• Essay assignment

• Review of readings

• Before the Greeks

• What is due next week?

• Lab 2

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Due tonight

• Report for Lab 1.o A lab report has two parts, turned in as a single

assignment (stapled):• Data Sheet: setting, procedures, observations

• Analysis

o Experimental results can be surprisingo “Nature is the final arbiter” (judge) (Q19)o Observation: write what you see

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Definitions for Reading• In “We Are All Scientists,” Huxley uses

“induction” and “deduction” without defining them (Q5)o Induction: reasoning from a series of identical

cases to a general conclusion• In the reading, green apples example

o Deduction: reasoning from different types of evidence to a conclusion in a specific case

• In the reading, missing teapot and spoons example• Also see Glossary in Reader Pg 279 ff

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Overview

• Two pillars of science(Q27):o Data / observations /

experiments• Makes science reliable

o Hypotheses / laws /theories

• Makes science valuable

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Overview

• “Theory”o Use in popular culture Vs. scientific usage Q29

• In popular culture, “theory” usually means a passing thought, a possibility – “just a theory”

• In science, a theory is an accepted and thoroughly tested explanation for a wide range of data – the top of the line

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• #2. Hypotheses / laws / theories (cont’d)o Accepted theory must (continued):

• Be capable of being disproven (falsifiability)

• Explain all (at first, vast majority) data

• Have direct evidence - not accepted just because rival theory fails

• Be productive - predict new, unsuspected measurements, new phenomena, new results, which must be tested and which must agree

o Simpler theory preferred to more complicated

Overview

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Overview

• Typical sequence of advance (focus comes first and is assumed here) Q28:1. Observation / Measurement

2. Description

3. Understanding (theory)o Often this is first association (statistical) then causal

4. Control or technology (especially last 50 years)

• Science is progressive: Q20o Start in small area, expand, build on past

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Overview

• Science is progressive (cont’d)o Later theory / experiment can change earlier

theory• Example: Einstein's 1915 General Theory of

Relativity changed ideas about his 1905 Theory of Special Relativity

• However, old results still correct but range extended

o Scientific knowledge provisional – subject to change

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Overview

• Science is progressive (cont’d)o Scientific knowledge can change rapidly at the

frontier• Later experiments can show errors in the first ones

• Extending theory beyond data can introduce errors

• Science is not:o Fair – theories do not have a right to be

considered – someone must want to do this

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Overview

• Science is not:o Democratic – no votes, nor formal consensus,

theories can come “back to life” (string theory)o Not based on authority – Newton and Einstein

can be (were) wrong

• Most scientists follow these rules but (with many scientists) there are many individual exceptions, e.g. falsifying data

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Overview

• Most scientists follow these rules but (with many scientists) there are many individual exceptions, e.g. falsifying data (continued)o Science is social – scientists help & check each other Q23

o Scientific arguments can be fierce• Issue about women and aggressive argument

• Our heroes – the people who overthrew the established order

• Instant success: prove someone else wrong

o Scientists often become advocates of a theory• Social interaction corrects this

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Overview

• Scientists are skeptical about truth claimso Many strongly-held beliefs have been shown to

be wrong, e.g. common ideas about spaceo Many purely rational arguments have been

shown to be wrong – e.g. Aristotleo Experiments keep science correct and reliable

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Review of Essay Assignment• Due February 16 (three weeks) on BlackBoard Digital DropBox• Topic: We have studied two cases in which an earlier theory is

replaced by a later one: (a) Aristotle's view that nature abhors a vacuum was replaced by the sea of air hypothesis and (b) the caloric theory of heat was replaced by Rumford’s kinetic theory of heat. We have also read about Copi’s seven steps of the scientific method. Pick one of the two cases above (a or b), describe the sequence in which it took place, and show by comparison whether each of Copi's seven steps in the scientific method happened or not. Draw on material from the reading, class discussion, and the laboratory experiments. Also describe what this tells us about the scientific method.

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Essay Assignment (cont’d)

• 3 to 4 pages, 12-point Times Roman, double-spaced, 1” margins top and bottom, 1½” left and right.

• Content: 60%. Reading and understanding course materials, applying them to topic, consistent point of view

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Essay Assignment (cont’d)

• Mechanics: 25%. Spelling, grammar, punctuation. Use spell-check and grammar-check (note on passive), your own editing, dictionary.

• Form: 15%. Title page (does not count in number of pages), Introduction (roadmap), Body (organized, transitions between topics, detail to support general points), Conclusion (review content, draws to an end)

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#1 Reason for Writing• To organize your own thinking

#1 Way to Good Writing• Have something you want to say

Pretend if necessary – it works!

#1 Way to Find Mistakes• Read your Essay out loud to yourself, and

listen1/26/09

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• www.is.wayne.edu/olgt then link to Writing Guide, or use The Everyday Writer

• Writing Center in 2310 UGL / 313-577-2544

• Many of you have heard this before, but the problem is applying this stuff

• More in the next slides

More Examples and Details

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Common Writing Problems• Functional grammar

o Rules of grammar have a purpose – to transmit meaning

o Rules of grammar are always changingo Different grammars for different groupso Get too far from the group’s grammar and you

are not understood (must change with changes)o The further you get from the group’s grammar,

the harder it is to understand youo Being able to use good standard grammar is

like dressing well for a job interview1/26/09

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Organization

• Many possibilities for organizationo Historicalo Logicalo Specific to general, or general to specifico Combination

• Signal transitions from one topic to anothero Paragraphs help here

• New topic new paragraph

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Quick-and-Easy Organization

• Write body first

• Once you have figured out what you are going to say (the Body), write the Introduction and Conclusion afterwards

• Body should have general statements and specific examples and quotes

Skip to 31?

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Sentences

• A sentence:o Verb (action)o Subject (did the action)o Complete thoughto (starts with capital, period at end)

• (Y/N) Because he hit the ball.

• (Y/N) John hit the ball.

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Sentences

• Is it a sentence? Consider it all by itself. (Read it out loud)

• Common sentence problem #1:o Sentence fragment – something that starts with

a capital and ends with a period but is not a sentence

• Because he hit the ball. John ran to first base.• Fix by joining to main thought with a comma (,)

– Because he hit the ball, John ran to first base.

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Sentences

• Is it a sentence? Consider it all by itself.• Common sentence problem #2:

o Run-on sentence – two or more sentences written as one

• John hit the ball he ran to first base.

• Fix by breaking into two sentences– John hit the ball. He ran to first base.

• Or by joining with semicolon (;) to show causality– John hit the ball; he ran to first base

– Joining two complete sentences with comma is not accepted

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Number (singular/plural)

• Both subject and verb have numbero If these are not the same, signals conflict

• Members join the club• A member joins the club• “One s”

• Without a reason, do not change number from sentence to sentenceo (Bad) People should take care of their health.

You should take your vitamins.

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Tense (past, present, future)• Without a reason, do not change tense from

sentence to sentence

Citations• “Scientific investigation is not, as many

people seem to suppose, some kind of modern black art.” (Huxley 1)

• Cite the source even if you are paraphrasing1/26/09

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Works Cited

• For each citation:o Author: last name, first.o Title, underlinedo Source (e.g. Atoms and Stars Reader)o Page (e.g. in Reader)o Year of original publication

• More examples at The Owl (Purdue Univ.)o Link on course website

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Punctuation• Apostrophe (‘)

o Contraction (don’t use contractions in the essay)o Possession (‘s or s’)

• Some words inherently possessive, no ‘ (e.g. theirs)

o Apostrophe never used for pluralization

• Listso Separate list items with commas (last one, before

‘and,’ is optional)o If any part of a list has a comma inside it,

separate items with semicolons1/26/09

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Wrong Word• Some words are commonly confused –

memorize or use list or dictionaryo its Vs it’so whose Vs who’so their Vs thereo too Vs too accept Vs excepto Many, many more – see Online Writing Tutor

• End of writing section, on to something else

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Readings• Huxley, “We Are All Scientists”

o Induction. Apples, Math compared to Red Shifto Deduction. Teapot and spoons Q5o Must put a supposed theory or hypothesis to

every test• (DB) Karl Popper, 20th century: science must be

“falsifiable” – single failure can be doom to a theoryo Hypothesis is normal

• DB: science prefers:o simple law before complicated oneo universal law before specific

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Readings (cont’d)• Copi, “Science and Hypothesis”

o Recent, long after the birth of modern science

o Often uses Sherlock Holmes to illustrate

o Seven steps

o Science has• Practical benefit

• Value in itself as knowledge

o Scientists focus on a problem• Hypothesis to focus on pertinent facts

• Used to gather more facts

• “Aha” – serious hypothesis - creative1/26/09

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Readings (cont’d)

• Copi, “Science and Hypothesis”o Finding consequences of hypothesis

• DB: If none, “not science”

o Consequences must be testedo Application to practical problems

• DB: Today, can lead to technology. Transistor, microchip, programmable computer, laser

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Readings (cont’d)

• Copi, “Science and Hypothesis”o Example of caloric theory of heat to kinetic Q22o Caloric – a substance, add it to matter,

temperature goes upo Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson) –

supervised making cannons• Boring generated very large amount of heat, could

not believe you could mix in that much caloric• What could you add a lot of? Motion, led to…

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Readings (cont’d)

• Copi, “Science and Hypothesis”o 1798: Kinetic theory of heato Sir Humphrey Davy compared theories,

devised test• Two enclosed (caloric could not get in) pieces of

ice, keep them frozen, rub together.

• Did this, they melted, demonstrating kinetic theory

o Later, Joule more tests, also measurements

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• Universe: about 15 billion years old• Solar System (includes earth): about 5

billion years old (4.7 B)o Molten at first, many collisions with asteroids

and meteorites (Hadean Eon)o Cooled off, land formed about 4 BYA

• First life formed in seas about 3.7 BYA• Earliest human-like animals (humanoids)

evolved in southern Africa about 5 MYA

Before the Greeks…

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• McClellan and Dorn, Science and Technology in World History• Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel

• Several humanoid species and expansions• Homo sapiens (modern humans) evolved

thereo 100k to 400k years agoo Little genetic change since theno Expansions north, then East and West to

Europe and Asiao Signs of early astronomy – phases of the moon

Before the Greeks…(Q21)

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Before the Greeks (cont’d)…• Early science developed with agriculture,

large cities, complex and specialized societieso Areas shown on next slide (Diamond’s thesis)o “Hydraulic civilizations” – irrigation or drainageo Large (monumental) building projects, e.g.

pyramids (Egypt), canalso Highly efficient food production allowed citieso Strong central governmentso American ones “incomplete” – no cattle, wheel,

plow or (later) metal tools (but had metal jewelry)1/26/09

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Before the Greeks (cont’d)…

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Before the Greeks (cont’d)…

• Some areas (Egypt) one nation, others (Mesopotamia) several (Sumer, Babylonia)

• Europe and Asia, these formed ~7,000 years ago• Each lasted 1 – 2 thousand years• Each developed empirical science (no theories –

“recipes”) in math, astronomy, geometry, medicine, but different strengthso E.g. place-value numbers in Sumeria but not Egypt.

Egypt had geometry for Nile flooding.• Scientific theory (explanations) arose with Greeks1/26/09

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For next class…

• Lab Report for Experiment 2

• Reader: “Greeks Bearing Gifts”

• Manual: Experiment 3 Part 1

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Lab Reports (Review)

• One report, two parts: Data Sheet and Analysis

• Data Sheet – your handwritten original noteso Setting:

• Author: (label) Your Name• Lab partners: (label) Full names of lab partners• Date• Lab name and number

o For each section where you use equipment:• Procedure (with that label): what you did• Observation (with that label): what you saw, result

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Lab Reports (Review)

• One report, two parts: Data Sheet and Analysis

• Analysis: your typed answers to last questions not done in lab, not using equipment

• Staple the Data Sheet and Analysis together as a single lab report

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Questions or comments?

Lab 2

• Start water boiling first• For hand vacuum pumps, record vacuum

o Note two scales – record which one you use

• For “holed pop cap” seal joint with clay• Use ones already made up

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Lab 2 Theory• Scientific Revolution 1400 – 1800 AD• Before, prevailing view about air pressure

due to Greek philosopher Aristotle 384 – 322 B.C.o “Nature abhors [hates] a vacuum” – will not let

it exist, other matter rushes in• Replaced by “sea of air” due to Torricelli• Observation of a vacuum for water columns

higher than 34 feet in a tube closed at the top – practical limit on suction pumps

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Lab 2 (cont’d)• Vacuum seal is

O-ring, Vaselineand flat flange

• Valve is openwhen handle isin-line, closedwhen handle is“crossed” – lookdown the valve!

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Lab 2 (cont’d)

Lab period

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