01 Science in General

8/8/2019 01 Science in General

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Physics 10Lecture 01: Further Thoughts on Science

Johnrob Y. Bantang, PhDNational Institute of PhysicsCollege of ScienceUniversity of the Philippines, Diliman

What isSCIENCE? ?

Draw FOUR (4) lines to connect all nine dots below WITHOUT LIFTING YOUR PEN.

Science is thinking…

beyond,

out of, andof

the “box.”



Visitors from Twilo

Source: Leon Lederman, The God of Particle

Imagine an intelligent race of beingsfrom the planet Twilo.

They look more or less like us, they talk like us, they do everything like humans -except for one thing…

Visitors from Twilo

Making Sense

And though the rules might all be, in alimited way, correct, none would really

capture the essence of the game.

"Let's postulate," he ventures nervously, "the existence of an invisible ball."

Goal of Science

To make sense of the physical world

To Know

To LearnScientia

rsonification of "Science" in front of the Boston Public Libraryh p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SciencePersonificationBoston.jpg



Contents

• Basic Tenets of Science

•Science versus Pseudoscience

• 5 diagnostic features

• Physics

• definitions and descriptions

• frontiers

• seven sentences

Basic Tenets of Science

• Test for ScientificCorrectness

• Core Values: honesty,skepticism, fairness,collegiality, openness

https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0528/5b0b85ffb7dab/5b0b8602d320d.jpg

Scientific research is completed with a publication in a peer-reviewed journals.

Science vs.Pseudoscience

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phrenologychart.png

Phrenologyfrom Greek: !"#$, phr ē n , "mind"; and

%&'(), logos , "knowledge"

personality traits

shape of the skull

• Repeatability

•Economy

• Mensuration

• Heuristics

• Consilience

Diagnostic Featuresof Science

5



• Repeatability - the same phenomenon issought again, preferably by independent

investigation, and the interpretation g iven to it is

confirmed or discarded by means of novel analysis

and experimentation.


5EFTL

Diagnostic Features5

• Economy - Scientists attempt to abstract the

information into the form that is both simplest and

aesthetically most pleasing – the combinationcalled elegance – while yielding the largest amount

of information with the least amount of effort.


5EFTL

Economy elegant while yielding

the largest amount of

information with the

least amount of effort.

http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1946/1101460701_400.jpg

“Theories must be simple, but not that simple.”

-- Albert Einstein


5



EFTL

Occam’s Razor

“Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate.”

The simplest explanation is usually the best.

Law of Parsimony

• Mensuration - If something CAN be

properly measured, using universally accepted

scales, generalizations about it are rendered

unambiguous.

Diagnostic Features of Science

5

EFTL

Fundamental Quantities

mass

length

time

luminous intensity

current (vs. charge)

temperature

amount of substance

Determined by c and h

Determined by N A

Determined by qe

EFTL

Fundamentalphysical constantsspeed of light in vacuum (defined)

characteristic impedance of vacuum (defined)

electric constant (defined)

magnetic constant (defined)

gravitational constant, G

Planck’s constant h

Planck length, mass, temperature, and time



• Heuristics - The best science stimulatesfurther discovery, often in unpredictable new

directions; and the new knowledge provides an

additional test of the original principles that led to

its discovery.

consider:Discovery of Laser, Discovery of hologramEinstein´s relativity theory, Quantum mechanics


5

http://nobelprize.org

http://nobelprize.org http://nobelprize.org



http://nobelprize.org http://nobelprize.org

http://nobelprize.org

• Consilience - The explanations most likely tosurvive are those that can be connected and

proved consistent with one another.


5



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superseded_scientific_theories http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superseded_scientific_theories

!"#$%Physics

• Study of nature

• Old definition: study of matter and motion all about FRONTIERS...

!"#$%Physics

Solid State Physics

Quantum Physics

Classical Mechanics

Complexity Science

Astronomy Statistical Mechanics

Optics

Particle Physics Thermodynamics



Frontiers

• Low Temperature

• Life

• Charges

• Granular Matter

• etc.

EFTL

Examples of Frontiers

Low Temperature

EFTL


Life

Earth sows its

seeds in spaceLife could be leaking out all over the cosmos. Nature 2004

EFTL


Charges

The Attraction of LikeCharges

Many large biological moleculeslike DNA seem to flout a basic law of nature: Although their chargeshave the same sign, they canattract one another and clumptogether in water.



EFTL


A Sticky Distinction.

Particles with differing surfaceproperties will mix when rolled in adry tumbler (top) but segregatewhen wet. A new theory predicts theconditions for each result.

Granular Matter

Ground-breakingIDEAS in Physics7

• The EARTH is NOT theCENTER of the UNIVERSE.

Ground-breakingIDEAS in Physics

7

http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/modernity/images/copernicus2-1.jpg

• The UNIVERSE is aMECHANISM run byRULES.


7

http://www.antiquetrader.com/upload/contents/290/field_1751/Isaac%20Newton.JPG



• ENERGY is WHAT makes it GO.


7

• ENTROPY tells it WHERE to GO.


7

• The FACTS are RELATIVE but theLAWS are ABSOLUTE.


7

• You CAN’T PREDICT or knowEVERYTHING.


7



• Fundamentally, things NEVER CHANGE.


7

all about FRONTIERS...

!"#$%Physics

PHYSICS

isFUN!

The Nano Bull

Kawata, et al, Nature 2003



Levitation

Kruger, et al. Nature 408, 2000

Science is FUN!

Somino et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 2005

Science is FUN!

C. Py et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 2007

Science is FUN!



• Science versus Pseudoscience

• 5 Basic Tenets of Science

• Physics

• definitions and descriptions

• frontiers

• seven sentences

Next Meeting...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Euclid.jpg

GR&&Kh ttp://w w w.ibiblio.org/e xpo/vatican.exhibi

t/e xhibit/d-mathematics/images/ma th01.jpg

Next Meeting...

How did we come toREALIZE that the

EARTH is NOT theCENTER of theUNIVERSE? ?

Next Meeting...



Pythagoras(569-465 BC)

The Father of Numbers

Plato(427-347 BC)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/Platon-2b.jpg

Nature of Matter

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