Skip to main content

What is Science


Science is . . .
  • Observing the world.
  • Watching and listening
  • Observing and recording.
Science is curiosity in thoughtful actionabout the world and how it behaves.
Anyone can have an idea about how nature works. Some people think their idea is correct because "it seems right" or "it makes sense." But for a scientist (who could be you!), this is not enough. A scientist will test the idea in the real world. An idea that predicts how the world works is called a hypothesis.

"Scientific method" usually means a series of steps that scientists follow to discover how nature works.If an idea, or hypothesis, correctly predicts how something will behave, we call it a theory. If an idea explains all the facts, or evidence, that we have found, we also call it a theory.
These steps will work fine for a school science fair project. But this is not usually the way science actually happens!
From observation to theory
Sometimes the observations come before the idea or theory.
Drawing from Copernicus book showing Sun at the center of the universe.
This drawing is similar to the one made by Nicolaus Copernicus (published in 1543) and shows the Sun at the center of the solar system.
For thousands of years, people observed certain "stars" wander around the night sky in looping patterns. Finally, in 1514 Nicolaus Copernicus came up with the idea of "Heliocentrism" (meaning Sun centered). He thought the Sun was the center of the Universe, with Earth being one of many spheres orbiting the Sun. That idea explained the wandering patterns of the planets. It also predicted where they would "wander" next. This idea became a theory. Of course, we later improved that theory. After all, the Sun is not the center of the whole universe, but only our own solar system.
Sometimes science happens mostly inside a scientist's head.
Albert Einstein and his theories were like that. It took a long time before scientists were able to test them and show that were were correct.

  • Science is not just a tidy package of knowledge.
  • Science is not just a step-by-step approach to discovery.
  • Science is more like a mystery inviting anyone who is interested to become a detective and join in the fun.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

what is velocity?

what is velocity? Velocity is a  vector  expression of the  displacement  that an object or particle undergoes with respect to  time  . The standard unit of velocity magnitude (also known as  speed  ) is the  meter per second  (m/s). Alternatively, the centimeter per second (cm/s) can be used to express velocity magnitude. The direction of a velocity vector can be expressed in various ways, depending on the number of dimensions involved. Velocity is relative. Consider a car moving at 20 m/s with respect to the surface of a highway, traveling northward. If you are driving the car, the velocity of the car relative to your body is zero. If you stand by the side of the road, the velocity of the car relative to you is 20 m/s northward. If you are driving a car at 15 m/s with respect to the road and are traveling northward, and another car moving 20 m/s with respect to the road passes you in the same direction, that other car's velocity...
Post a Comment
Read more

Momentum

Momentum Momentum can be considered the "power" when an object is moving, meaning how much force it can have on another object. For example, a bowling ball (large mass) pushed very slowly (low velocity) can hit a glass door and not break it, while a baseball (small mass) can be thrown fast (high velocity) and break the same window. The baseball has a larger momentum than the bowling ball. Because momentum is the product of the mass and the velocity of an object, that both mass and velocity affect the momentum of an object. As shown, an object with a large mass and low velocity can have the same momentum as an object with a small mass and large velocity. A bullet is another example where the momentum is very-very high, due to the extraordinary velocity. Another beautiful example where very low-velocities cause greater momentum is the push of Indian subcontinent towards the rest of Asia, causing serious damages, such as earth quakes in the portions of himalayas. In this ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

Albert Einstein & Time Travel Theory

This lesson is on Albert Einstein and how his work applies to time travel theory. We'll investigate Einstein's theories of relativity, examples of distortion of time on Earth and in deep space, and the prospect of time travel for humans. What Is Time Travel? If you've ever watched a science fiction television show, or maybe read a book in that genre, you might have come across the image of a spaceship jumping into warp speed and zooming off into a twisted region of space to get to a faraway location. And all of this would have happened without any time passing. The spaceship's speed offers superhighways to far-off galaxies in an instant. Although right now these scenarios are fiction, the physics and math behind them are quite real. The formulas and theories we will learn about today suggest that time travel is possible. First, let's learn about the scientist that proposed these theories, Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein Albert Einstein  was a German phys...
Post a Comment
Read more