Lumelay, Judith Aline M.

July 15, 2019

Physical Science

Nature of Science

Science has its limits; it cannot be used to solve any kind of problem. Science can only
address natural phenomena, and only natural explanations can be used in science.
Supernatural or magical explanations cannot be definitively or reliably tested - they cannot
be disproved, since any result of any test could be attributed to some supernatural or
mysterious influence. Natural explanations are testable by being shown not to
consistently follow the rules of nature. The fact that the most highly credible concepts in
science today have survived such critical testing attests to the practical reliability of
scientific knowledge and the processes of science that created that knowledge. Scientific
solutions tend to work! In addition, scientific knowledge accumulates over time to give us
an increasingly better understanding of the natural world.
Questions that require subjective, political, religious, ethical or esthetic judgment are
generally beyond the power of science. Science can be used to shed light on such issues,
but it seldom provides any final answers.
Scientific knowledge is inherently uncertain. What we know in science is only with a
relative level of confidence - a particular degree of probability. Many ideas in science have
been extensively tested and found to be highly reliable, as close to a fact as an idea can
be. Others are merely speculative hunches, awaiting suitable testing to measure their
respective probabilities. And there is every level in between.
Science is a very social process. It is done by people working together collaboratively. Its
procedures, results and analyses must be shared with the scientific community, and the
public, through conferences and peer-reviewed publications. These communications are
critically assessed by the science community, where errors, oversights and fraud can be
exposed, while confirmation and consilience (agreement from different lines of evidence)
can be achieved to strengthen its findings. Being done by people, science is also subject
to any of the biases that its workers have, but its openness to critical science community
oversight tends to expose those biases when they have been allowed to creep in.
Students must learn, understand and retain these very important elements of science.
Research has clearly shown that this requires experiences where those elements are
repeatedly explicit and vivid. The elements of the nature of science are arguably more
important than any particular set of steps supposedly used to solve a problem. Science
teachers should commit to making sure that every student is deeply aware of the several
elements of the natural science as summarized above.
 Physics and its relation to other fields

 Physics is at the crown of science Physics method is very useful, now used in
many different areas Physics laws are very useful, universal. Other areas of
studies have also helped advances in physics. Physics is at the crown of science.
 Physics is closed related to other fields Math Chemistry Biology Engineering
Financial Market Social Science Archeology
 Physics and Math Physics is science but math is not Math starts with definitions
and axioms and derive consequences, no observation is need, no falsification
needed. Math in some sense is a logical system. However, it is amazing to see
that math is a useful language for physics.
 Why it is so amazing? How can the moving trajectory of an object can be described
by a math equation or curve? Almost all laws of physics can be written down as
math equations: differential equations Thus exploring the consequence is solving
the equations. The equations have certain beauty, like F=ma, Maxwell equation,
Schrodinger equation, Dirac equation, Einstein equation…
 Relationship New math is discovered in physics, but math is also useful for physics
discoveries. Math is useful for smart thinking: an important part of physics Math is
an indisposed tool. We still don’t have enough math to understand some deep
physics However, physics is not math. Many traditional teachings of physics
turning into math exercise!
 Computer Science Software, hardware, applications Hardware, closely related to
physics Software: algorithms, applied math, logical analysis, information science
Applications: Can be used to do math and physics Simulations, great ways to solve
complicated differential equations. Physics: theory, experiment and computer
simulations (cannot do experiment)
 Chemistry Old chemistry deals with classification of stuff and reactions among
them. At a deep level, chemistry is related to interaction between atoms and
molecules. These interactions are quantum mechanical in certain cases. Therefore
we have quantum chemistry. Rutherford received Nobel prize in Chemistry.
 Biology Many biologists had physics background. Many physics methods have
been used for biology (structure study, dynamics) protein folding! Now many
physics dept also study biology, they are called bio-physicists. Schneider, David
Cai
 Energy conservation and biology Julius R. von Mayer (1814) was a German
physician and physicist and one of the founders of thermodynamics. He is best
known for enunciating in 1841 one of the original statements of the conservation
of energy "energy can be neither created nor destroyed". In 1842, Mayer described
the vital chemical process now referred to as oxidation as the primary source of
energy for any living creature. He also proposed that plants convert light into
chemical energy.
 Social sciences Social science is an academic discipline concerned with society
and the relationships among individuals within a society. It includes anthropology,
economics, political science, psychology and sociology. In a wider sense, it may
often include some fields in the humanities such as archaeology, history, law, and
linguistics. The term may however be used in the specific context of referring to
the original science of society, established in the 19th century, sociology. Émile
Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber are typically cited as the principal architects
of modern social science by this definition.