Physics of the Mundane
Weeks IX & X (October 25 – November 5)
Assigned Readings:
| Hatton: 131-136 (Alvarez) |
| Kuhn (reserve*): "Historical structure of scientific discovery." |
| Kolb (reserve): “Smashing the celestial spheres.” |
Optional Readings:
| Hatton: pp 108-118 (Root-Bernstein), pp 118-124 (Hoagland) |
| Johnston: Essay on Kuhn’s revolution vs. Popper’s evolution (on webpage) |
Schedule:
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Week IX: 10/25 |
Slinkies and yo-yo’s as nature really intended
them: |
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Week X: 11/1 |
Rocketry: Trying again |
Hot, cold, and
all the in-betweens: |
Debriefing and discussion. Normal science vs. revolutionary science. Response paper due! (Notebooks due next Monday) |
Suggested reading response questions (although you are free to address another issue(s)):
What is the role of accidents, chance and serendipitous events in science? Is science really a case of luck, or do this week’s readings overemphasize this aspect of discovery?
How much of “great” science is in its sudden discoveries, and how much is in careful, tedious, and deliberate processes? Consider the examples of the “discovery” of oxygen (Kuhn) and the “revolution” of heliocentric theory (Kolb).
What is a scientific revolution? Some believe that Kuhn's work in this area is very fruitful, while others think that it is just plain silly. Do the notions of paradigms, normal science, revolutions, etc. help us to better understand science, or do such ideas misrepresent what science is (or should be) all about?
Lab problem(s):
Balloons filled with helium gas will rise into the air, whereas regular balloons fall to the ground. Swimmers in the Great Salt Lake float much higher on the water than they would in fresh water. Using this information, your lab work from this week and some inductive and deductive reasoning, describe a law that predicts when a object will float/rise instead of sink/fall. You may name the law anything you wish, e.g.: “Johnston’s Law of Floatyness.” Your law should be as beautiful (simple) and descriptive as possible.
* A link to the reserve readings can be found on the course webpage. These are all in electronic form (.pdf files).