What is Physical Science?

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What is Physical Science?

• Chapter 1.1
• Page 6

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How We Work through a Chapter

1. Read the chapter (in class and at home)
2. Discuss the chapter (in class) and take notes
3. Do workbook/reading notes on the chapter
   (homework)
4. Learn vocabulary words (homework)
5. Reinforcement assignments (homework)
6. Hands-on labs to reinforce concepts (in class and
   at home)
7. Review of the chapter (in class and at home)
8. Test on the chapter
9. Workbook/notes on the chapter will be due the day
   of the test

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Section 1What is Physical Science?

• What skills do scientists use to learn about the
  world?
• What do physical scientists study?

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What is Science?

• Doing Science or Scientific Inquiry refers to
  the many ways in which scientists study the
  natural world and propose explanations based on
  the evidence they gather.

Pose Questions
Communicate
Form a Hypothesis
Design an Experiment
Draw Conclusions
Collect and Interpret Data
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What is Science based on?

• Scientists operate with two basic assumptions
• That the universe is consistent and
  understandable.
• - it will consistently respond the same way
  with the same stimulus under the same conditions
• - imagine what would happen if it
  responded randomly

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What is Science based on?

• Scientists operate with two basic assumptions
• 2. That humans are rational beings and have the
  ability to discover, learn, and organize
  knowledge about the universe.

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A Short History of Scientific Thinking

• The Modern Era - since the Enlightenment (1750s)
• The development of the Scientific Method (Francis
  Bacon)
• The emphasis on rationalism mans intellect can
  solve any problem
• The emphasis on concrete data experience is
  always subject to experimental verification
• The emphasis on one truth therefore the
  assumption of universal laws
• The result is believing Earth is a closed system
  that could be studied, understood and was
  governed by certain universal laws of science

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The Earth as a Closed System
Aliens

• Many Modern scientists view the Earth as a
  Closed System which operates according to
  certain regular natural laws.
• The Earth is a natural, self-contained space.
• This view eliminates consideration of any
  possible outside influences

God
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Can you be a scientist and still believe in a God?
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Scientists Who Saw Things Differently

• Scientists who had a different view of the world
• Copernicus
• Galileo
• Johannes Kepler
• Isaac Newton
• Blaise Pascal

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What is Science?

• Science is a way of learning about the natural
  world. It is also the knowledge gained through
  that process.

As scientists seek to understand the natural
world, they use skills such as observing,
inferring, and predicting.
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Observing

• Observing is using one or more of your senses
  sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell to gather
  information about the world.
• It is important that observations be
• Accurate an exact report
• Objective avoids a personal opinion
• Examples
• There are five rockets on the shelves. (Accurate
  and Objective)

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Observing

• There are some students out on the sidewalk.
• There is a cute looking boy walking to the gym.
• The car is driving slowly.
• There is a lot of traffic.

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Observing

• There are two types of observations
• Quantitative (quantity) These are observations
  that deal with things that are counted or
  measured they deal with numbers. (Information
  recorded in data tables, etc.)
• Qualitative (quality) These are observations
  that deal with colors, smells, feel without using
  numbers. (Information recorded in lab journals)
• The classroom is yellow.
• There are thirty-two students in the classroom.

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Observing

• On a sheet of paper, from what you can see around
  the room, record
• Three qualitative observations
• Three quantitative observations.

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Inferring

• An inference is an explanation, interpretation,
  or conclusion based on an observation.
• There are more eighth graders in Chico than what
  are at Marsh.
• A good (reasonable) inference
• -is based on an accurate observation
• -makes sense, is reasonable

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Inferring

• Observation
• At lunch, one ladybug that is red with black
  spots lands on your shoulder.
• Inference
• -All ladybugs are red with black spots.
• -Red ladybugs live in Chico.
• -There is only one ladybug in the world.
• -Ladybugs are not afraid of humans.

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Predicting

• Predicting means making a forecast of what you
  think will happen in the future based on past
  experience or evidence.

School starts at 805 AM on Monday and Tuesday,
what time would you predict that school would
start on Friday?
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Modeling

• Modeling means making a representation of an
  object or process in order to better understand
  that object or process.

The Bohr model of the atom helps scientists to
better explain the structure of an atom.
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More on Scientific Thinking

• Video What is Science?

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End of Section 1What is Physical Science?