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Text:
The
Physical Sciences: An Integrated Approach,
(second
edition) by R.M.Hazen and J.Trefil.
Additional
Reading:
Physics,
A World View,
(second edition) by L.D.Kirkpatrick and
G.F.Wheeler.
Physics,
A World View (Physics, a numerical world view to accompany),
(second
edition), by L.D.Kirkpatrick and
G.F.Wheeler.
The
world as I see it,
by A.Einstein.
The
structure of scientific revolutions
(third edition), by Th.S.Kuhn.
What
do you care what other people think?,
by R.P.Feynman,
The
Universe in a Nutshell,
by S.Hawking, etc.
Course
Description
Why does the non-scientist
need to know science? He/she does not need to know
science itself as much as the methods, the concepts
and the philosophy of science, to comprehend the course
of events in the whole world-to create a world view.
The phrase “world view” has a fairly elastic meaning.
Different of philosophy and poetry, in science, the
world view is a shared set of ideas that represents
the current explanations of how the material world
operates. These include some rather concepts and constructs,
like gravity and mass, as well as strange sounding
ones, like quarks and black holes; some relationships
and laws for different kinds of changes or motions
in space and time, different interactions in the universe
as a transfer of motion, etc. But of the specific
importance are also some practical and technological
applications.
The scientific
world view is a dynamic one. Hypothesis, ideas are
constantly being proposed, debated, formulated theoretically
and tested against the material world. Some survive,
some don’t. The inclusion of new ideas often forces
the rejection of previously accepted ones. Some firmly
accepted ideas in the world view are very difficult
to discard, but in the long run experimentation wins
out over personal biases. A powerful idea or axiom
has a large number of consequences. If there is no
more match between the predicted consequences and
the real world, the idea is, scientifically worthless.
If there is a match, there is hope that the idea has
a merit. Although the most basic criteria for accepting
an idea are that it agrees with the results of past
experiments and successfully predicts the outcome
of future experiments. Experimental results can never
prove an idea; they can only disprove it. Thus, acceptance
is a human activity, it has subjective aspects, implying,
also, opinions. Ideas have appeal, some more than
others. If an idea is very general (having many consequences),
it can replace many separate ideas. It is regarded
as more fundamental and thus more appealing. If the
predictions are borne out, the best that can be claimed
is: “so far, so good”.
This is the way
of discussing, through concrete knowledge and examples,
the general need for science in the process of
building the scientific world view, a kind of natural
and practical philosophy.
Grading
There will be
two in-class exams during the semester and one final
exam. They will carry weights of 30%, 30% and 40%
respectively. The final exam will be comprehensive.
Besides the exams, students will be expected to participate
in in-class discussions, in a question-answer “technology”.
They will be graded on the degree and quality of their
participation ( at maximum, 5 points per each
exam ) and homework ( at maximum, 3 points
per each chapter).
Exam
Schedule
First
exam
in the 5-th week
Second
exam
in the 10-th week
Final
exam
in the 15-th week
Topics
to be covered.
▪ The scientific method-myths and reality
(Chap.1-3).
▪ A predictive system-Newton’s laws
(Chap.4).
▪ Energy-an invariant of nature, other invariants
( Chap.5).
▪ Heat-the energy of random motion
(Chap.6).
▪ Electricity and magnetism-the best known forces
(Chap.7).
▪ Electromagnetic radiation-let there be light
(Chap.8).
▪ The atom-looking for the smallest scale
(Chap.9).
▪ Quantum mechanics-the laws at the atomic scale
(Chap.10).
▪ The chemical bond-atoms in combination
(Chap.11 ).
▪ Properties of materials-results of chemical
bonding
(Chap.12-13).
▪ The nucleus of the atom
(Chap.14).
▪ The ultimate structure of matter
(Chap.15).
▪ The theory of relativity
(Chap.16).
▪ The earth and other planets, the stars
(Chap.17-21).
▪ Cosmology
(Chap.22).
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