Core 5 Midterm Instructions
& Study Guide Fall 2009
Time & Place: 10 a.m. October 14, 2009 in the Shen
Instructions:
Sit with your
sections, leave an empty seat between you and your neighbor, turn
off all electronic communication devices
Format: 50 multiple choice questions, over 11 lectures.
We will use Scantron forms. I
strongly recommend you record your answers on your exam paper as well as your Scantron form.
The question
material comes entirely from the lectures, but the required readings supplement
this material. There is no question that
comes exclusively from the readings.
We strove to come up
with questions that test points from the “Students will know that:” and
“Students will be able to:” sections from the introductory page of each lecture;
however the lecture material drives these questions. In what follows, we’ve tried to focus more
specifically on the terms and concepts that will be included in the questions on the exam – and that’s what
you’re interesting in anyway, isn’t it? *Smile*
We realize these
study hints are often not complete sentences, but rather quick summaries of
what you should know, so please don’t critique our English usage. *Wider smile*
LECTURE 1
– “Introduction to Core 5”
Note: There is some overlap and complementarity
between lectures 1 and 4. Well, there’s complementarity among most of the
lectures – that’s a goal of the course.
How Scientific and
Philosophical/Religious thinking are different yet potentially complementary –
just because a concept is not accessible to Scientific Method doesn’t
automatically make the concept wrong
How falsification or
the aim of trying to “prove itself wrong” is key to
the Scientific Method.
How Scientific
Method works -- Fr. Stang used the
example of the history of flight, specifically heavier-than-air flight.
The differences
among observation, hypothesis, and testing – be able to distinguish these in a
case study.
The Bernoulli
Principle is the key fact of nature that allows heavier-than-air flight
LECTURE 2
– “Science Solves Crimes”
Be able to
distinguish fact from hypothesis in a case study (yes, this a lot like lecture
1, but that’s the way science works – scientific method is the key to doing
science, regardless of the specific part of nature being studied)
What specific kinds
of procedures did Dr. Haskell do to test his hypothesis about the time of the
boy’s murder?
The limitations of
science with regards to being realistic versus precise (yes, this a lot like
what was talked about in lecture 2 – but again, it’s part of scientific
method.)
You do not need to know specific terms
such as Phormia
You do need to know general concepts
of scientific method and how they’re applied to forensic studies.
LECTURE 3 – “Science Studies Nature”
Know the
distinctions among the terms theory,
hypothesis, and fact.
Be able to
distinguish between discovery-driven and hypothesis-driven science in an
example.
Understand why both
a control and treatment (which means there are two test groups) are necessary in
a hypothesis-driven experiment.
How is scientific
uncertainty decreased (equivalently, how is scientific certainty increased)? – namely, what are the effects of sample size, replication,
field vs. lab studies? Also, related to
this is the trade-off of realism versus precision.
What is meant by a
fair test between alternatives?
LECTURE 4 – “Science as a Human
Activity”
S.J.
Gould’s NOMA concept, the idea of the compatibility (or non-contradiction) of
science and religion as separate areas of study when they confine themselves to
answering questions that are in their respective domains. Put
very simply, the questions are: Why? vs. How?
However, if you
believe in a supernatural creator, then nature is
creation, and so in a theological science can be viewed as a means of studying how creation unfolds.
What are valid
criteria for judging scientific theories? (Remember scientific method is driven
by testing based on evidence.)
Nelson’s criteria
for “great theories” – what they are and what they can and can’t do – this is
related to the “Big Mac” model and the limitations of science
Yes, the Big Mac
model – this is an educational tool that delineates what are the areas of
origins that science can address fairly well (the meat patties!) and what it
can’t yet or maybe never address (the fluffy bun).
LECTURE 5 – “The Periodic Table: Science
Organizes”
The Periodic Table
(PT) is a great example of how science via scientific method is
“self-correcting”.
The PT is a great
example of the importance of prediction
in the scientific method – for example, it predicted the discovery of new
elements which were later found.
Which subatomic
particle – the electron, proton, or neutron – determines how the modern PT is
organized?
The columns of the
PT organize elements by similar chemical properties. Dr. Gull gave some examples of how some
common products take advantage of these properties. (Hint: A chemical element
with similar properties to another can sometimes substitute for it in a useful
chemical compound.)
LECTURE 6
– “Atoms: Science Studies the Very
Small”
Distinguish among the various models of the atom through history – Plum
Pudding, Planetary, Bohr, and Modern. Be
able to distinguish these visually in a diagram.
How are atoms, ions, and isotopes different? -- A neutral atom has the
same number of electrons (-) as protons (+).
Two isotopes of the same
element have the same number of protons, but they have different number of
neutrons. The number of protons (called
the atomic number) is what determines
an element’s identity and place on the Periodic Table.
Neutral atoms aren’t always the most stable chemically and many tend to
gain or lose electrons (become ions)
to gain stability in reactions with other elements.
Electrons are on the outside of the atom and therefore determine its
chemical properties – how the atom is involved in chemical reactions.
What’s the
difference between the geocentric and heliocentric models? There’s lots of history behind this controversy.
Why did the ancient
Egyptians devise a calendar based on observations of the night sky?
The ancient Greeks
took a completely philosophical tack in their understanding of the cosmos; in
particular they had an idea of a “perfect” geometric shape that they thought
celestial objects must have in their motion.
This idea was hard to get rid of.
It hamstrung Copernicus, Brahe, and Galileo, and was finally put to rest
by Kepler.
There are 3 ways
heat can be transferred. Can you tell
which in an example?
The second law of
thermodynamics says (among many other things) that there’s a loss of “useful”
energy during any energy transfer. What
does this say about the food chain?
Green plants -> herbivores -> carnivores -> another
carnivore. At what level is the most
energy efficient for humans to eat? Why?
What are the other
ways the second law of thermodynamics is evidenced? For example, heat always flows from higher to
lower temperature - from “hot” to “cold”.
Energy has three
forms: position, motion, and mass.
Position and motion are what you’re most familiar with in your everyday
life.
What is the meaning
of the temperature of an object?
Waves --- definition and characteristics: frequency, wavelength, amplitude, velocity
Velocity = frequency x wavelength, so if frequency increases, wavelength decreases and vice versa.
Also, for E-M waves, energy is proportional to frequency (this is actually from lecture 10)
Tsunamis are water waves are generated by earthquakes.
What kind of destruction can earthquake waves cause?
Each element has a unique spectrum, which is colloquially referred to as its “fingerprint”. This unique spectrum is a consequence of the configuration of electrons in each atom of the element.
An element’s spectrum is encoded in the light from a star, and therefore the light from a star can tell us what elements exist in that star.
Most stars produce their light by the process of nuclear fusion in their cores.
When you perceive waves, whether sound or light or seismic, the frequency you observe depends on the motion of the source relative to the observer. If a wave source is coming towards you, the perceived frequency is higher, and when it’s moving away the perceived frequency is lower. This is called the Doppler Effect. Moving towards à higher pitch (sound), spectral lines shifted toward the blue (light), Moving away à lower pitch (sound), spectral lines shifted toward the red (light). An example of the Doppler Effect in sound is change in pitch you hear when a roaring race car passes by you. The light from most stars, especially distant galaxies, exhibit red shift, indicating they are moving away from Earth.
The upshot is that the spectra of light from stars can tell us their composition and relative motion.
LECTURE 11 – “Scientific
Astronomy”
Telescopes together with spectroscopes tell us what about the magnitude
and changing size of the universe?
Be able to distinguish among the following objects we observe in our
solar system: planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.
Understand that parallax is a
method of measuring distances to “nearby” stars using the position of Earth at
different times of the year.