Transcript Unit 1 - e-Education Institute

Unit 1: SCIENCE !!
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Is a human activity--it isn’t Truth, but it
works;
Is the best way we have to answer many
questions (How does something work? How
can we use that information to cure
disease or find clean water or otherwise
help us?)
Science cannot answer many questions
(What should we do? Why are we here?)
Geoscience 10: Geology of The National Parks
Unit 1
Scientific Method:
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Get a new idea (hypothesis; genius);
See if it beats old idea in predicting
what will happen (experiment);
If yes (after many tests), use the
new idea; if no, still use old one;
Repeat--there’s always more to learn.
Geoscience 10: Geology of The National Parks
Unit 1
Scientific Method: (cont)
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Ideas that work better may be True,
Close, or Lucky, so science never sure.
Science can prove ideas wrong, but
cannot prove them correct;
But, if we act as if science finds
truth, we succeed in doing many
things;
IF we follow scientific method.
Geoscience 10: Geology of The National Parks
Unit 1
Why National Parks?
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US idea, Yellowstone first (1870);
Take a quick visit to Yellowstone, and
imagine it as a power plant or cola ad;
Problem: parks for “conservation
unimpaired for future generations”
but “enjoyment” for this generation;
Doing both is not easy.
Geoscience 10: Geology of The National Parks
Unit 1
Why Geology?
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Find valuable things (oil, water;
gems);
Avoid hazards (earthquakes,
volcanoes, landslides);
Learn how Earth works to keep it and
us happy and healthy;
Have fun (Why are the parks so
pretty? What were dinosaurs like?).
Geoscience 10: Geology of The National Parks
Unit 1
Some Geological Background…
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We WILL cover evidence during semester,
but we have to start somewhere);
Earth 4.6 billion years old, pieces from
space fell together under gravity;
Heated as it formed (natural radioactivity,
and the heat from stopping those falling
pieces--think of hot-brake smell after
stopping a truck on a steep hill);
Geoscience 10: Geology of The National Parks
Unit 1
… More Geological Background
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Heating melted Earth and allowed it to separate
into layers;
Think of car-bottom clump on a snowy day--ice
and rocks and dead-squirrel parts all lumped
together, but separate when they melt in
garage;
Layers are: iron-rich core, iron-silica mantle,
more-silica/less-iron crust (refer to Chemistry
Sidebar in text if this seems unfamiliar)
Geoscience 10: Geology of The National Parks
Unit 1