Chapter Questions
What two reasons does this chapter give for studying science?
What is physics?
Distinguish astronomy from astrology.
What astronomical objects can you normally see in the night sky? Describe their motion as seen from Earth.
What did the Pythagoreans believe, and how did these beliefs influence the development of science?
According to the earliest Greek hypothesis, the planets orbit Earth in uniform circular motion. In what way does this hypothesis disagree with simple observations made without telescopes?
Give two observational reasons for believing that Earth is curved rather than flat.
How does Ptolemy’s theory explain the retrograde motion of the planets and the fact that planets are brighter during retro-grade motion?
Did Ptolemy 's theory agree with the quantitative observations known in Ptolemy's time? How were these observations made?
"Copernicus rejected Ptolemy's theory because it disagreed with the data, and he proposed a new sun-centered theory that did agree with the data." True or false? Explain.
Use Copernicus 's theory to explain the retrograde motion of the planets and the fact that they are brighter during retrograde motion.
Why did Copernicus propose his theory?
State at least one plausible argument against the notion that Earth moves around the sun.
How did new telescopic evidence decisively disprove Ptolemy 's theory?
"Kepler was attracted to Copernicus's theory because the known data supported that theory" True or false? Explain.
Describe Brahe’s work and its effect on the theories of Copernicus and Ptolemy.
What aspect of Kepler’s theory would have horrified all previous astronomers?
According to Kepler’s theory, what geometric shape fits the planetary orbits?
What is the most characteristic and significant feature of science?
Describe several characteristics of a good scientific theory.
Can a scientific theory be proved (can we show that the theory is certainly true)? Can it be disproved? Explain.
Strictly speaking, Kepler’s theory has been disproved. What has been found wrong with it? Why, then, do we still use it?
How does a hypothesis differ from a theory?
Distinguish between the Copernican theory and the Copernican revolution.
In what sense can evolutionary biology be said to be “Copernican”?
What is pseudoscience? List several examples.
What are the two popular UFO beliefs? What is the scientific consensus about them, and why?
What is astrology? What is creationism?
Why do scientists consider UFO beliefs to be pseudo-scientific? Answer the same question for astrology and for creationism.