CroninProjects.org/ Vince/ Course/ PhysGeol/ Science-and-Geoscience.html/

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Science and Geoscience

"The only ethical principle which has made science possible is that the truth shall be told all the time. If we do not penalize false statements made in error, we open up the way for false statements by intention. And, of course, a false statement of fact made deliberately is the most serious crime a scientist can commit."

--physicist and author C.P. Snow, as written in The Search (1934)

"Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty—some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely sure."

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."

"Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers of the preceding generation."

--Nobel-laureate physicist Richard Feynman, as written in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (1999)

"Truth is what stands the test of experience."

--Nobel-laureate physicist Albert Einstein, as written in The Laws of Science and the Laws of Ethics (1999)

Reading

Read all of chapter 1, and study in particular Section 1.3, the "Earth System Science" and "The Earth System" parts of Section 1.4, and Sections 1.7 & 1.8

Notes and Handouts

Introductory material about the nature of science: http://CroninProjects.org/Vince/Course/PhysGeol/WhatIsScience.doc (doc file, 48 KB)

Some items you should know: Intro-MainPoints.html

Presentation files

CroninProjects.org/Vince/Course/PhysGeol/1405-1-Intro-1.pdf (288 KB)

CroninProjects.org/Vince/Course/PhysGeol/1405-2-Intro-2.pdf (1.1 MB)

CroninProjects.org/Vince/Course/PhysGeol/1405-3-Intro-3.pdf (1.6 MB)

Vocabulary to learn

Consult your textbook or lecture notes for definitions. Remember that the best general source of definitions in geology is the AGI Glossary of Geology.

asthenosphere	continental crust	core	density
Earth systems	evidence	falsifiable	hypothesis
igneous rock	lithosphere	mantle	metamorphic rock
mineral	oceanic crust	plate tectonics	reproducible
scientific fact	scientific methods	sediment	sedimentary rock
system	testable	theory	uncertainty

Smart Figures

Grand Canyon, Fig. 1.5: goo.gl/7KwQLk

Nebular theory of the solar system, Fig. 1.17: goo.gl/dRZJBp

Earth's layers, Fig. 1.19: goo.gl/70au1N

The rock cycle, Fig. 1.22: goo.gl/dYWRsL

The continents, Fig. 1.24: goo.gl/z2Sbxd

Study Questions

Note that any of the vocabulary words listed above is "fair game" for a question on any quiz that includes this material.

Intro-Questions.html (web page)

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