DATE DUE: Wednesday, 8 November
(To be submitted at lecture)
Only papers submitted on this date will be eligible for revision.
LENGTH: Approximately 2000 words (not including tables and diagrams). The paper must be typed. Use at least 1-inch margins and double space. Hand-written papers will not be accepted. This paper will count for up to 20 points toward your final grade.
REVISION: If the paper is submitted when due, Wednesday 8 November, it will be returned to you on Wednesday 15 November (at lecture). If you choose, you will then have until Tuesday 18 November to prepare a revised version to be submitted for grading. (Arrangements for submitting paper will be announced.) For regrading, please submit both the original version and your revision. The higher of your two grades will be included in the determination of your final grade. Late papers will be graded without the opportunity for revision, and will be liable to a penalty if submitted after 18 November.
CONTEXT: In "classical times" Aristotle and Ptolemy developed a comprehensive description of all motion. Aristotle proposed that the earth was the center of all natural motion, and that objects fell toward their natural positions at speeds proportional to their weights. Ptolemy accounted for the observed motions of the planets in the sky in terms of an elaborate theory using deferents, epicycles, eccentrics, and equants.
In the 15th-17th centuries, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton introduced a new way of looking at the world and the universe together with a new way of studying them, which is essentially the modern view.
TOPIC: Write an essay (with title, introduction, development, and conclusion) that covers the following two parts:
Part I: (10 points) Discuss the developments leading to the modern view of the universe during the 15th-17th centuries, including at least one contribution of each of the four men mentioned above. Indicate the nature of each accomplishment in terms of how it represented a change of point of view, methods of investigation, or conclusion.
Part II: (10 points) The four labs from lab 6 to lab 9 have all been concerned with the experimental study of motion as well as with the process of gathering and interpreting data. At the same time, you should have become familiar with the nature of experimentation, the limitations of exactness in experimentation, the interaction between available technology and experimental approach, and the three different roles experimentation plays in a) introducing you to phenomena, b) allowing you indirectly to verify a general law, and c) assisting you in the direct verification of a specific relationship.
In Part II of this paper you should:
(2.5 points) Summarize the general conclusions arrived at in each lab separately, indicating those that reflect the work of more than one lab.
(5 points) For "the second law of motion" (from lab 8), and one other conclusion from the labs listed above:
- Describe the design of the experiment and the procedure used to collect data (use diagrams if you wish)
- Present your data in a useful form, and
- Develop the line of reasoning that takes you from your data to your conclusion(s).
(2.5 points) Discuss the role of experimentation in the process of verifying laws or theories. In this part, you might want to consider the following questions: Were your experimental results reproducible? Did the calculations based on your results agree exactly with your theoretical expectations? If not, does the lack of agreement mean that you did not verify your hypothesis?
Note: Answering each of the points listed above is the minimum required for this essay. They are presented above as an annotated outline. As parts of an essay, they should be organized and integrated into a unified discussion.