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University of Maryland - Spring 2004 The midterm exam will consist of 2 essay questions (choose 1) and 12 short-answer questions (choose 6). s; Most of the questions will be taken from the following list, but there will be a few based on lectures. Questions on this list numbered in multiples of 5 are essay questions (equivalent to 40% on midterm exam); the others are short-answer, or two paragraphs (10%). No question can be answered just "yes" or "no" or with one or two words. "Identify" means, (a) for a person, give nationality, most important contribution to the history of science, and its approximate date (for persons who died before 1500, state which century, and BC or AD? For others, state half-century in which they were active, e.g. 1st half of 17th century); or (b) for a concept or book title, give a brief definition or description, state its significance in the history of science, and name of person who wrote the book or introduced the concept. |
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1. Identify: "saving the phenomena" (or "saving the appearances"). Give one example. 2. What is the natural motion of each of the 5 elements, according to Aristotle? When does the natural motion stop? 3. How did Ptolemy's theory explain the fact that Mars appears brighter during retrograde motion than at other times? Could the Eudoxus-Aristotle model explain this fact? 4. Identify: Eratosthenes. 5. Discuss and compare the views of Plato, Aristotle, and Galileo on "saving the appearances." 6. What was the astronomical theory of Aristarchus? Why was it rejected? 7. What did Columbus believe about the size and shape of the Earth? How did his beliefs affect his discovery of America? 8. Identify: stellar parallax. What is its significance in the history of astronomy? 9. Identify: equant. 10. Discuss Aristotle's arguments that the Earth does not move, and the assumptions on which they are based. How did Galileo refute them? Is his refutation satisfactory? 11. Identify: The Almagest. 12. Identify: the myth of "epicycles on epicycles." 13. How did Copernicus explain the retrograde motion of Mars? How does his explanation depend on Kepler's Third Law? (Use a diagram) 14. What was Tycho Brahe's system? Why might some people in the early 17th century prefer it to the Copernican system? 15. Lord Kelvin insisted that mechanical models are essential to scientific understanding. Discuss the views of Plato, Aristotle, Galileo and Newton on this topic. 16. What is "Popper's Principle"? How is it related to "falsifiability"? 17. State one of Zeno's paradoxes, and state what it is intended to prove. 18. Identify: Democritus. 19. Why was atomism not considered an acceptable scientific theory until the 17th century? 20. Francis Bacon wrote that truth arises more easily from error than from confusion. Discuss this statement on the basis of the history of science up to the middle of the 17th century. 21. How did Euclid and Ptolemy explain vision? How did Ptolemy correct a defect in Euclid's theory? 22. Identify: Alhazen 23. What was Alhazen's major criticism of the extramission theory of vision? 24. What was the major weakness in Alhazen's theory of vision? How was it corrected by Kepler? 25. Discuss the debate between supporters of intromission and extramission theories of vision, including the major arguments and observations on each side, from Plato to Alhazen. 26. Why did Hahn and Strassmann refuse to conclude that they had discovered nuclear fission? Who was the colleague who recognized that the Hahn-Strassmann experiment did demonstrate fission? 27. What is Kepler's Second Law? How does it help to explain the unequal lengths of the seasons? 28. Explain Kepler's theory of vision. What puzzle did it leave unsolved, and how was that puzzle eventually solved? 29. Identify: The Sidereal Messenger. 30. Discuss the validity of "Popper's Principle" on the basis of the history of science up to 1760. 31. What was the "crime" for which the Catholic Church put Galileo on trial in 1633? What was the outcome of the trial, and how did it affect Galileo and the Church? 32. How could Descartes maintain that the Earth is at rest while accepting the Copernican system? 33. Should Descartes be considered the discoverer of the Law of Conservation of Momentum? Explain. 34. Galileo was initially uncertain whether "constant acceleration" should be defined as equal changes of velocity in equal distances of in equal times. Which definition did he finally choose? Why? 35. Discuss the purpose of theories in science, using examples from the history of science up to 1760. 36. How did Galileo support his claim that the motion of a freely falling body is uniformly accelerated? 37. How did Galileo explain what is now called the "Galilean relativity principle" using fish and butterflies? 38. Why should we believe the story that Newton was inspired by the fall of an apple to develop his theory of gravity? 39. What was Newton's own version of his Second Law of Motion, and how does it differ from the modern version? 40. Must a new scientific theory be judged by its plausibility (in the context of accepted ideas)? Discuss, using examples from the history of science up to 1700. 41. Explain the difference between the operational definitions of gravitational and inertial mass in Newtonian mechanics. 42. Identify: Christiaan Huygens. 43. Explain the difference between "centrifugal force" and "centripetal force." According to Newtonian mechanics what is the amount of each force for an object of mass m moving at speed v around a circle of radius r? 44. According to Newton's theory, the acceleration of gravity should be smaller at the Earth's equator than at its poles. Why? (Give 2 reasons, one direct, the other indirect). 45. Discuss the shift in cosmology or paradigm from Aristotle to Newton. To what extent is it accurately described by Thomas Kuhn's theory? Compare the views of Aristotle and Newton on "purpose" in nature. 46. How did Newton explain the motion of planets? (A qualitative explanation is sufficient, you don't need to give any equations.) How does his explanation differ from Kepler's? 47. What is the shape of the Earth according to Newton's theory? How was this theoretical deduction confirmed by French scientists in the 18th century? 48. Compare the views of Descartes and Newton on "action at a distance." Why did Newton have difficulty in maintaining his view consistently? 49. Identify: "Hypotheses non fingo." 50. Review the debate between Newton (with Samuel Clarke) and Leibniz over the place of God in the universe. In addition to summarize the arguments each put forth, your essay should explain what was at stake for each man, and why Newton later became known as the person who established the "clockwork universe" theory. 51. What is God's role in the world according to Newton? 52. What is the "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" fallacy? Give an example. 53. What role did the Royal Society play in the discovery of the laws of impact? 54. What was the event that confirmed Newton's fear that the clockwork universe theory would lead to atheism? Explain. 55. Summarize the historical transformation known as The Scientific Revolution, describing what you consider the most important 2 or 3 events. When and where did this Revolution occur? Discuss the most likely "cause" of the Revolution, and the reasons why it did not occur at some other time and place. 56. How does the Torricelli barometer work? (Use a diagram) How does it show the existence of air pressure? 57. What is a "teleological explanation" in science? Give two examples. 58. How did Pascal confirm the view that the mercury in a Torricelli barometer is supported by the force of atmospheric pressure? 59. How did Linus explain the operation of the Torricelli barometer? How did Boyle refute that explanation? 60. Why did modern science begin in 17th century Europe ("The Scientific Revolution"), not some other time or place? Review some of the reasons that have been offered and give your own opinion. 61. What "crucial experiment" was needed to decide whether the Descartes-Newton or the Huygens theory of light was correct. What prediction did each theory make about the result of this experiment? 62. How did Roemer estimate the time taken for light to travel a specified [but not yet measured] distance? What additional information was needed to calculate the speed of light, c? Where did that information come from, and who was the first to use it to find an approximate value for c? 63. How did Newton show that white light is composed of colors (i.e. that the colors are not produced by he action of a prism)? 64. Newton wrote in the preface to his Principia: "The basic problem of philosophy [i.e., science] seems to be to discover the forces of nature from the phenomena of motions and then demonstrate the other phenomena from these forces." Discuss the validity of this statement as a summary of the way scientists work. 65. Discuss the nature of science (as distinct from music, philosophy, etc.) using examples from the history of science before 1750. 66. Identify: secondary qualities. 67. Identify: The Ortega Hypothesis. 68. What is the Duhem-Quine thesis? Do you think it is valid? (Why or why not). 69. Identify: The Whig Interpretation of the History of Science 70. Discuss the public/private "duality" of science and how it may explain the emergence of objectively-verifiable knowledge from the efforts of people with a wide range of methods and motivations. 71. Identify: Thomas S. Kuhn. 72. Why did the Chinese fail to develop modern science, according to Joseph Needham? 73. Why did Islam fail to develop modern science, according to Toby Huff? 74. Why did Europe develop modern civilization (including science and technology) before other continents, according to Jared Diamond? 75. Describe the three 19th-century movements, Romanticism, Realism, and Neoromanticism. What theories and discoveries in science could be considered as their counterparts? Discuss why a correspondence between movements in culture and in science might or might not exist. 76. What was "Nature Philosophy"? When was it popular, and how was it related to science? The following "problems" in the Physics text may also be used as test questions. (Those that involve calculations, physics knowledge or outside reading are not included): 1.2, 2.2, 3.9, 4.3, 4.5, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 7.2, 7.4, 11.11, 12.1, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.7, 14.8, 14.10, 14.13 |