Science is a way of figuring out things about the world we’re in. Its big advantage is that it has a way of detecting and fixing errors, so you’re more likely to arrive at something close to the truth.
The way science works is like this:
– You come up with a hypothesis (idea) of how something works.
– You then devise an experiment to test the hypothesis. If the experiment turns out one way, then the evidence supports the hypothesis. if it turns out another way, then it shows that the hypothesis is no good.
– You do the experiment and see if the hypothesis was any good.
Each time you do this, you learn something about how the world works (or doesn’t work). With the new knowledge, you get a better idea of the “truth”, and can form & test new hypotheses to build better and better models of reality. Once a hypothesis has been rigorously tested in lots of different ways, so people become pretty sure that it must be accurate, it’s called a “theory” (e.g. ‘theory of gravity’).
One key to science is falsifiability: You have to be able to design experiments that disprove the hypothesis if they turn out a certain way. That’s why religious views don’t qualify: There’s no known experiment that, if it turned out a certain way, would prove that god doesn’t exist. Therefore, it’s impossible to prove scientifically whether god exists or not.
After some time, I was reminded of a little poem:
A centipede was happy quite, until a toad in fun
Said, “Pray, which leg comes after which?”
This raised his doubts to such a pitch
The alternative to science is to come up with ideas of how the world works, and then accept them on faith, without testing them. The problem with this approach is that you don’t have any mechanism for detecting and correcting errors.
Individual scientists can be just as biased as anyone else, but properly designed experiments can still detect and fix their mistakes. When priests disagree on how to interpret scripture, there’s no comparable mechanism.
Anyway, that’s the advantage of science: It has a self-correcting mechanism that detects and fixes errors, so you’re likely to get closer to the truth, even if individual scientists are biased.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Jet Engines So why does the M-1 tank use a 1,500 horsepower gas turbine engine instead of a diesel engine? It turns out that there are two big advantages of the turbine over the diesel:
Gas turbine engines have a great power-to-weight ratio compared to reciprocating engines. That is, the amount of power you get out of the engine compared to the weight of the engine itself is very good. Gas turbine engines are smaller than their reciprocating counterparts of the same power.
The main disadvantage of gas turbines is that, compared to a reciprocating engine of the same size, they are expensive. Because they spin at such high speeds and because of the high operating temperatures, designing and manufacturing gas turbines is a tough problem from both the engineering and materials standpoint. Gas turbines also tend to use more fuel when they are idling, and they prefer a constant rather than a fluctuating load. That makes gas turbines great for things like transcontinental jet aircraft and power plants, but explains why you don’t have one under the hood of your car.
Department of Food Science The Department of Food Science is housed in Stocking Hall
Welcome to the Cornell Department of Food Science web site.The faculty, staff, and students in our Department are members of a large interdisciplinary team of scientists at Cornell who are working together to improve the wholesomeness and availability of food for the world’s population. This team includes people affiliated with several departments from across the University that have joined together as members of the Cornell Institute of Food Science (CIFS). Students at Cornell enjoy the combined advantages offered by the applied programs of a major land grant university and the intellectual rigor and stimulation that characterize a prestigious Ivy League institution, all on the same beautiful campus.