Most Misunderstood conception of science

In the realm of science it is often difficult for the average person or layman to fully grasp the concpets, theories, or terms of physics and chemistry. As a result, we find persons improperly using certain aspects of science, such as the term "qauntum leap" to describe how well a company is doing as compared to the rest of the field. Our newspaper and magazine writers, ever so educated, are often very guilty of this.

So I wondered: what is most misunderstood about science?

I'll start off with what many people think the greatest discovery in biology (which it might be), the unveiling of the doublehelix by Crick and Watson. Most people seem to think that these two men were geniuses who were 'light years' ahead of other chemist and biologist. What people do not know is the work of Linus Pauling that utimately lead Crick and Watson to there conclusion. Linus Pauling was, at the time of Crick and Watson's unveiling, barred from leaving the US due to his stance on the US's continued efforts to test nuclear devices above ground. He vehemently protested this, and as a consequence he was witheld from traveling to a seminar on his work in Europe in which a vital flaw was reveiled about his work, which Crick and Watson both saw. Had he been there, Pauling's mug would be in our kid's textbooks. Though he did win a Nobel Peace Prize (yes, the one and only) for his efforts.



Enjoi

great history lesson? I don't see how it is the most misunderstood concept of science??

I think one of the most misunderstood things about science is the scientific method.

Many people do not understand the difference between fact, theory, and hypothesis.

Many people use the word theory as if it was just a fancy word for guess.

Scientific theory is an entirely different beast.

to a scientist, theory is a conceptual framework that explains existing observations and predicts new ones.

phyun5.ucr.edu...

The most misunderstood thing stems from lack of mathematical skills. Without math, you can't understand physics. It's as simple as that.

Let's talk about the most deliberate misconceptions of the English language, then let's talk biology.

Here's a misconception. Why doesn't anyone ever mention Rosalind Franklin when they tout about the discovery of the structure of DNA?

They don't know who she is probably, mainly because scholars still love to say Watson and Crick.

When I took my Biology courses she was only briefly mentioned, which was sad.

She's not mentioned because...... SURVEY SAYS...

She's a WOMAN!!!

That's easy to answer. THEORY! Christians hear this and go out raping and killing people. SMart people hear this and KNOW it means truth, reality, the real world. Christians hear theory and go to church going on about how the good people need to go out and kill anyone who believes in the truth. Smart people who hear theory think science.

such as the term "qauntum leap"

Yeah that was a hit TV show a few years back....

There are many things misunderstood, actually misteached in science.
History is written by the winners, many people who discovered things often did not recieve credit because at the time it was not acceptable either by the church or the Gov't...later on it was "found" to be fact and then they accepted it. This has gone of for centuries.



[edit on 20/5/2005 by SportyMB]

Originally posted by James the Lesser
That's easy to answer. THEORY! Christians hear this and go out raping and killing people. SMart people hear this and KNOW it means truth, reality, the real world. Christians hear theory and go to church going on about how the good people need to go out and kill anyone who believes in the truth. Smart people who hear theory think science.

Man, nothing like totally lumping all Christians together in the same boat. You are quite the writer-scholar. DENY IGNORANCE

Originally posted by James the Lesser
That's easy to answer. THEORY! Christians hear this and go out raping and killing people.

SMart people hear this and KNOW it means truth, reality, the real world.

Christians hear theory and go to church going on about how the good people need to go out and kill anyone who believes in the truth. Smart people who hear theory think science.

There are is not enough memory on my computer to put enough s after this.

Back in reality () I would say quantum physics is the most misunderstood concept, specifically the quantum leap. I love hearing car commercials when they say something like, "We have just made a quantum leap in safety". So what, did you add an extra stitch to the airbag or something?

I also agree that the concept behind hypothesis, theory, and law have a lot of misunderstanding behind them to the general public. To use James's example, people against the theory of evolution say it's just a guess, it's not fact, while proponents say it's fact, not an educated assumption.

Rock, rock on!

There must be, somewhere, something scientific about death, and we don't have a clue about it--except, of course, the Christians do.

thats easy electricity, we have it all backwards, we are only using a simple concept of electricity and have done so for hundreds of years. We at least the majority of people that "claim" to know everything about electricity do not understand the fundemental truth about "energy". Therefore people think that "electricity" is the standard to measure "energy" or is the standard when talking about usefull forms of energy that can be controlled to do "work".

Such as hydro-electric dynamo's or Nuclear Reactors or Hydrogen fuel cells, they all ultimately output the standard form of "electricty" that we all are accustomed to.

When in fact there are higher and more powerful forms of "energy" available to us.

How much memory you got? I bet there is!

Well, look in the past, I don't make anything up, I just look in the past for my answers. Anything scientific/real/truth got people killed because the christians hate reality/science/the truth. Millions were killed, and using christian illogic, billions were killed for sperm is life, unborn fetuses are life, so you take all the babies never born or never made for the parents were killed for being smart, and the sperm in males all life, so the church has killed billions.

Anyways, Quantum Leap was a great show! Loved the Elvis Episode. Only seen it late at night on scifi though, great show. Or the crazy people episode where the guy only the main character can see was seen by the crazies somehow.

The most misunderstood thing stems from lack of mathematical skills. Without math, you can't understand physics. It's as simple as that.

I wouldn't go that far. I couldn't work the equations in my head if my life depended on it but I have a vast conceptual ability that enables me to comprehend and relate physical properties and effects. I hate the fact that I could explain to someone how just about anything works, but if I had to prove it mathematically Im screwed.. atleast without my trusty adding machine.
Kinda motivates me to actually sit down sometime and relearn all the stuff I coasted through in school... heh Im an EE that would fail college algebra if I had to retake the test.

I think the most misunderstood concept in science is science itself. Seems many people think the term 'science' defines some specific concept or idea, when it does not. It is a field. Like 'art.' Can you define art? Maybe the dictionary can, but I sure cant.

I bet you that the most misunderstood concept in science is nuclear power.

Very few people know that what is called nuclear power is essentially electrostatic in nature. When a nuclear explosion takes place, what we see is gigantic burst of electricity, or, to be more precise, a violent movement of nuclear fragments due to Coulomb repulsion. A chaotic electric current, really.

How about that?

You can't understand Quantum Mechanics without the mathematical skills. You can't understand E&M without the mathematical skills.

Maybe "conceptually" you can imagine certain systems, but you can't read about Quantum Mechanics and understand it, nor watch a TV show, like most people here do, and believe they understand.

As a physicist, for my fellow students there was life before quantum, and life after.

Actually I have read countless papers on quantum environments and I fully understand the subject matter. Math is what calculators are for, for me anyway.
> let us not forget that Einstein knew _crap_ about the arithmetic needed to formulate his theories until he took a few crash courses. All Im saying is what you see numerically, I see spacially. I look at a complex formula and it is Greek to me, but in the same manner if I sit down and chew on it Ill eventually translate it out so I can represent the equations visually in my mind. Like I said, I suck at math! And so do a lot of other people who understand these principles.


[edit on 21-5-2005 by apc]

You are spot on there APC, I also see a headache at some of the maths but I still enjoy reading physics. My ex partner was into physics and could do the maths, we used to have great conversations! I have respect for elements like iron when I understand the physics better... can you imagine what an iron atmosphere is like? Will maths help? For me, nah and I’ve argued the existence of photons with said ex fella and my maths skills range from basic to ok. When I understand a thing (not always a physics one) I can visualise parabolic curves (if that is the case) without needing the maths.

On a side note, I do think the media should be flogged for the science myths it has spawned, like that plane they flew into the pentagon?

Math is the language of science. When you're a physics major, they don't make you take a ridiculous amount of math courses to simply in the end say "I'll plug this into my calculator." If you cannot figure out what the put in your calculator, you're dead in the water. Not to mention I'm not sure if calculators are capable of doing most of the stuff needed in quantum and EM theory. I know MathCAD is, because I use it.