On a Letter

Long-time readers know about my interest in the religion and science interchange. To newcomers, seeing the Categories > Religion and Science in the sidebar reinforces my point.

Recently, I was purging files from my classroom days. Some of the things I rediscovered were interesting enough to save for possible incorporation into posts – so here is one.

Context: Students had just informally (and individually) answered questions about common misconceptions in science. Next, they discussed answers in a small group, thus free to change any answers. I concluded the activity by leading short discussion of each answer. Two of the 33 questions were about evolution, but this post focuses only on one of them.

Lesson Goal: Misconceptions exist and they come from a variety of sources.

A question: (True/False) Humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time.

Answer: False – Research indicates 60 million years separated dinosaurs and humans.

Later that day, this note (below) appeared on my classroom desk.

September 9, 1994

Today you made the statement that there is scientific evidence that dinosaurs and men did not live at the same time. There is none. On the contrary, there is only evidence against it. There is not even any evidence that Earth was around 20 million years ago.

Your argument might be that scientists have dated the footprints of animals in mud, which has turned to stone at billions of year ago. It is virtually impossible to do so unless you compare the footprints to that of a species and have the guess of the time of this species. But there is nothing to date. There is the absence of rock.

As for evolution itself, it cannot stand the question of life in the equation X times Y equals Z. We are trying to find X. Y is filled in with how we interpret physical evidence found. Z is filled with God, so for X, I get from the Bible.

You (Atheists) have decided that you don’t want to follow the Bible, so you fill in Z with your own philosophy. Your X is based on your Y. Your Y is based on your X. Since your equation never equals out, your Y is dynamic.

Unless you repent your sins and become a Christian, you will find out on the Judgement Day that I and right and you are wrong. When God asks you why he should let you into heaven, what will you say? I know what I will say.

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On a Speck

Whenever comparing items, we need references as a perspective. A mouse is small to us, but we are small compared to a blue whale, and the mouse is large compared to one of its cells. Yet, that same whale is small compared to Mt. Everest, which is a meager spot on or planet – but Earth is so small compared to Jupiter.

The pattern can continue to the Sun, our solar system, to the Milky Way, all the way to the universe. Oh, the wonders that creation provides.

Wonder continue as we go in the opposite direction by examining our cells, to cell parts, to the molecule, its atoms, the atomic parts, and even to the smaller quarks.

Each microliter of human blood has approximately 5 million red blood cells (RBC). Considering that 1 liter contains 1 million microliters, and humans have 5 liters of blood, the total number of RBCs in each of us is quite large. Toss in the fact that each RBC contains 250 million molecules of hemoglobin that is responsible for transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide through over 60,000 miles of blood vessels – and this is in each of us.

As social beings, each of us know many people – well, we think we do – but compared to the world population, are interactions are limited to a mere few. Encounters of the cyberkind expand our world, but it is still small.

Each of us have countless daily interactions – some positive, others negative, and most have little effect. Sometimes we know when we affect the life of another, but much of the time, we stand in a clueless abyss. After all, we do not know when the effect of that encounter is transferred to others – perhaps even years later.

Toss in the element of time – all the people who passed before me, and all those who lie ahead of my time. People born, people die. A few become notables, most are commoners. Some are giants to societies. Some are giants in their towns, while others are giants in a family – but many are simply everyday people playing a niche in life. Yes, we all have history and in time, forgotten. Of all these people, only a selected few have recognized names of distinction – and only a few of them will make history books.

I am only 1 of over 7 billion people on our planet at this time, and only 1 of about 108 billion humans born to through the ages.

In some way, these thoughts make me feel worthless. On the other hand, science – and yes, my Christian views – allow me to appreciate being a tiny speck living on a particle of dust in the universe that is vast and intricate – thus I impressed and overwhelmed.

From Neil deGrasse Tyson

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From Symphony of Science

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On a Time to Play

In lieu of a Saturday Morning Classic Cartoon post, here is a wonderful interactive site for you to enjoy – and probably learn something. Special thanks to Alex for finding this gem earlier this year.

A couple of notes for you before you get to play. The image below is what you probably will see first after clicking the link. Notice the following:

• The Scroll bar, which located at the bottom of the interactive field (at within as shown), is for zooming in and out
• Click any image to learn more
• It may take time to load, and the Start button will display the loading status
• Once loaded, click Start

The universe is a wonderful place, so enjoy and savor. To start your exploration, click here.

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On Johnson Style

Especially for those of us that grew up during the space race, NASA has a special place in our heart. Yes, I remember the first named flight by Russian Yuri Gagarin, the first US flight by Alan Shepard, and obviously the ones that followed. They were big news events – and I recall our grade school class stopping to watch the televised launches. From Mercury to Gemini, to Apollo missions the wonderful space shuttle, and countless satellite programs,  NASA has taken us to the heavens.

Today, the shuttle program is retired, the Russians transport the astronauts to/from the International Space Station, and satellite launches in this country is now by private business. Nonetheless, the Johnson Space Center in Houston is still operating, thus this video made by smile and laugh. Cheers to two space geeks who visit here, Alex and John.

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On Hot Air

Although we don’t mean to make generalizations inaccurate, they are not the full story. After all, these statements are, by definition, generalizations. Sometimes people generalize the generalization, but failing to remember that continual generalization moves one further from the truth – thus eventually turning the generalization into misinformation that leads to misunderstandings.

Repeat after me – Hot air does not rise.

Just to make sure, let’s try again – Hot air does not rise.

Regardless of the links you can provide to the contrary, or ever provide a reference for a reputable textbook, hot air does not rise – it never has and I very much doubt ever will. Yet, how many times have we heard or said, Hot air rises? (Yes, I cringe when I hear TV weather forecasters use it.)

Nah baby nah … hot air does not levitate. Hot air does not move upward on its own – It is pushed upward by more dense cold air that displaces it – Just has bathtub water level moves upward on the sides when one takes their seat in a bathtub. However, there is no need for you to run down the street naked like Archimedes yelling, Eureka, eureka, I found it!

Here’s the story. During my science teaching days, we were preparing a lesson for the next day. Because my colleague had not seen this activity, he took one set of the materials to the location of the ice machine – the boys’ locker room.

My colleague returned saying it worked great, but shared an interesting story. One of the physical education (PE) teachers watched without knowing any details, and then said, “This means hot air doesn’t rise.” Bingo! Meanwhile, this gave me an opportunity to have some fun with the good-natured PE teacher.

During the eventually discussion with the students after the activity – and knowing students would quickly deliver my comment – I stated, “If a PE teacher like Mr. X can figure this out on his own, surely this is easy to understand.”

We had fun with it through the years, for as students are so predictable. But the point remains the same – Hot air doesn’t rise because it is pushed upward when it is displaced by more dense, colder air.

By the way, here’s a similar activity – but ours was better. Yo, Starla, show Navar.

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