Magic v. Science....Lesson 1

Many discoveries were once thought to be crazy. People thought Columbus was crazy for thinking the world was round. And what about our universe being sun centered. Crazy, huh? Of course these things are true, proven by scientists a long time ago. Now think about organ transplants, they didn't seem possible 100 years ago and now they happen every day. Isn't it almost like magic to see a life being saved??

Magic in it's simplest definition is "bad science". But how would you define bad science? Couldn't it be thought of crazy ideas that can never happen? Couldn't you also think of it as something you can't prove, but know exists?? Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not true. If you take that logic, then gravity doesn't exist. (Gravity is the force of attraction between all objects that tends to pull them toward one another) We know it's here because we're not flying around the earth, instead our feet are planted firmly on the ground. Now because of gravity it is believed that people can't fly around on broomsticks, but if airplanes can overcome it, why can't broomsticks.

I was traveling recently and was lucky enough to have a window seat. I love being able to look out the window and see the clouds and possibly the world below us. It happened to be storming during this flight and it was amazing to see it from above. It was beautiful. How is that not magic?

Now, let's look at gravity a bit closer. Isaac Newton was sitting in an orchard one day and an apple fell on his head. From this he concluded that there has to be some sort of force that makes things fall, keep us from floating, and keep the moon in orbit around the earth. Imagine you're living in the 1600's and you hear about this crazy theory about things all falling at the same speed (9.8 m/s or 32.2 ft/s) wouldn't you think the person telling you was nuts? Even today we think, how can a bowling ball fall at the same speed of a nerf ball. Some call it science, but I think we should just call it magic.

Now let's look at the Harry Potter books and our favorite wizard in this class, Arthur Weasley. Isn't he always going on about how ingenious muggles are for how we live? He collects batteries, something to us that are not really important, but to him he thinks they're amazing. "They run off eckeltricity, do they? Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs. And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are." (GOF) Something so elementary to us, is amazing to him. So if we look through Arthur's eyes, isn't everything around us magic??

Homework

1. Pretend you're Arthur Weasley, pick anything in the world (machine, scientific theory, toy) and discuss how it can be viewed as magic, think about how he would act if he were seeing it for the first time. Examples would be your computer, Tickle-Me-Elmo, a slinky, relativity, really anything. I would like to see a well thought out essay at least 100 words but I don't need pages on it. (30 pts.)

2. I live by Newton's 3 Laws of Motion, what are they? (6 pts.)

3. Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, what are the other 3? (6 pts.)

4. Are there any topics you would like to see discussed in this class, other than the ones listed? (a point for each valid topic)

Email your homework to professornoodle@gmail.com by September 30th. Make sure the lesson and class title are in your subject line. Please include your HOL name and student ID in the email. Remember attachments will not be opened.