The Scientific Revolution: The Disenchanting Of The Universe

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HUM 1020 – INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR HANDOUT ON THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

Directions: Read the essay entitled The Scientific Revolution: The Disenchanting of the Universe and respond to each of the following questions as thoroughly as possible. Your answers can be either hand-written (in ink) or word-processed. However, you must paraphrase—answer in your own words. If you quote directly from the essay, you should then interpret the quote. (Worth 40 pts. total)

1. The essay starts off by stating, “One could say that the dominant scientific world-view going into the 16th century was not all that “scientific” in the modern sense of the

word.” In two or more sentences, explain what this means.

We may say that the 16th century was dominated by the sciences, but it was still the early modern period, which is the science was the major factor, but it still related to the religion and under the power of the church. For example, the geocentric theory that was found in the begging of the 16th century, represent the scientific achievement in that era, but the theory was also related to some beliefs like the mover was moving to the center of the earth because it has motions and it want to go home. Moreover, when Copernicus discovered the heliocentric theory and the sun is the center not the earth, he let it be known while he was on his death bed because if he infringed the church, he will go to the hill. So from that perspective, there was a dominant scientific advancement in that time; but it was difficult to violate the theories that were found it by the church. Unlike the 19th and 20th centuries, which were fully full of sciences away from religion.

2. There are several reasons why Aristotle’s theories were not overturned sooner. What are they?
A- It was as supremely difficult to escape the Aristotelian doctrine by merely observing things more closely.
B- All lows were ruled by deductive method; so, no matter to check if the observation right or wrong. So, no one ever questioned the knowledge gained through the method of deductive reasoning.
C- They were is directly linked to the medieval domination of the Christian Church.
D- There were no provided powerful arguments.
E- No clear explanation for questions such as, how the bodies move? Or why a thing moved? Etc.
F- It never defined what the nature of the mover was.

G- Aristotle's theories were accredited by hypothesis which were not able to be testable to become real facts.

3. Who were the four key figures who contributed to disenchanting the view of the universe?

They were: Nicolas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton.

4. What specific problem with the apparent motions of the planets was Copernicus trying to solve when he proposed the heliocentric theory? (Be sure you describe the problematic motions that he observed).

First of all, what Copernicus was trying to say about Orbit and the Earth that
*Circles were the shape of the orbit.
* Sun in the middle; everything orbiting around.
*Stars are outside circle/orbit, except: the moons orbited the Earth .
So from that facts and his theory to solve the planet problem, he explained the retrograde motion. (Retrograde motion is actually an optical illusion because it appears to go backward as Earth passes).
*The Earth moves at different speed and one planet passes another (passing phenomenon).
*Gets rid of all problems of the planets and makes calculations easier.
* The planets closer to the sun move

faster.

5. What was Galileo’s most famous contribution to astronomy? How did this contribution change humans’ view of their relationship with God. (Explain in three or more sentences.

Galileo contributed his telescopic discoveries. Galileo made the most important contribution because now we understand much more about our universe.
According to Karen S, Galileo contribution, "removed humans from the center of the universe and put great distance between them and God, who must, according to medieval thinkers, exist at the center of creation."

6. What were Kepler’s view about geometry with regards to Creation?

Kepler's view about the geometry is that the geometry is the base for everything in the universe even the mind of the God. Geometry provided the God to create this universe which indicates that all man's mind also had been created by geometry system.

7. What was the astronomical problem that had puzzled Johannes Kepler for years? How did the data of Tycho Brahe help him to solve this problem?

Kepler solved the mystery of Mars, one of the most puzzling problems in astronomy at the time. Ironically, the detailed records of the challenging planet were the tools Kepler needed to understand how the solar system functioned.
When Brahe died in 1601, Kepler managed to acquire Brahe's observations before his family could use them to their financial benefit. Johannes Kepler followed Tycho and developed the three laws of planetary motion. Using Brahe's detailed observations helped Kepler to realize that:
1-The planets traveled in "stretched out" circles known as ellipses. (1st low)
(Two planets, traveling on ellipses, would create the appearance of the red planet's backward motion in the night sky).
3- A planet moved slower when it was farther away from the sun than it did when nearby. (2ed low)
4-The relationship between the period of two planets — the time they take to orbit the sun — is connected to their distance from the sun. (3ed low).

8. Kepler’s third law contributed to the “mechanized view of the universe.” In three or more sentences and in your own words, explain what this means.

Kepler's Third Law was published a decade later, and recognized that the relationship between the periods of two planets — the time they take to orbit the sun — is connected to their distance from the sun. Specifically, the square of the ratio of the period of two plants is equal to the cube of the ratio of their radius. While his first two laws focus on the specifics of a single planet's movement, his third is a comparison between the orbits of two planets.

9. Kepler’s significant contribution to the Scientific Revolution was his description of the paths the planets take in their orbits around the sun. What was he NOT able to do that Isaac Newton was later able to do?
Kepler was unable to define the force which held the planets in their respective paths. All he knew was that as the planets orbit the sun, they speed up as they approach the sun and slow down as they move away from it; he had no answer for the question of why they vary in their speeds.

10. Modern scientific method is defined as a combination of observation and scientific reasoning. Isaac Newton used this method when he discovered the force of gravity. After reading the account of him sitting in his garden, explain in three or more sentences and in your own words how he arrived at the theory of gravity and how the process he went through illustrates the scientific method.

Newton was setting in his garden when an apple fall to the ground. After this observation, he started to think about the force of gravity. He was sure that the gravity force that pulled down the apple is applicable for a height higher than that apple in the tree. Then, he realized that why the moon keeps rotating and sticks around the earth. To more extend, that is the reason to how the planets keep rotating around the sun.
Because the scientific method consist of systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses, Newton observed, made a measurement, and started to make hypotheses which helped him to realize what is gravity.
From that moment, he tasted his ideas and came with results that proved his hypotheses to become facts, which they are the 3 lows of universal gravitation.