1. Intro-What is Science

8/4/2019 1. Intro-What is Science

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/1-intro-what-is-science 1/29

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AOS 2Air Pollution

Course Structure & Logistics

Lecture 1:

What is Science?





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Goals of this Course

• Learn basics of Air pollution in the „old‟

sense (urban air pollution) and the

„new‟ sense (climate change).

• Learn about how science works.

• Have fun!



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Course Organization

•Lectures: posted online, sometimes before.

– 2 formats: 1/pg for viewing, and 6/pg for printing.

– Note there is a number on each slide, use this for notetaking.

– Demos

– Quizzes

•Discussion: You must enroll in both the lecture andone discussion section.

•Laboratory: You may enroll separately in thelaboratory component of the course, AOS-2L, for anadditional 1 unit of lab credit. If you need it.



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Textbook : Reader

Available at Course Reader Materials .Blue-green cover. (~$35—they told me)

Open 9-6 M-F and 10-4 1st

2 Saturdays ofthe quarterReading assignments specified on syllabus.

It is a combination of Botkin and Keller 2009

(~$126) and articles that are freely available onthe web.



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Course Reader Materials: 1081Westwood Blvd., Entrance on Broxton



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Grading: 200 total pointsMid-Term — Thursday, February 4th, class hour. 55 pts

Final Exam — Friday, March 19, 8:00-11:00 AM 105 pts

Quizzes — Four, unannounced, 10 minutes. Three highest scorescount; no make-ups. 3 × 10 pts = 30 pts

Discussion Participation 10 pts

Make-up Exams — No makeup midterm. But! Final can count for 160pts. Which ever grading scheme helps you most will be usedautomatically. Makeup final will only be given immediatelypreceding or some time after the regularly scheduled exam.

And only with documented, very good reasons.

Examinations: closed-book; mainly true/false, multiple-choice, someshort answers; student ID and pencil necessary.

Class grades will be curved, 30% As, 50% Bs, 20% C and lower.

Lab Section: A separate letter grade is based on scores for

laboratory homework assignments.



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Class Connections

Lecture PDF Files and podcasts: You will have access to the

lecture material PDFs at the ccle website(s).

http://ccle.ucla.edu

Podcasts are at www.bruincast.ucla.edu

Lab Worksheets: Copies of the lab worksheets will also beavailable at the site above once you have registered, and when

they are ready. You must register for lab section separately.

Class and Grade Information: In order to receive timely

messages about class activities, and have access to your grades,

please make sure that your accurate current e-mail address has

been entered at URSA for this course.

http://ccle.ucla.edu/

http://www.bruincast.ucla.edu/

http://www.bruincast.ucla.edu/

http://ccle.ucla.edu/



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LecturesWk./Lect.

Date Lecture Reading Reading

1/1 Sept 26 Overview, What is science? 1-21 B&K Chpt. 2

1/2 Sept 28Earth’s Atmosphere: Formation,

Composition, Structure, & Properties24-26 B&K C. 23, 498-502

2/3 Oct 3Air Pollution: Historical Perspective andOverview

27-42 B&K C. 24, 525-534, 538-544

2/4 Oct 5Temperature structure of theatmosphere

43-54 RC 03

3/5 Oct 10 Formation of ozone and ozone in LA 55-72RC 01,http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/media/files/RC03.pdf RC F08

3/6 Oct 12Particulate matter, health and cleaning

up the air

73-82

RC 04http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/media/files/RC04.pdf pgs 12-21

4/7 Oct 17 Particulate matter and visibility 83-89 B&K C. 24 544-550

4/8 Oct 19 Indoor Air Quality 91-107 B&K C. 25 565-580

5/9 Oct 24Review

5/- Oct 26 Midterm Exam

http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/media/files/RC03.pdf


http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/%20media/files/RC04.pdf








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LecturesWk./Lect.

Date Lecture Reading Reading

6/10 Oct 31 Acid Rain and Fog 109-111 B&K C. 24 pgs 535-537

6/11 Nov 2 The Ozone Layer: a Tale of Redemption113-125,127

B&K 550-560; EoE DobsonUnit

7/12 Nov 7 Climate Change 129-146 B&K C. 23 494-515

7/13 Nov 9 Climate Change: The Impacts 147-168 B&K C. 23 516-522

8/14 Nov 14 Climate Change Sources 168-175

8/15 Nov 16 Climate Change Policy & Solutions 177-188B&K C. 23 521-523pewclimate.orgCap and Trade

9/16 Nov 21 Solutions to Climate Change 189-196pewclimate.orgTechnological Solutions

9/17 Nov 23 Alternative Energy 197-214 B&K C. 19 391-408

10/18 Nov 28 Alternative Energy

10/19 Nov 30 Summary and Wrap Up

The Final Exam is Dec 5, Monday, 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM



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Please talk to me after class if

you:

• Took the Environment 1 Cluster

• Took Env. Sci. 10

• Are an AOS major



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Know your Professor



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Know your Professor

(cute kid pics)



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Lecture 1:

What is Science?



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What is science?• Science is a particular way of thinking about

the world• Scientific method

– Open to disproof – Hypothesis creation and testing

– Inductive reasoning: observations to generalizations – (deductive reasoning is generalizations expected

results)

• Other ways of thinking about the world:

– Aesthetic – Moral – Religious – CulturalBased on personal choices, faith, beliefs, or values

formalized byFrancis Bacon in1620



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Observations ofnature

Inferences Serendipity,Intuition

FormulateHypothesis

Data collection

Reject hypothesis?NO YES

Scientific methodContext:

current theories

Repeat and

get sameresults

* Repeated bydifferent

scientist* andget sameresults

Establish aconsensus thatis widelyaccepted

Design Tests



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What is a hypothesis?

• A testable Idea. Commonly if…,then…

• Example: If I add fertilizer to plant A and

none to B, then A will grow faster.Dependent variable = growth rate

Independent variable = fertilizer

• Well designed experiment – control thevariables:

– Did plant A get more light/water?

– Was the soil the same?

A B?



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Hypotheses and Theories

• Hypothesis: An educated guess

– Can be disproven but not proven

– Usually fairly narrow in scope

• Theory: model that offers a broad,fundamental explanation of many

observations

– Usually based on a collection of tested hypotheses

– deals with how and/or why something happens

– not just „conjecture‟, rather a great achievement



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Models, Laws, Facts and Truth

• Model: Collection of many inferences to explain the observations – In environmental and other complex sciences, it is almost always

computer – based – Result of a collection of theories and scientific inferences (ideas that

are not necessarily so well vetted that they qualify as theories)

• Law: simple empirical statement that summarizes things as theyare and allows you to predict

– Laws allow you to predict what will happen; they do not explain why – ex: gravitational laws

• Fact: The underlying observations and experimental data, etc.are facts. Additionally, inferences and theories that have stoodup to a tremendous amount of testing are frequently referred toas facts.

• Truth: The observations are true. Scientific ideas cannot be

proven by deductive reasoning.



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When is a theory accepted inscience?

• Thomas Kuhn (1922 – 1996)

• 1962 - Published The Structure ofScientific Revolutions

• Science progresses through

„paradigm shifts‟

• Theories and inferences large andsmall progress in fits and starts.



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Example: Does the earth revolve

around the sun?

• Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543)

• Celestial observations

• 1530 published his ideas

• earth rotated on its axis once daily

• earth traveled around sun once yearly

• Conflicted with Ptolomy‟s (ca. 85-170)

and biblical interpretation: earth is

center of universe



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…more evidence

• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

• “Invented” telescope - 1609

• Writes Dialogue Concerning the Two ChiefWorld Systems confirming Copernican theory -1630

• After initially supporting the book, Pope UrbanVIII and the inquisition force Galileo to renouncehis book, and he is held under house arrest for

the remainder of his life.



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…heliocentric theory accepted

• Other astronomers agreed:Bruno, Kepler, Brahe

• Scientific consensus reached by 1700, 170 years after theory first published

• Book by Copernicus was removed from RomanCatholic Church’s list of forbidden books in

1835• Condemnation of Galileo recanted by Pope John

Paul II in 1992



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Science is a process

• Scientific theories are based onconsensus built among scientists

• Continuous refinement of understandingrather than definitive „proof‟

• We do not assume we know all there is toknow

Scientists is adversarial — the scientificcommunity practices self-policing



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Uncertainty

• There will always be a level of uncertainty – Instruments cannot make perfect

measurements.

– Until all of the important variables areunderstood, they cannot be controlled for.

– Nature contains real variability.

• Uncertainty is difficult for people toprocess.

•Generally people discount uncertainty

•Uncertainty is sometimes used to

discount scientific conclusions.



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What is environmental science?

• Extremely broad discipline that tries to explain: – How life on earth is sustained

– What leads to environmental problems

– How those problems can be solved

• Combines several disciplines including:

• Young discipline – initiated in late 1960‟s

Physical and Life Sciences Social science

Biology Policy

Chemistry LawPhysics Economics

Geography Sociology



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Environmental science is hard

• Nature is complicated

• Range of scales is often enormous – time

– space

• Difficult or impossible to conductcontrolled experiments



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Another Goal of this Course

• critical thinking!

• How to evaluate different types of informationfrom different sources?

• Especially important with internet informationAre there differences in credibility?

CNN.com Fox.com

realclimate.org conspiracyplanet.comwhitehouse.gov greenpeace.org

sciencemag.org Wikipedia.com

American Petroleum Institute.com



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Beyondthe

Fringe

Science and Fringe Science

Beyondthe

Fringe

Documents

1. Intro-What is Science