Ancient Views About Science

Ancient Views about Science

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Ancient Genesis Myths and Cosmological Beliefs

Definition: GenesisMythsBeliefsCosmology

The branch of philosophy dealing with the origin and general structure of the universe

BELIEFS BY RELIGION

1. Buddhism Creation occurs repeatedly through a cycle KALPA- cycle Lama Shenpen Hookham

• Everything emanated from the primordial expanse of openness clarity sensitivity.• Everything is an illusion because it is created by infinite

connections that aren’t found anywhere and anytime.

BELIEFS BY RELIGION

2. Hinduism The beginning is the sacrifice of Purusa

• Body: universe• Lower quarter: earth• Arms: warriors• Legs: commoners• Feet: serfs• Rest: heavens

BREATH– “With each breath, countless universes emanate from Vishnu in

seedlike forms that expand. Then Vishnu multiplies Himself in as many forms as there are universes and enters into each universe."

BELIEFS BY RELIGION

3. Christianity (Genesis:1) God created everything in 6 days. Basis: bible Judaism – God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people to

be examples of holiness. Sikhism – Sikhs are the disciples of God

1 First God made heaven & earth 2 The earth waswithout form and void…26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image,after our likeness;…

BELIEFS BY RELIGION

4. Jainism (India) There is no God but the self-realized individuals

who achieved enlightenment are gods.

BELIEFS BY NATIONALITY

• Greece– Chaos: void– Gaia: earth– Eros– Erebus: darkness– Nyx: night– Uranos: sky– Oceanus: ocean– Themis: law


• HebrewsUniverse consisted of the ff:

Highest Heavens- abode of God

The Ceiling or Firmament- the sun, moon, planet and stars

The Earth - flat, round disk at the center above the ocean with pillars

supporting it. Hell

- place of the dead, under the earth.


• Babylonians priest-astrologers identified the sun, moon, planets, and stars with gods

who controlled man’s destiny. devoted themselves to studying the motion of the

heavenly bodies. human affairs and events may be explained and even

predicted. accurate observations of the universe develop star catalogs and precisely measured planetary

data.

BELIEFS BY SCIENCE

• Materialistic views– Only matter exists.– The universe created itself.– Not a scientific philosophy.– 19th century fallacy.– Believed by Turkish secularists and Marxists.

BELIEFS BY SCIENCE

• Big bang theory– Roughly 14 billion years ago.– The universe began as an infinitely hot and dense

singularity that expanded and cooled down into our current universe and temperature.

– Matter and antimatter were created.– The universe continues to expand and cool down.

BELIEFS BY SCIENCE

• Primordial soup– Life on earth began from the most basic of microbes, into an array of

complexity over time.

• Electric spark– Life on earth began when electric sparks generated amino acids and

sugars from an atmosphere filled with water, hydrogen, ammonia and methane (building blocks of earth).

• Panspermia– Greek word which translates to “seeds everywhere”– Life on earth originated from these seeds/Martian microbes.– We are potential Martians originally.

ANCIENT NOTIONS ABOUT MATTER AND MOTION

• Aristotle– The world and humanity has always and will

continue to exist indefinitely.– Natural philosophy• Geocentric theory – earth is the center of the universe.


• Geocentric TheoryCelestial – eternal and perfect beings (e.g. sun,moon,

planets, and starts)Terrestrial – temporal, and corruptible things (e.g. the

earth and bodies on earth.)The behavior of objects depends on the nature of its

composition and its domain.The natural motion of celestial bodies is uniform circular

motion. Natural resting place is the natural motion of terrestrial

bodies which the move towards.


Four elements on Eartha) Earthb) Waterc) Aird) Fire

The earth has a spherical space, a state of rest, and a position at the center of the universe.

Ptolemy's Geocentric Model

Developed by Ptolemy (150 A.D.)Universe consisted essentially of a set of

transparent concentric spheres.The outermost sphere is the celestial sphere of the starsThe immovable earth is at the very center of the

universeOn each sphere is attached a celestial body that is

moving in uniform circular motion about an axis through the earth, with different speeds and rates of motion.

Ptolemy's Geocentric Model

• Retrograde motion– Planets move with respect to stars (west to east).– Planets move through stars (east to west).

• Epicycle-deferent system– Solution to retrograde motion.– The epicycle is the circle where planets rotate.– The deferent is the center.

Ancient Greek TheoryThe green object sweeps out equal angles in equal times, maintaining a constant speed in its perfectly circular path. But note that from the earth, the object appears to move faster in the bottom half of its motion than in the top half.The motion of the green object is perfectly uniform, though it will appear nonuniform to an observer on earth because the earth does not coincide with the center of the motion.

Ancient Greek TheoryThe equant model has a body in motion on a circular path that does not share a center with the earth. Further, the object's speed actually varies in its orbit around that circle--it moves faster in the bottom half, slower on the top half.This motion is uniform only in that the red object sweeps out equal angles in equal times from a reference point inside the circle. This point, the equant point, is not at the center of the circle nor at the center of the earth. The speed of the object is nonuniform from the perspective of the equant point, the center of the equant circle, and the center of the earth.

The Copernican Revolution

Nikolai Copernicus (1473-1543)Proposed revolutionary model of the Universe

where earth was displaced as the center of the Universe.

Retrograde Motion of Planets

As explained by Copernicus, this phenomenon is a result of the relative motion of the earth with respect to other planets.

The planets appears to be moving in the reverse direction against the background of stars as the inner planet “catches up” with the outer planet and eventually overtakes it.

Geocentric vs Heliocentric

• The earth is the center of the universe•Accepted by religion and faith•Failed to explain subsequent observations

• Used planets and the sun•Based on Greek philosophies

•The sun is the center of the universe•Took a long time to be accepted•Explained some observed motions of heavenly bodies simpler

KEPLER’S LAWS: MOTION OF THE PLANETS

• Tycho Brahe– Danish astronomer– Kepler’s boss– Accurate observations of mars with the naked eye– Assigned Kepler to develop a theory of planetary

motion based on his observations.


• Johannes Kepler– German mathematician and astronomer– Important work in optics and geometry– Kepler’s laws• Law of orbits

– All planets orbit the sun in a path that resembles an ellipse, with the sun being located at one of the foci of that ellipse.

– Occupied focus contains the sun.– Empty/vacant focus is the other foci.– Eccentricity is the relative distance between a focal point &

the center.


• Law of equal areas– Helped Isaac Newton develop the law of universal gravitation.– A line that connects a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas

in equal times.– A planet moves fastest when its closest to the sun (perihelion).– Slowest when farthest to the sun (aphelion).

• Harmonic law/law of period– T2/R3=time2/distance3

– T2/R3 of all planets is roughly the same.– Astronomical unit is the mean distance between the earth and

the sun.» 1AU ~ 1.5,108 km ~ 9.3,107 miles

-Applies to comets.

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Ancient Views About Science