Wheel Scientific Method Limitations

8/4/2019 Wheel Scientific Method Limitations

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Scientific Method

Limitations


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Recipe For Bees

1. Kill a bull during the first thaw of winter.

2. Build a shed.

3. Place the dead bull on branches and herbsinside the shed.

4. Wait for summer. The decaying body of the

bull will produce bees.


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Recipe For Bees

About 2000 years ago, a Roman poet wrotethese directions for producing bees.

Why do you think reasonable individualsduring this time accepted the ideas behind

this recipe?


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Scientific Method

If a theory survives the scientific method andbecomes a scientific law, it is reasonablytrustworthy.

Why did we say reasonably?

If a hypothesis survives scientific scrutiny andbecomes a theory, and the theory goes through

more significant scientific scrutiny and becomesa law, isn't it 100% reliable?

NO, it is not. A scientific law represents the bestconclusions that science has to offer, but it is

nevertheless not completely reliable.


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Limitations

Why are scientific laws not 100% reliable?

1. It is impossible to test them completely.

Example: Prior to 1938, it was considered scientificlaw that the coelacanth, a type of fish, was extinct.However, a live coelacanth was found in the net of afishing boat off the coast of South Africa! We nowknow that the coelacanth is relatively plentiful in the

western Indian Ocean. One would think that since100 years of careful searching for the coelacanthhad never turned up a live specimen, the law statingthat it was extinct should be rather reliable.


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Scientific Method

Why are scientific laws not 100% reliable?

2. Experiments that support them are flawed.

Example: 350 B.C., Aristotle observed that if aperson left meat out in the open and allowed it todecay, maggots would appear on the meat within afew days. From that observation, he formed thehypothesis that living maggots were formed from

nonliving meat. We call this idea spontaneousgeneration, and Aristotle postulated that this is howmany life forms originate.


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Spontaneous Generation

Example:

Aristotle (350 B.C.)

He showed that eels

have a similar smelland feel as the slimyooze at the bottom ofrivers.

He considered thisevidence that eelsspontaneouslyformed from theooze.


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Example:

Jean Baptist vanHelmont (mid 1600s)

He performed anexperiment in which heplaced a sweaty shirt andsome grains of wheat ina closed wooden box.

Every time he performedthe experiment, he foundat least one mousegnawing out of the boxwithin 21 days.


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As time went on, many more experimentswere performed that seemed to support thehypothesis of spontaneous generation. As aresult, the hypothesis was quickly acceptedas a theory. Experiments continued for atotal of 1,900 years, and they all seemed to

support the theory! As a result of thisoverwhelming amount of data in support ofthe theory of spontaneous generation, it

became accepted as a scientific law.


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Francesco Redi (mid-1600s)

An Italian physician.

Questioned spontaneous

generation. Despite the fact that this

law was universallyaccepted by the scientists

of his day, and despitethe fact that his fellowscientists laughed at himfor not believing in thelaw, Redi challenged it.


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Redis Experiment

1. Redi placed meat in twoidentical jars. He leftone jar uncovered. Hecovered the other jarwith a cloth that let in air.

2. Redi observed maggotson decaying meat inopened jar; no maggots

in covered jar.

3. Reasoned that flies hadlaid eggs on the meat inopened jar.

Uncovered Jar vs. Covered Jar

Concluded that decaying meatdid not produce maggots.


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Redis Experiment

Redis experiments sent shock waves throughoutthe scientific community.

A scientific law, one which had been supported

for nearly 1,900 years, was wrong!

Of course, many scientists were simply unwillingto accept this. Yes, they agreed, perhaps

maggots did not come from decaying meat, butsurely there were some types of organisms thatcould spontaneously generate from nonlivingthings.


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Pasteurs Experiment

Louis Pasteur (mid-1800s)

French chemist.

Designed acontrolledexperiment thatfinally rejected

spontaneousgeneration.


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Pasteurs Experiment

1. Pasteur put clear brothinto 2 identical curvedflasks. Boiled broth inone; did not boil broth inthe other.

2. Unboiled broth becamecloudy, showing bacteriagrowth. Boiled broth

remained clear.

3. Broke flask with boiledbroth, which allowedbacteria to enter. It

became cloudy, too.

Concluded that new bacteriaarise only from existing

bacteria.


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Conclusion

There are limits in science and the scientificmethod. Why?

Because it is impossible to fully test a scientificlaw and because laws are tested by experimentsthat might be flawed; therefore, scientific lawsare not necessarily true.


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Conclusion

Well, if scientific laws are not 100% reliable,what is? The only thing in the universe that is 100% reliable is the

Word of God. The Bible contains truths that will never beshown to be wrong, because those truths come directlyfrom the Creator of the universe. So much misery andwoe have come to this earth because people put their

faith in something that is not reliable, like science. In theend, they are spiritually deprived because what theybelieve is, to one extent or another, wrong (Romans1:21-25). Those who put their faith in the Bible, however,are not disappointed, because it is never wrong.


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Conclusion

If science isn't 100% reliable, why study it?

There are many interesting facts and much usefulinformation not contained in the Bible.

Finding out about these interesting and useful thingswill help us live better lives. Because of theadvances made in science, wonderful technologylike vaccines, the television, and the computer exist.

When we learn how well the world and its organismsare designed, we can better appreciate the gift thatGod has given to us in His creation.

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Wheel Scientific Method Limitations