Science Meets Real Life - Essay Example

Science meets real life Science gets defined as intellectual activity of man. This activity enables him to discover information about his environment and surrounding. Science also assists in getting information organized into patterns that make meaning. Science entails gaining a deeper and useful understanding of the universe (Mak, Mak and Mak, 2009). Science is a system of trial and errors that in principle cannot get justified. It is a discipline that undermines that which we already know in an attempt to proceed towards new knowledge.We use science in everyday life with or without consciousness. Scientific method The scientific method is a process that gets used to form and test solutions to problems. It is gets used to create theories about how and why things work. It ought to reduce the influences of “faith” on the experimenter. This reduces bias or prejudice so as to make the process valid anywhere in the world. Scientific method presents us with two options. Working through the steps of the scientific problem and solving everyday problems with the scientific method. The scientific method can get used to solve any problem (Gauch, 2003). It follows five fundamental steps. They come in the following order; state the problem, research the problem, form a hypothesis, test the hypothesis and draw a conclusion from the data collected. These five key steps can get used to resolve problems that occur in everyday life. Scenario 1 You arrive home late at night. You walk up to the front door, unlock it, and reach in to turn on the light switch located just inside the front door. The light does not come on. What do you do? One should start by defining the problem. This is because a problem cannot be solved unless it gets understood first (Gauch, 2003). The problem is that the lights do not come on, and I need light to see around. The next thing I will do is to research the reason why the lights do not come on when I turn on the switch. I look at the possible reasons that can make the lights to no work. To solve the problem, I require a solution as towhy the lights are not working. The possibilities are that; the power supply from the service provider is currently switched off so the problem is not within the house.The transformer that ensures power supply to my house may have blown up during the day due to overload.The switch that I may be using to put on the power may not be working. There might be a wiring problem.Atreemay have fell on the power line earlier and caused an interruption. This may also be a planned interruption that probably got announced on the news. After forming all my possibilities, I will proceed to eliminate the poor choices. The switch that I use to put the power on is a poor choice. WhenI left the house in the morning it was working, and no one else has been to my house. I will also eliminate the choice that there might be a wiring problem because I get the wiring checked frequently. This leaves me with four choices. The problem is with the power supply, the transformer blew up, a tree fell on the power line or this was a planned interruption. After this research, I will then form a hypothesis. This is a possible solution to my problem after gathering sufficient information about why my lights do not come on when I turn on the light switch. The solution to the problem would be to call the power supply company using my cell phone and inquire what the problem might be. I can then proceed to request them if it is possible for them to fix it soon. After the formation ofa hypothesis, I will then perform an experiment on my hypothesis to see if it works. This gets done so as to determine whether the hypothesis solves the problem or not. This experiment also gets done as a way of gathering more data. I proceed to call my power supply company as an experiment following my hypothesis. I become informed that this was a planned interruption that got announced during the nine o’clock newsthe previous night. I further get informed that it got done late in the night to allow some necessary upgrades to get done. I conclude that I missed the announcement because I come home late every night. My problem gets solved because I get told that power will be back in two hours, and I become satisfied. Scenario 2 We are out camping with friends; at 9 o’clock, the camp manager asks everyone to enter their tents and go to sleep since it is not safe to stay out of the tent late in the night. I am not sleepy so I decide to get out my torch and read a novel I brought along. I reach into my bag and for my flashlight and flip the switch to turn it on. Nothing happens. I begin by first of all identifying my problem. My problem is that I am not able to read my novel because my flashlight does not work. I brainstorm on possible reasons that might be causing this torch not to work. The possibilities are that; the batteries could be worn out, it might not be having batteries altogether, and the bumpy ride to the camping site could have interfered with it.After forming all my possibilities, I proceed to eliminate the poor choices. The problem could not have gotten caused by the bumpy ride because I have been on bumpy rides before with the torch in my bag and this never affected it. Having identified all these possibilities, I think back to the time my flashlight did not work, and I remember that it was because of worn out batteries. This provides me with a rough idea as to where the problem lies. I will figure out a possible solution to my problem. A solution would be to check whether the torch has batteries. If it does what is the condition of the batteries?When I check my batteries, I realize that they are totally worn out. I reach into the side of my bag and get the new batteries to replace the old ones. Immediately I replace the batteries my flashlight comes on, and my problem gets solved. I have worked through the steps of scientific method to solve my problem. Why I cannot live with/without science I wake up every morning to my cell phone alarm that I set according to my desired wake up time. First off, i turn on my bedside lamp, turn off the alarm and check for any messages on my cell phone. I leave the bed, put on my shower heater, and while brushing my teeth. While still waiting for the water to heat, I proceed to my computer and check my mails. I choose what to wear, iron and lay it on the bed. I shower, dress up, look at myself on the mirror, and head downstairs to make breakfast. I prepare some tea on the gas cooker and toast some bread on a toaster. I leave the house and make sure that I have locked my door. I take a bus to school where I stay for a few hours during my classes then take another bus to work. After work, I take another bus home, unlock my door and put on the lights.I walk to my fridge and find out what I can warm up in the microwave for dinner. While eating I put on the television and watch some news. After eating, I brush my teeth, set the alarm on my phone and switch off the main bulb. I switch on my bedside lamp and peruse through my phone while waiting to fall asleep. Science has changed the way I work, the way I dress, the food I eat, my method of transportation and the general quality of my life. It has made life much easier because everything happens a little bit faster than before (Mak,Mak and Mak, 2009). It has enabled me to lead a comfortable and fulfilled life. This is because most of my daily activities have become easier. I am able to solve 90% of my daily problems scientifically. I am able to think through my day and get by comfortably. Scientific inventions such as, cell phones, iron box, refrigerators, microwaves, buses and many others have also improved the quality of my life because it makes my work much easier. Everything I do from morning till dawn involves science. Ironing of my clothes, showering, making breakfast, and locking my door before I leave all involve some element of science. My life becomes aided by the scientific method of solving problems or scientific inventions. During my day science assists me to learn what works. If I have to reach school on time, I know that taking the bus will work unlike walking. My life has improved through science because I am able to go through my days systematically. It enables me to live on a routine because it has preprogrammed life in a way that I can follow an order in my activities. It has increased my productivity because I can move from one place to another fast enough. I can make use of what I have to do my work in the least possible amount of time. Most hiccups that I encounter during the day, I am able solve through the scientific method (Gauch, 2003). This is because almost all problems that we encounter can be solved using this method. There are negative impacts that science has had in our lives as much as it is a blessing. This normally comes with misuse of science or overuse of science. The first negative impact is that there is a tendency to over depend on science to meet daily requirements. For example, instead of making time to cook fresh food, I normally look for something old to warm in the microwave or call a food delivery company to bring some food. This is overdependence on science. It creates a lazy culture among the people of my generation. Science has also put us in a position to destroy ourselves (Hyder, 2009). Scientific inventions like automobiles and industrial power plants have led to chronic devastation in the environment. As much as automobiles have made life easier, they have also created a lot of air pollution. Science has also impacted negatively on the society because it makes people antisocial by the day. More people prefer to get the solutions to their problems scientifically instead of consulting each other. If I cannot solve my problems using the scientific method, i use inventions like the internet to find out instead of consulting my friend. People can share a room for hours without conversing because of inventions that came with science. Even with the negative impacts, I do not believe that I can survive without science.Science came with many marvelous things and I believe that the good outweighs the bad. With science, the world moves fast and evolves even faster. When people get trained to use it appropriately, the dangers of science can be averted. It helps us solve many problems throughout the day. Science takes us through most of our days and it has made the world a better place. This course has impacted my view on science. Initially what I used to see as science was only the scientific inventions or the technology. I get to understand that ordinary processes like putting sugar in my cup of tea and stirring involves science. I now view science as a ready solution to my problems. It has enabled me to deeplyunderstand and analyze situations exhaustively before deciding on a plan of action. This course has taught me persistence. Until my problem gets a solution, I have learnt to become persistent. I have learnt that we use science everyday whether consciously or subconsciously. References Read More