Applying Aspects of Science in a Daily Life - Essay Example

Running Head: APPLYING ASPECTS OF SCIENCE LIFE Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Science has becomean integral part of our lives. It is evident that human beings cannot manage to survive without applying science in their day to day activities. This is due to the fact that science is everywhere ranging from the alarm clocks, electricity and electrical appliances in the house as well as personal computers at home and in the work place among others. These help to spice up our lives by making work easier such as travelling through the use of automotives to and from work, accessing information through electronic media such as radio and television, accessing offices in storey buildings through the use of lifts etc (Nelson, 2007). This essay is a critical evaluation of aspects of science that are applied in the day to day running of activities whether knowingly or subconsciously and which we as human beings cannot survive without. Part I: Scientific Method  The scientific method of solving problems relies on the ability of a person to evaluate a situation which he may be in with a structured approach so as to acquire a viable solution or reach to a conclusion. The process is a five step task that begins with the identification of a problem, which compels the person to ask himself a question on the issue at hand (Lafferty, 2002). These questions relate to why, how, where, when or what, could have resulted to such an occurrence. After raising the question, he is supposed to conduct a back ground research into for example a similar occurrence may be with the help of information from resource materials such as internet and library materials such as journals, books, magazines etc (Lafferty, 2002). This step though may complicate matters especially if the question at hand requires instant or urgent measures to correct it. On the other hand, it may make the process more efficient by limiting the scope of identifying the solution due to the fact that the person faced with such a challenge will be able to establish a starting point quickly as opposed to when he decides to start from the scratch. Construction of a hypothesis is an important step in the scientific method. The hypothesis is meant to predetermine the outcome of a certain action while trying to find an answer to the problem at hand. It uses statements such as if...then, meaning that if you take a certain action for example X, then the outcome will be Y (Lafferty, 2002). This is more like a trial and error method of solving problems whereby various solutions have to be tested against each other so as to adopt the best one. The hypothesis is then tested by conducting practical experimentation while at the same time ensuring that variables and constants are well defined so as to ensure that the experiments conducted are fair to the point that the end result will leave no doubts on the credibility of the method used. The fifth step involves analyzing data from the experiment after which conclusions are made which should be able to determine whether the hypothesis is true or false. Applying the Scientific Method in Two Scenarios in Life Scenario 1: I arrive home late at night, walk up to the front door, unlock it, and reach in to turn on the lights since the switch is located just inside the front door. The light does not come on! Now what? This is a question that I asked myself during that night of the day that my sister was wedding her husband, whom they had dated for almost three years. As such, we spent a lot of time together after the wedding until late in the night when I took a hike to my house, only a few meters away from where the wedding reception was being held. I was feeling tired from the day’s activities especially due to the fact that there were so many responsibilities such as welcoming guests, ensuring that everything was going according plan as well as making sure that food stocks were not exhausted before all the guests had had something to eat. Upon entering the house, I was surprised to find that something was definitely wrong with the lights because even after switching on, they could not illuminate the house so I asked myself several questions such as why and what could be the problem with the lights. The entire neighborhood had their lights on so how comes mine were not functioning? Having little knowledge on electrical appliances, I decided to conduct some research as to what might be the cause of the unfortunate occurrence especially due to the fact that I had a lot of assignments I wanted to complete before morning using my lap top, which is already connected to the internet such that once I complete, the assignments would be sent directly to the company’s data base especially because I was not intending to go to work the following day as I had asked for a two day’s leave in order to assist in the wedding preparations. Luckily, I had several books which were left at my place by my elder brother, who is an electrical engineer and who shifted to the capital after he secured employment with a prestigious company that deals with procurement of electrical materials as well as contracting jobs on industrial installation of electricity. The books outlined various possible reasons as to why the lights would fail to function such as tripping of the system, interruption by power suppliers, and loose connection in the wiring among others (Dorf, 1999). One thing for sure was that there was no interruption since it was only in my place where there was a problem. According to the books, the tripping can result from connecting appliances that consume a lot of electricity thereby overloading the whole system, thereby leading to automatic disconnection of the circuit (Dorf, 1999). This appeared to be the best explanation since I remembered that the fridge and the iron box were still connected to power as well as the electric cooker, which I had forgotten to switch off as I left for the wedding in a hurry. I therefore went ahead to disconnect the appliances having an already prepared hypothesis that if I flip on the trip switch, then the lights would function briefly and then another tripping would occur thereby switching off the lights. After flipping on the trip switch, I heard a loud disturbing voice as if there had been a short circuit, contrary to what I had expected and still there were no lights. As a result, I had to formulate another hypothesis hoping that this time the results would be positive. I realized from the sound that there must have been a faulty appliance which could probably have been the cause of the black out (Dorf, 1999). As such, if I decided to disconnect all the appliances then, the result would be that the lights would function normally. Unfortunately, I realized that even after doing so there was still a problem because the lights would not function even though the sockets appeared to have power. By instinct, I decided to remove one of the bulbs and replace it with a new one which I had kept as a reserve and to my surprise, the bulb glowed with light hence I concluded that all the bulbs had been affected by the tripping and therefore they needed to be replaced. Scenario 2: I walked into my garage and to my vehicle to leave for work. I sat in my seat, placed my key in the ignition, and turned the key after which the dash lights showed some illumination but the engine would not start. I tried for several times after which a asked myself angrily,” what could be wrong with my vehicle? What do I do now?” The vehicle was in good condition by the time I parked it in the garage and as such the chances that the problem was with the battery was minimal. Moreover, the dash lights were illuminating thereby eliminating the possibility. Apart from the fact that I have studied driving, the mechanisms behind its operations are way beyond my knowledge and as such it was not possible for me to solve the problem without conducting some research in order to be able to identify the source of the problem. To achieve this, I called one of my friends whom we work with to inquire on the possibilities and he gave me several reasons that would enable me to diagnose the problem. A car may fail to start due to lack of fuel in the tank, poor battery maintenance, cold engine especially during winter, among other complicated mechanical problems (Bonnick, 2000). He also volunteered with information on how to correct these faults for example by using jumpers to boost the cars battery with another from a different vehicle, using the shock button in order to boost the cold engine etc. Confronted with all these possibilities, I had to try each process thereby eliminating those that do not make the engine function. If the battery was out of charge especially due to the fact that I had left the parking lights on then, boosting with another battery would solve the problem (Bonnick, 2000). With the help of my neighbor’s car’s battery, I tried to boost the battery by using wires to transmit current through to the dead battery after which the engine could not start. In fact, I gave him my battery to test on his vehicle and surprisingly his vehicle’s engine started normally thereby eliminating the battery possibility. I tried the shock button but still the engine would not start and as such I was left with only one option which if it failed, I was to call a mechanic to assist. This option was to buy fuel though I was sure that the fuel gauge showed that there was enough fuel in the tank by the time I parked the car. I added the fuel into the tank and believe it or not, the vehicle started at the first twist of the ignition. It is after this that I realized that the fuel gauge was faulty as well as the tank since I noticed that it was leaking fuel from the bottom side. Part II: Why I Cannot Live Without Science  Science is an integral part of our day to day lives such that it is almost difficult to spend a day without applying it (Nelson, 2007). For example a typical day in my life starts with science since bathing is the first thing that I always do upon waking. In this activity, water and soap are the reagents that make the process successful. Soap contains chemicals that have scientific equations, which when combined with water helps to loosen the dirt on the body thereby enabling effective rinsing. Cooking tea is also a scientific process which involves balancing the ingredients such as sugar, tea leaves, milk and water all of which are put on heat until they reach the boiling point. Water and milk have almost similar boiling points close to 100oc (Nelson, 2007). Using the mirror to reflect your image before going to work is also an aspect of science that may be difficult to live without. It confirms that the tie is in the perfect position and there are no suspicious marks on the face as well as ensuring that the hair is perfectly combed. Travelling to work in my vehicle is also an application of science, which helps to make work easier unlike when I was to travel by foot especially since it’s a long distance which I can drive in an hour at the speed of 80km/hr. Science is every where, while eating, walking, using lifts in the work place to go to my office which is on the 18th floor of the building as well as making telephone calls either through the mobile phone or through the land line. The voice transmission from the caller to the receiver involves waves which travel through the air either in analog or digital form depending on the media being used (Grant, 2008). Science has improved the quality of life we live in various ways such as making it easier to conduct activities such as communication especially with the invention of the television which makes it possible to get news from around the world as they happen. Computers have also assisted greatly especially the microwave technology which helps in cooking among other benefits such as preservation of foot items through refrigeration thereby minimizing wastage of food stuffs such as fruits and groceries which go bad after a short time. Science however has had various negative impacts especially on the environment due to pollution caused by machines such as vehicles which produce a lot of smoke containing carbon, industries which discharge their waste materials to the rivers thereby harming the marine life as well as promoting crime through technology, which enables activities such as identity theft through hacking which is facilitated by online shopping and electronic money transfer. Faulty electrical connections have also resulted to loss of lives by causing fires that are difficult to extinguish (Grant, 2008). These unfortunate incidences happen due to the fact that the developers are slow in realizing that some aspects of science especially in technology are dynamic in nature and as such, they should always make sure that they keep on trying and testing new technologies which are friendlier to the environment and the society at large. However, it is my belief that I cannot survive without science because without it, everything would be difficult to achieve and since I am used to it I’d like to continue enjoying its assistance especially in travelling, communication, technology etc which help to save time and resources. Using the scientific method has helped me to realize that procedures that are deemed to be difficult or impossible can be accomplished even without having prior knowledge on the challenge at hand. For example, the challenge of fixing my car after it failed to start enabled me to learn a lot on the subject and in fact, it motivated me such that I went ahead and took a 3 months course on motor vehicle maintenance procedures. References Bonnick, A. (2000) Practical Motor Vehicle Engineering, Butterworth-Heinemann Dorf, R. (1999). The Electrical Engineering Handbook, CRC Press. Grant, A. (2008) Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals, Focal Press Lafferty, K. (2002) Steps of the Scientific Method, Retrieved 27th February 2010 From Nelson, B. (2007) Life Science Automation Fundamentals and Applications, Artech House Publishers Read More