Chapter 2 Flashcards
(118 cards)
2.1 Matter is…
described (not DEFINED) as anything that occupies a volume of space and has mass. (Can also be sensed.)
2.1 Operational science relies on ___.
Observation.
2.1 Are light, airwaves and heat matter or not?
Not matter.
2.1 Four types of matter.
Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma (like in flourescent lamps).
2.1Matter occurs in different “states” because of the arrangement and motion of its ___.
Particles.
2.2 Which civilization developed an atomistic philosophy before the Greeks?
India(ns), in the 6th century BC. [But this doesn’t necessarily mean the Indians were the first to develop it.]
2.2 Aristotle believed in continuous matter which means…
matter could be subdivided repeatedly into infinitely small particles.
2.2 Atomists believed that a substance eventually can’t be further divided and you would get to a basic, indivisible particle called a(n) ____.
Atom.
2.2 Atomists believe in an indivisible basic particle called the ___
Atom.
2.2 Aristotle objected to atomism because…
it meant a void/vacuum must exist between atoms, and Aristotle didn’t think “nothing” could exist.
2.2 Aristotle’s writings about nature influenced which culture’s models of science?
…European models of science (for nearly 2000 years).
2.2 In the 1600s, a theory of matter gained foothold in Europe called ____.
The particle theory of matter
2.2 Atomism is the concept that matter is made of …
tiny unseen particles.
2.2 The ORIGIN of atomism is unknown (T/F).
True (Indians knew it before Greeks, however.)
2.2 How might have the Chinese’s use of pictographic writing affected their ideas about matter?
Since pictographic writing used symbols to represent whole things/ideas, the Chinese may have had a mental block against thinking of physical objects as being made of smaller particles.
2.2 Earliest Europeans to include the concept of atomism in their writing: ___.
Greeks.
2.2 Greek atomists, being naturalists, viewed life as totally ___
Purposeless, because the universe, they thought, was just random collisions of atoms.
2.2 Plato and his student Aristotle rejected the purposeless of naturalism because …
They saw purpose, beauty and order in nature, which came from a “celestial perfection.”
2.2 Aristotle’s view of atoms was they were points with __ dimensions.
No/zero. (thus, matter was continuous with no spaces between atoms).
2.2 Greek philosophers thought that reasoning was the only source of ___.
Truth.
2.2 Greeks didn’t use experiments because…
They thought atoms could change, nature was therefore imperfect, and so testing couldn’t produce truth.
2.2 Aristotle’s teachings were accepted because they gave an impression that…
…the world and human life had purpose (because of the beauty and order they saw).
2.2 Name of empire where Aristotle’s teachings were adoped.
The Roman Empire.
2.2 Aristotle’s philosophies became less valuable when…
Copernicus’s sun-centered model (“solar system”) superceded Aristotle’s geocentric view (Earth as center).
