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Our campus is undergoing a revision of general ed requirements for
all students. Our dean of natural sciences asked each discipline to
come up with the five most important concepts in our discipline that
any well educated person in any discipline should know (a 'science
literacy' list a la Hirsh).
I came up with the following pie in the sky list (I tired to be as
idealistic as possible); if anyone out there is bored and would like
to amend the list or has a broader perspective I'd appreciate it.
...
3. Matter is made of atoms which have discrete structure
(electrons, protons and neutrons). Much of the everyday world can be
explained by this fact (for example temperature is a measure of the
average kinetic energy of molecules, we smell things by diffusion,
chemical bonding depends on atomic structure, behavior of
semiconductors depends on electron behavior etc.) The laws which
govern the behavior of these subatomic particles (quantum physics)
are fundamentally different from the behavior we are familiar with
(described by Newtonian physics). One result of these laws is that
nature provides a fundamental limitation of knowledge regarding the
behavior of these particles; nature is statistical at its core (this
is not a limit of human ingenuity but a limit imposed by nature)
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...
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kyle forinash 812-941-2390
kforinas@ius.edu
Natural Science Division
Indiana University Southeast
New Albany, IN 47150
http://Physics.ius.edu/
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