DOCSLIB.ORG

Ciências Na Transição Dos Séculos

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ciências Na Transição Dos Séculos Olival Freire Junior Olival Freire Júnior é Licenciado e Este livro busca tanto um mapeamento dos Bacharel em Física pela UFBA, Mestre em Ileana Maria Greca fenômenos e das evidências das mudanças Ensino de Física e Doutor em História Charbel Niño El-Hani em curso na ciência na transição do século Social pela Universidade de São Paulo, XX para o XXI quanto uma resenha das C Professor Associado da Universidade IÊN ideias em debate sobre as transformações Federal da Bahia e Pesquisador do CNPq na natureza da ciência. A coletânea analisa Organizadores e de práticas mais relevantes da ciência 1-C na área de História da Ciência. Seu C as mudanças conceituais, epistemológicas interesse de pesquisa envolve os seguintes IAS temas: História da Física no século XX, contemporânea, quais sejam, as noções Uma análise do panorama da ciência entre o final do século XX e o História da Física no Brasil e Usos da NA de complexidade, informação, e o uso dos História e da Filosofia no Ensino de início do século XXI parece sugerir que estão em curso mudanças computadores e das simulações. Também de tal monta que a própria natureza deste empreendimento social Ciências. - a ciência moderna desenvolvida a partir do século XVII – estaria é apresentado o debate sobre as mudanças TRANSIÇÃO em transformação. Por ciência moderna tomemos, grosso modo, em curso na prática da ciência, em especial Ileana Maria Greca aquela produzida nos últimos quatro séculos e associada aos na autonomia das ciências e na sua relação de física pela Universidade Federal do Rio nomes de Galileu, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin, Einstein e muitos é Doutora em Ensino com o mercado. outros, bem como à prática da produção da ciência naqueles CIÊNCIAS NA O livro resulta de pesquisas em ciências ciências experimentais na Universidade períodos. As mudanças seriam tanto no terreno dos conceitos Grande do Sul e professora de Didática das quanto de seus pressupostos epistemológicos, além do terreno (física, matemática e biologia), história e da sua prática, em especial em sua relação com os instrumentos epistemologia das ciências. Os autores são científicos, a tecnologia, a inovação e a sociedade. de Burgos, Espanha. Seus interesses de DOS professores ou pesquisadores vinculados pesquisa incluem a psicologia cognitiva TRANSIÇÃO DOS às seguintes universidades: UFBa, e educação científica, a física moderna Universidade de Burgos, USP, UEFS, UEPB, no ensino de ciências, as aplicações de SÉ UNIVASF, e Escola Politécnica Federal de ciências e desenvolvimento profissional de história e filosofia da ciência no ensino de Lausanne. Seus autores são: Olival Freire Jr., C ULOS SÉCULOS Ileana Greca, Charbel El-Hani, Suani Pinho, professores de ciências. Osvaldo Pessoa Jr., Aurino Ribeiro Filho, Indianara Silva, André Mandolesi, Ernesto Charbel El-Hani Borges, Mayane Nóbrega, Leyla Joaquim, é Professor Associado CONCEITOS, PRÁTICAS E HISTORICIDADE Cátia Gama, Carlos Stein Naves de Brito e do Instituto de Biologia, UFBA, onde Alessandra Brandão. coordena o Laboratório de Ensino, Filosofia e História da Biologia (LEHFIBio). Bacharel em Ciências Biológicas pela UFBA, Mestre em Educação pela UFBA e Doutor em Educação pela USP. Fez Pós-doutorado no Centro de Estudos da Ciência e Filosofia da Natureza da Universidade de Copenhague. É Pesquisador do CNPq 1-B na área de Educação. Ciência na transição dos séculos-capa.indd 1 23/07/15 14:22 CIÊNCIAS NA TRANSIÇÃO DOS SÉCULOS CONCEITOS, PRÁTICAS E HISTORICIDADE UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DA BAHIA REITOR João Carlos Salles Pires da Silva VICE-REITOR Paulo Cesar Miguez de Oliveira EDITORA DA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DA BAHIA DIRETORA Flávia Goulart Mota Garcia Rosa CONSELHO EDITORIAL Alberto Brum Novaes Angelo Szaniecki Perret Serpa Caiuby Alves da Costa Charbel Ninõ El-Hani Cleise Furtado Mendes Dante Eustachio Lucchesi Ramacciotti Evelina de Carvalho Sá Hoisel José Teixeira Cavalcante Filho Maria Vidal de Negreiros Camargo OLIVAL FREIRE JÚNIOR ILEANA M. GRECA CHARBEL NIÑO EL-HANI (ORG.) CIÊNCIAS NA TRANSIÇÃO DOS SÉCULOS CONCEITOS, PRÁTICAS E HISTORICIDADE Salvador EDUFBA 2014 2014, autores. Direitos para esta edição cedidos à EDUFBA Feito o depósito legal Grafia atualizada conforme o Acordo Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa de 1991, em vigor no Brasil desde 2009. Capa, Projeto Gráfico e Editoração Rodrigo Oyarzábal Schlabitz Revisão Fernanda Machado Normalização Susane Barros Sistema de Bibliotecas / UFBA Ciências na transição dos séculos : conceitos, práticas e historicidade / Olival Freire Júnior, Ileana M. Greca, Charbel Niño El-Hani (Org.) . - Salvador : EDUFBA, 2014. 328 p. ISBN 978-85-232-1243-8 1. Ciências - História. 2. Ciências - Séc. XX-XXI. 3. Ciência e tecnologia. 4. Epistemologia. I. Freire Júnior, Olival. II. M. Greca, Ilena III. Niño El-Hani, Charbel. CDD - 506 Editora filiada a EDUFBA Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, s/n Campus de Ondina 40.170-115 – Salvador – Bahia Tel.: (71) 3283-6160 / 3283-6164 www.edufba.ufba.br | [email protected] SUMÁRIO Apresentação Ciências na transição dos séculos: conceitos, práticas e historicidade Olival Freire Júnior, Ileana M. Greca e Charbel Niño El-Hani / 7 Informação e Teoria Quântica Olival Freire Junior e Ileana M. Greca / 29 O gene na virada do século XX para o XXI Charbel Niño El-Hani / 57 O conceito de fóton na transição dos séculos: do modelo “bola de bilhar” para... Indianara Silva / 105 Teoria da informação, da Física Clássica à Quântica André Luís Godinho Mandolesi / 127 O conceito de entropia e sua generalização Ernesto Pinheiro Borges / 165 Complexidade: um olhar para o final do século XX Mayane Leite da Nóbrega / 209 Para além do século do gene: as ideias de Evelyn Fox Keller sobre relação contemporânea entre Biologia e Ciências Exatas Leyla Mariane Joaquim / 221 Conexão entre Física, Matemática e Biologia no século XX: uma visão sistêmica Suani Tavares Rubim de Pinho / 231 A onipresença da não linearidade na Física atual Aurino Ribeiro Filho / 243 Neurociência: em busca da compreensão do cérebro e da mente Carlos Stein Naves de Brito e Osvaldo Pessoa Júnior / 265 As relações entre ciência e tecnologia: o caso da Nanotecnociência Cátia Gama e Osvaldo Pessoa Júnior / 287 Ciência e política climáticas: os embates políticos e científicos sobre o aquecimento da Terra Alessandra Gomes Brandão / 305 Sobre os autores / 325 Apresentação Ciências na transição dos séculos: conceitos, práticas e historicidade Olival Freire Junior• Ileana M. Greca • Charbel Niño El-Hani Uma análise do panorama da ciência entre o final do século XX e o início do século XXI parece sugerir mudanças em curso de tal monta que a própria natureza deste empreendimento social, a ciência moderna desenvolvida a partir do século XVII, estaria em transformação. Por ciência moderna, tomemos, grosso modo, aquela produzida nos últimos quatro séculos e associada aos nomes de Galileu, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin e Einstein, dentre outros, bem como à prática da produção da ciência naqueles períodos. As mudanças seriam tanto no terreno dos conceitos quanto de seus pressupostos epistemológicos, além do terreno da sua prática, em especial em sua relação com os instrumentos científicos, a tecnologia, a inovação e a sociedade. O tom cauteloso, condicional, destas linhas iniciais justifica-se, ainda mais em um texto introdutório como este, porque somos partícipes de um intenso debate sobre a própria natureza, escopo e extensão dessa transformação. Por essa razão, tentamos, neste texto, tanto um mapeamento dos fenômenos e das evidên- cias dessas mudanças quanto uma resenha das ideias em debate sobre as trans- formações na natureza da ciência. A distinção entre esses níveis de apresentação deve, entretanto, ser relativizada porque o próprio ato de nomear fenômenos e evidências como dados não é de todo independente da interpretação desses da- dos. Não caberia forçar uma dicotomia entre componentes objetivos e subjetivos nos debates sobre a ciência contemporânea. As três partes iniciais deste texto são 7 dedicadas ao que nos parecem estar dentre as mudanças conceituais, epistemo- lógicas e de práticas mais relevantes da ciência contemporânea, quais sejam, as noções de complexidade, informação, e o uso dos computadores e das simulações. Em seguida, apresentamos o debate sobre as mudanças em curso na prática da ciência, em especial, na autonomia das ciências e na sua relação com o mercado. Depois, trazemos sumariamente o conteúdo de cada capítulo que integra este li- vro e, por fim, formulamos algumas conclusões sobre esse debate. Complexidade Entre as ideias mestras que permeiam as mudanças conceituais na ciência nas úl- timas duas décadas, as de complexidade, tendo fenômenos caóticos como sua pre- cursora, e a de informação parecem adquirir especial relevância. (GLEICK, 2011; MITCHELL, 2009; NUSSENZVEIG, 1999; RUELLE, 1993; SILVEIRA et al., 1995) Outros avanços que poderiam ser arrolados incluem uma relação mais simbiótica entre ciência e tecnologia e o impacto das simulações na configuração da prática da ciência. Comecemos pela ideia de complexidade, a qual está associada, grosso modo, a sistemas que apresentam comportamento coletivo complexo (número muito grande de variáveis com relações não lineares entre si), processamento de informação e capacidade de adaptação – embora existam sistemas complexos, como furacões, que não apresentam capacidade adaptativa. O estudo de siste- mas complexos teve suas origens em uma confluência de trabalhos de físicos, matemáticos, químicos e engenheiros que tinham em comum o fato de que os sistemas em estudo só poderiam ser modelados matematicamente
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions From
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2012 Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Commercial and Manufacturing Sectors Specific tudiesS on HVAC Equipment and Dairy Processing Aik Jong Tan University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Energy Systems Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, and the Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons Recommended Citation Tan, Aik Jong, "Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Commercial and Manufacturing Sectors Specific tudS ies on HVAC Equipment and Dairy Processing" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 416. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/416 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM COMMERCIAL AND MANUFACTURING SECTORS SPECIFIC STUDIES ON HVAC EQUIPMENT AND DAIRY PROCESSING ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM COMMERCIAL AND MANUFACTURING SECTORS SPECIFIC STUDIES ON HVAC EQUIPMENT AND DAIRY PROCESSING A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering By Aik Jong Tan University of Arkansas Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 2007 May 2012 University of Arkansas ABSTRACT Commercial and manufacturing sectors in United States consumed approximately 50% of the total End use energy in 2010. In 2009, 81.5% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted in the United States was energy related.
    [Show full text]
  • Science and Policy a Climate Chronology Sharon S
    Climate Chronology: NASA satellite photo, Hurricane Sandy Science and Policy A Climate Chronology Sharon S. Tisher, J.D. School of Economics and Honors College University of Maine http://umaine.edu/soe/faculty-and-staff/tisher/ Copyright © 2019 All Rights Reserved Sharon S. Tisher A Climate Chronology: International Policy, U.S. Policy, and Science The most challenging of all endeavors in human history will likely be that of understanding the impact of our industrial and technological enterprises on the planet’s climate and ecosystems, and responding effectively to the threats posed by that impact. I began writing this chronology while developing a climate policy course at the University of Maine. It has grown substantially during the ensuing seven years, and continues to grow. By juxtaposing developments in climate science, U.S. policy, and international policy over the previous century, I hope to give the reader new insights into where we have been, where we are now, and where we may be headed in this formidable endeavor. I welcome comments, and suggested additions to this evolving work. It will be updated every January. I owe thanks to George Criner, for asking me to develop the climate policy course; to my University of Maine students, game to explore these turbulent waters and mindful of their import for their lives; to my daughter Annya Tisher, who joined me at the Boston Women’s March with the sign, “Climate Change Matters.” 19th Century overview Humans begin to replace wood and other biomass fuels with a readily available fossil fuel: coal; coal fuels the Industrial Revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Paleontology1
    PALEONTOLOGY1 Thoreau’s firm grasp of paleontology laid the groundwork for the climax of WALDEN, which describes the emergence of complexity and beauty from the simple flow of muddy sand at the Deep Cut. It also was the taproot of his lifelong frustration with Christian supernaturalists, who insisted on a fairly brief history of life. Paraphrasing Lyell’s PRINCIPLES, he jested [in A WEEK ON THE C ONCORD AND M ERRIMACK R IVERS]: “It took 100 years to prove that fossils are organic, and 150 more, to prove that they are not to be referred to the Noachian deluge.” Not everyone believes this, even today. Modern “young Earth” creationists still insist that the Elizabethan-era Mosaic chronology of Archbishop Ussher is the correct one, and that we twenty-first century scientists are in error. — Professor Robert M. Thorson, WALDEN’S SHORE, pages 60-1 1. (“Paleology” would be the study of antiques, how much they might fetch at auction.) HDT WHAT? INDEX PALEONTOLOGY PALEONTOLOGY 23,000 BCE Full glacial world, cold and dry; Stage 2 (includes the latest “Glacial Maximum”). This period includes the two ‘coldest phases’ –Heinrich Events– at something like 21,000 BCE-19,000 BCE and at something like 15,000 BCE-12,500 BCE. Music was produced by humans in what is now France; archaeological evidence includes cave paintings, footprints in caves that seem to be those of dancers, and carved bones that seem to be wind and percussion instruments. People made artifacts with primitive geometrical designs. THE WISCONSONIAN GLACIATION “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Paleontology HDT WHAT? INDEX PALEONTOLOGY PALEONTOLOGY 18,000 BCE On the basis of Carbon-14 measurements, this was the last Glacial Maximum, the coldest period of the most recent Ice Age.
    [Show full text]
  • When Does a Social Problem Become a Legitimate Issue on the Media
    Movement-Countermovement Dynamics in the Global Warming Policy Conflict Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By James Everett Hein, M.A. Graduate Program in Sociology The Ohio State University 2012 Dissertation Committee: J. Craig Jenkins, Co-Advisor Andrew Martin, Co-Advisor Edward Crenshaw ii Copyright by James Everett Hein 2012 iii Abstract In a provocative paper, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus (2005) shook the environmental establishment by declaring that environmentalism had died, claiming that the movement pushing for global warming policies had failed because of their framing strategy. A content analysis of pro-global warming policy movement frames deployed in the New York Times from 1981 through 2003 shows support for their claim that the frames were largely technocratic and lacked linkages to larger American values. However, their claim that the movement has framed global warming as solely an environmental problem is not supported by the data. The pro-global warming policy movement first focused their frames on prognostics, or in other words the causes and consequences of the social problem, but after the issue arrived on the international governmental agenda in 1988 the movement’s frames shifted focus to diagnostic frames, or solutions to global warming. Examination of countermovement frames shows that frame debunking fell into two categories: prognostic attacks and diagnostic attacks. The countermovement responded with diagnostic attacks when it mobilized in 1989 and in the 1990s gradually deployed prognostic attacks in equal numbers. Zero-inflated poisson regressions were used to test the sociopolitical factors accounting for frame deployment for both the movement and countermovement.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP22/CMP12) Thunder Bay, Canada
    2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP22/CMP12) Thunder Bay, Canada Background and Briefing Notes (for March 18, 2016) This exercise in Geog. 3331 provides a brief history of world positioning and a framework of geopolitical considerations likely to affect progress in the critical area of climate change negotiations. The goal is to simulate a global discussion of climate change policy with Multilateral Negotiations between Parties (in this context - countries represented by students in the classroom). There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that the major cause of global warming is an increase of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane from human activities. This enhancement of the greenhouse effect", where heat radiated by the Earth is absorbed and sent back to the surface by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, has resulted in a substantial rise in the average global temperature. The current average is 1.5° C higher than the estimated global temperature in pre-industrial times, which means considerably more energy available in the hydrological cycle and other processes. More frequent storms, hotter summers and an increase in flooding have driven up the global insurance industry’s annual weather-related losses to $200B a year according to Lloyd's of London – a fourfold increase in 30 years. Zurich Re and the Canadian Insurance Board (for Canada 4x) have similar estimates. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted unanimously at a Rio de Janeiro conference in 1992 (the “Rio Earth Summit). The Convention committed to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" and put the onus on developed countries to lead the way.
    [Show full text]
  • Basic Radiation Calculations
    THIS IS THE TEXT OF AN ESSAY IN THE WEB SITE “THE DISCOVERY OF GLOBAL WARMING” BY SPENCER WEART, HTTP://WWW.AIP.ORG/HISTORY/CLIMATE. JANUARY 2011. HYPERLINKS WITHIN THAT SITE ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS FILE. FOR AN OVERVIEW SEE THE BOOK OF THE SAME TITLE (HARVARD UNIV. PRESS, REV. ED. 2003). COPYRIGHT © 2003-2011 SPENCER WEART & AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS. Basic Radiation Calculations The foundation of any calculation of the greenhouse effect was a description of how radiation and heat move through a slice of the atmosphere. At first this foundation was so shaky that nobody could trust the results. With the coming of digital computers and better data, scientists gradually worked through the intricate technical problems. A rough idea was available by the mid 1960s, and by the late 1970s, the calculations looked solid—for idealized cases. Much remained to be done to account for all the important real-world factors, especially the physics of clouds. (This genre of one-dimensional and two-dimensional models lay between the rudimentary, often qualitative models covered in the essay on “Simple Models of Climate” and the elaborate three-dimensional “General Circulation Models of the Atmosphere.”) Warning: this is the most technical of all the essays. EARLY ATTEMPTS - THE CO2 GREENHOUSE EFFECT DEMONSTRATED (1950-1967) - FURTHER USES OF PRIMITIVE CALCULATIONS Looking for a complete explanation of greenhouse warming, equations and all? For basic physics in one page see Wikipedia’s “idealized greenhouse model” article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealized_greenhouse_model. But y¿ou can only really understand the system by studying a textbook that explains how to run the equations on a large computer model that takes into account crucial factors like convection, clouds and ocean circulation.
    [Show full text]
  • A Climate Chronology Sharon S
    Landscape of Change by Jill Pelto A Climate Chronology Sharon S. Tisher, J.D. School of Economics and Honors College University of Maine http://umaine.edu/soe/faculty-and-staff/tisher Copyright © 2021 All Rights Reserved Sharon S. Tisher Foreword to A Climate Chronology Dr. Sean Birkel, Research Assistant Professor & Maine State Climatologist Climate Change Institute School of Earth and Climate Sciences University of Maine March 12, 2021 The Industrial Revolution brought unprecedented innovation, manufacturing efficiency, and human progress, ultimately shaping the energy-intensive technological world that we live in today. But for all its merits, this transformation of human economies also set the stage for looming multi-generational environmental challenges associated with pollution, energy production from fossil fuels, and the development of nuclear weapons – all on a previously unimaginable global scale. More than a century of painstaking scientific research has shown that Earth’s atmosphere and oceans are warming as a result of human activity, primarily through the combustion of fossil fuels (e.g., oil, coal, and natural gas) with the attendant atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and other * greenhouse gases. Emissions of co-pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), toxic metals, and volatile organic compounds, also degrade air quality and cause adverse human health impacts. Warming from greenhouse-gas emissions is amplified through feedbacks associated with water vapor, snow and sea-ice
    [Show full text]
  • How to Proceed After Copenhagen
    How to Proceed After Copenhagen Jan Kunnas European University Institute, Florence , Italy Introduction In 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global body responsible for scientific assessment of climate change, and Al Gore, the panel’s most renowned campaigner. With this decision, the Norwegian Nobel Committee highlighted the link between the risk of accelerating climate change and the risk of violent conflict and wars (Smith, 2007). Climate change was also among the justifications for awarding the same prize to US President Barack Obama two years later (Smith, 2009). In his Nobel lecture, President Obama stated that the world must come together to confront climate change: “There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement – all of which will fuel more conflict for decades” (Obama, 2009a). The election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States had raised high hopes for a comprehensive new climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012. This hope was reinforced in July, 2009 at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila where the G8 leaders, including President Obama, recognized the scientific view on the need to keep global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels (G8 Leaders Declaration, 2009). A strong commitment by the United States would remove the major excuse for China not to move ahead. China´s President Hu Jintao had recently reaffirmed that they will not commit to mandatory emissions-reduction targets before the world's wealthy countries take the lead in addressing global climate change.
    [Show full text]
  • 2. Implementing Carbon Taxes to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    West Lake Model United Nations 2019 Hangzhou International School, Hangzhou, China Forum: General Assembly 2 Issue: Implementing carbon taxes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Student Officer: Christopher Han Position: President Introduction Currently, there are more emissions of greenhouse gases than there ever were before. Emitting those gases have environmental consequences, such as global warming, climate change, and health consequences to people. However, carbon taxes are levied on emissions of these greenhouse gases and incentivizes stakeholders to switch to alternatives whose production involves less carbon emission. However, due to this novel concept as well as disadvantages the carbon tax has, not a lot of countries have this implemented. This report will guide delegates to propose methods that can increase the implementation of carbon taxes in order to more effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Definition of Key Terms Carbon Taxes A tax per unit of carbon emissions of fossil fuels. It is considered by many countries as a policy to deal with climate change (Tragakes) Greenhouse gases (GHGs) Gases that can absorb infrared radiation/heat, that was emitted from the Earth’s surface and can radiate it back to Earth’s surface (Mann). Examples of GHGs include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, etc. (Rouse). Research Report | 1 West Lake Model United Nations 2019 Hangzhou International School, Hangzhou, China Greenhouse Effect The exchange of incoming and outgoing radiation that relies on GHGs to trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is the natural global warming. Without the greenhouse effect, the temperature of Earth would be at a temperature where it is too cold for humans to live in (Lallanila).
    [Show full text]
  • Examining Climate Change and the Media Hearing
    S. HRG. 109–1077 EXAMINING CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE MEDIA HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION DECEMBER 6, 2006 Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress.senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 52–324 PDF WASHINGTON : 2009 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma, Chairman JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri MAX BAUCUS, Montana GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut LINCOLN CHAFEE, Rhode Island BARBARA BOXER, California LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN THUNE, South Dakota HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York JIM DEMINT, South Carolina FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia BARACK OBAMA, Illinois DAVID VITTER, Louisiana ANDREW WHEELER, Majority Staff Director KEN CONNOLLY, Minority Staff Director (II) CONTENTS Page DECEMBER 6, 2006 OPENING STATEMENTS Bond, Hon. Christopher S., U.S. Senator from the State of Missouri ................. 15 Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from the State of California ........................ 10 Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma .................... 1 Jeffords, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 5 Lautenberg, Hon. Frank R., U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Theoretical Physics Takes Root in America: John Archibald Wheeler As Student and Mentor
    AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Terry M. Christensen for the Degree of Master of Science in History of Science presented on June 12, 2006 Title: Theoretical Physics Takes Root in America: John Archibald Wheeler as Student and Mentor Abstract approved: Signature redactedfor privacy. /\ U I Mary J0 Nye, Ph.D. John Archibald Wheeler (09 July 1911 ) is a familiar name to physicists and historians of physics alike. Among his many contributions to the corpus of knowledge, in 1939 John Wheeler and Niels Bohr co-authored the first paper on the generalized mechanism of nuclear fission. Beyond that seminal work, Wheeler was a key player in the production of the 'Fat Man' plutonium weapon in the Manhattan project, and later, in the development of the Hydrogen Bomb. Wheeler introduced the scattering matrix (or S-matrix) to account for all possible final quantum states of collisions between nucleons. After turning his attention to general relativity, Wheeler and his students made a number of significant contributions to cosmology and cosmology. In fact, John Wheeler coined the term "black hole," and developed the concepts of a "Planck Length," a Planck-time," "quantum foam," and "wormholes" in space-time. Outside the physics community however, considerably less is known about John Wheeler as a mentor of physicists. Mentoring is important because, while there can be no progress in physics without contributions to the corpus of knowledge, these contributions are, by their very nature additive. In contrast, the contributions of skilled mentors such as John Archibald Wheeler are multiplicative through a number of intellectual generations. Until quite recently, studies of mentoring in science were limited to 'laboratory' and/or 'field' disciplines such as chemistry and the life sciences.
    [Show full text]
  • Challenging Knowledge: How Climate Science Became a Victim of The
    Forthcoming in Agnotology: The Cultural Production of Ignorance, edited by Robert Proctor and Londa Schiebinger, Stanford University Press. Challenging Knowledge: How Climate Science Became a Victim of the Cold War1 Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change On June 2, 2005, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced an initiative to curb greenhouse gas emissions in California as a step towards addressing global warming. In his speech, the governor declared, “The debate is over. We know the science. We see the threat, and we know the time for action is now.”2 Schwarzenegger had his science right: the scientific debate is over. In fact, it has been for some time. Since the early-mid 1990s, there is a consensus in the scientific community about the basic facts of global warming, which is why the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is able to say with assurance that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.3 What scientific knowledge lies behind this statement? First, that humans have changed the chemistry of the Earth’s atmosphere, most notably by changing the concentration of carbon dioxide from a pre-industrial revolution level of about 280 parts per million to its current level of 385 and rising. (For his systematic work on the measurement of atmospheric CO2 since 1958, Charles David Keeling 1 Forthcoming in Agnotology: The Cultural Production of Ignorance, edited by Robert Proctor and Londa Schiebinger, Stanford University Press. won the 2002 National Medal of Science.) Second, that this carbon dioxide is largely the result of the massive burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—since the industrial revolution.4 Third, that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, meaning that it is highly transparent to visible light and less so to infrared, so if you change its concentration, it affects the radiative balance of the atmosphere.
    [Show full text]