April 25, 2006
"What is one science question every high school graduate should be able to answer?" Your suggestions below.
And with carefully worded, easy-to-understand explanations such as "Adding salt to snow or ice increases the number of molecules on the ground surface and makes it harder for the water to freeze", it's just a wonder how more people don't know the answers.
(does anyone know what that means? more molecules of what?)
molecules of atoms - duh!
I just said "because it makes the ice melt" Cuz he doesn't ask how he just asks why. Well actually I said because it lowers the freezing temperature of water.
I got every one of them right cept for the detaily darwin one and the oldest fossils on earth one. that's a lot better than i did on that stupid jock functionality test.
Some of those just sounded kind of vague--in particular "what makes viral and bacterial diseases hard to treat?" my answer was "because you have to kill some (viral/bacterial) cells, while not killing others.
I'd probably add "what are the four fundamental ways that matter interacts with other matter?"
"How old is the universe?"
on a somewhat related note, i learned an interesting sciency fact this morning - what happens when you add austin city water to a dried red wine stain? it turns blue. after the alcohol and water evaporates, most of what you have left is tannic acid which acts as a pH indicator and the pH of austin city water is ~9. which is on the high side but it's been that way for so long that if they lower it now, the debris in your pipes would start leaching out and that would be considerably worse.
I think his point with the salt is that it's a colligative property of the solution -- it only depends on the fact that something else is there, and not on a chemical interaction between the salt and the water. It hardly seems to stand as one of the central mysteries of the universe, but maybe our resident chem TAs and Drs can weigh in.
I don't know the age of the earth or of the universe, but I bet I can put most of the important events in order. I also don't remember the years of the US Civil War but I have a good grasp of its relative chronology and how those events relate, which I think is more important.
If I get one question to ask a student graduating high school, I want something that demands deep understanding, connects several subjects, and is relevant to the life of a typical person. Here are a few candidates:
- How does the structure of the DNA molecule explain the changes over time to existing species when a new type of organism is introduced to an ecosystem?
- Starting from the chemicals inside the battery and ending at your eye, how does a flashlight help you see?
- Starting from the electrical socket and ending at the tomato, how does your refrigerator keep a BLT sandwich cold?
- Starting from the candle wax and ending at your eye, how does a candle help you see?
- Describe in rich detail the series of events that occur when a computer is switched on.
- Describe in rich (scientific) detail the series of events that occur when a toilet is flushed.
- Starting from his breakfast and ending where the rubber meets the road, how in detail does a runner use fried eggs to move himself down the road?
- Starting from the fuel in the fuel tank, ending where the rubber meets the road, and covering the chemical, electrical and mechanical processes in between, how does an automobile work?
- Give a brief rundown of the scientifically significant events in our planet's history, from its formation to the first human civilization, along with scientific evidence available to any normal person in support of that chronology.
- Give a simple picture of the solar system, and briefly explain how it leads to seasons, tides, and days and nights.
- What evidence can any normal person gather for herself to show that the earth is round, that it orbits the sun, and that the same laws govern objects in the sky as here on earth?
- What evidence can any normal person gather for himself to show that matter is not infinitely divisible, but is composed of atoms?
My question for high-schoolers:
Condoleezza is on the top of a federal building holding a watermelon...
Since "chem TAs and Drs" was invoked:
Regarding the freezing point depression, what I learned in high school was Flip's point about it being a colligative property, and the freezing point went down because there was some solute present. The ice/ salt thing is a little hard to grasp with that explanation just because when the salt is physically applied to the ice, there are two phases. Students would have to understand that those two phases form a solution somehow.
The explanation on this test is stupid because as Nate pointed out, they don't specifiy what type of molecules. More water molecules wouldn't depress the freezing point.
In thermo class, I got a more detailed explanation of why the freezing point is lowered, (beyond "that's what colligative properties do") and it has to do with how the entropy of crystal formation changes when you have something (a solute) disrupting what would otherwise be a regular ice crystal.
Give a simple picture of the solar system, and briefly explain how it leads to seasons, tides, and days and nights.
hahahaha. In our astronomy class in college, we were told the outrageous percent of harvard grads who couldn't answer this question (or its subquestions) correctly, much less high school students. It seems like I watched a film clip of something similar once, too, and was blown away by the amazing confidence with which they issued their so-bad-they're-not-even-wrong answers.
pure hilarity.
furthermore, their explanation for seasons seems to be neatly between the correct (the sun's rays are more directly on that part of earth during summer, and at an oblique angle in winter) and the incorrect (that part of earth is closer to the sun in the summer and farther away in the winter):
Seasons occur because the earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees. At certain times of year the top half of the earth leans to the sun and therefore gets more sun and has summer. When that same half of the earth leans away from the sun it gets less light and has winter.
I liked the harvard explanations too, like the eliptical nature of the earth's orbit is what leads to the seasons.
I also don't remember the years of the US Civil War but I have a good grasp of its relative chronology and how those events relate, which I think is more important.
Sometimes I think I would be happy (ok, happier) if a majority of Americans could just identify who did the fighting. And don't even let me get started on geography (US, much less world...).
besides ducks and small rocks, what else floats?
Score:
TheWestIsTheBest mrflip ----------------- ---------- +5 -53
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posted by natedogg at 07:18PM CST on April 25