Cumberland-Times Sky Columns
January 2006

February 5 - Lessons from Sports
February 12 - A Sad Understanding
February 19 - Our Wonderful Atmosphere
February 26 - Free Sky Guide

February 5 - Lessons from Sports
Today is Superbowl Sunday. While I don't grasp the intricate strategies used by the NFL coaches in their offenses and defenses, I do recognize that successful coaches have to be outstanding teachers. For once on the field, the athletes have to recall so much information they learned to be able to exploit the other team's weaknesses. The player have unbelievable motivation, so much that they put the life and limbs on the line. While some readers may say, "it's all about the money", most of the key players have already collected huge salaries all through the season. But consider the athletes that don't get salaries, they still throw themselves into the game. Both Frostburg State and Allegany College don't give athletic scholarships to their players, yet we have had great basketball and baseball teams at Allegany College and fine track and baseball teams at Frostburg State. What can you attribute their success to? Splendid coaching and recruiting by individuals such as Bob Kirk, Steve Bazarnik, Bob Wells and Bob Lewis and their assistants are largely responsible.

What makes athletes at all levels (pro, college, high school and lower) strive so in their games? Most Americans are keen on sports. They show up in great numbers to cheer their teams on. There is a strong work ethic for athletes to be competitive in any sport. If an athlete doesn't feel like they need to practice hard, they likely don't make the team and are likely to be dismissed.

What can ordinary classroom teachers learn from athletic coaches? In the classroom we don't have teams. Each student is an individual learner. There are no cheering crowds nor wild celebrations after receiving back a good test! The process of learning is much more internal, centered in the individual. But there are some similiarities between athletic coaching and classroom teaching.

In athletics there is quick feedback; an athlete knows almost instantly if they have done well. In some classes, the students don't really know if they are learning and grasping the ideas until the tests. Individual feedback of some kind in each class for each student would be helpful. This could be in form of a quiz, some graded exercise, etc. that is either returned to the student the next class or posted on the web. This may seem onerous to some teachers but the students at least know if they are succeeding or need to work harder.

Another aspect of athletics is that there is a good deal of one to one communication between the coaches and the athletes. In most classes, the teacher is in front and the students sit back. This fosters a feeling of separation between the teacher and the students. Some English classes use individual student-teacher conferences over student papers to encourage good teacher-student rapport. In science classes, there are laboratories where the instructor can mingle among the students and get to know them better. I hope to have individual student meetings next semester over the student's returned tests. I will make these meetings optional, based on student test scores and in an open locale (our student work area on the 3rd floor of FSU's Compton Science Center).

February 12 - A Sad Understanding
This semester I am teaching an Honors Seminar called "Belief in God and Mainstream Science: Can They Be Reconciled?" My own outlook is YES, you can believe in God and respect Mainstream Science. By Mainstream Science I am referring to the explosive origin of our universe, how the sun and planets formed, the development of Earth life and its continual alteration (ex. avian flu) and the future of the Earth and our sun. Much of the misunderstanding is due to a lack of understanding of the nature of science and limits of science.

Science only deals with things that can be measured; anything that can't be measured is beyond the realm of science. It is true that a few prominent scientists (Atkins, Dawkins) make statements against religion but they are speaking as individuals and not as scientists. In fact, they are following a system of beliefs called "Scientific Materialism", so in a sense they are relgious. Since God is a supernatural being, science can't prove or disprove God. Science is neutral about God.

Scientific theories are not the same as hunches; scientific theories are based on many tests and predictions. A scientific theory explains an area of nature through models, mathematical laws and a large amount of scientific facts that can be reproduced (duplicated in any well equipped laboratory). Scientists don't believe in scientific theories; they accept scientific theories as the best representation of nature, until a better theory that covers a wider range of conditions comes along. One of the best known theories is that of Gravitation. You can doubt Gravitation, but be careful if you try to fly off a cliff!

If a scientist doubts a particular scientific theory, he/she is free to challenge that theory by making observations or doing experiments that will cast doubt on that theory. Science doesn't proceed by attacks on well tested theories with semantic arguments that proceed from a set of beliefs. What you believe is irrelevant to science; the only guide is nature. Nature doesn't lie or quibble about the meaning of words.

How can one accept the Bible and Mainstream Science? Aren't there many contradictions between the two fields? Here is where one must consider the four senses to Scripture. First, the literal sense, where all passages are regarded factually. Second, the allegorical sense which uses certain passages to produce doctrine. Third, the moral sense with key passages providing ethical guides for our behavior. Fourth, the anagogical sense with an emphasis on Christian hope, ending in union with God in the New Jerusalem. During the Middle Ages, biblical interpretation involved interpreting some scriptural passages literally while others were open to differing interpretations. In the 16th century, John Calvin supported the continued study of nature and accomodating the interpretation of the Bible with regard to scientific understanding. This flexible approach became particularly important during the rise of Modern Science in the 17th Century. In 1633, the literalists persecuted Galileo for advocating that the planets orbited the sun. But by 1700, the Earth centered universe had been dismissed due to the discoveries of Kepler and Newton. For further reading on this topic, I refer any readers to "Science and Religion" by Alister McGrath, my main text in my Honors Seminar. Other relevant books include "When Science Meets Religion" by Ian Barbour and "Belief in God in an Age of Science" by John Polkinghorne. All three of the authors are scientists and theologian.

February 19 - Our Wonderful Atmosphere
Most of us forget about our wonderful atmosphere. Except when the wind blows or when we stick our arms out the window of a moving car, it seems to offer no resistance to us. But a cubic foot of air near sea level has a weight of about 3.9 ounces. (16 ounces = 1 pound). How much would all the air weigh? Since the air thins as we ascend, we can't use the weight of a cubic foot of air given above. Instead, we will use the average sea level air pressure of 14.7 lbs. per square inch. We can then get the total weight of our atmosphere by multiplying the average air pressure by the area of the Earth's surface.

So we will need to find the area of our Earth. The formula for the area of a sphere is 4 times Pi x radius squared. (The area of a circle is Pi x Radius squared.) The Earth's average radius is 3963 miles. If we convert this to feet, the radius is 20.92 million feet (3963 x 5280). As 1 foot = 12 inches, this radius can be stated as 251.1 million inches (20.92 million x 12).

Now we will find the area of the Earth's surface using the sphere area of 4 x Pi x radius squared. 4 x 3.142 x (251.1 million inches) squared = .7924 billion billion inches squared. Finally, let's multiply this area by the average pressure per square inch. This gives us a total weight of air of 11.65 billion billion pounds. If we use the long ton of 2240 pounds, then the total weight of our atmosphere is 46.6 billion billion / 2240 pounds per ton = 5.2 million billion tons. (The long ton differs from the metric tonne by 1.6%.) Since the Earth has a mass of 6 trillion trillion kilograms or 6 billion trillion tonnes, the atmosphere mass is 0.00009 % of the Earth's total mass. This is also the same as .9 millionth of the Earth's mass. This fraction of air to total Earth mass is about the same fraction as the weight of one's fine body hair to one's body mass.

To make the weight of the atmosphere more personal, consider the weight of the air on your head and shoulders. For an average person, the top area of your head and shoulders is about 70 square inches. When we multiply the air pressure by this area, the total weight of air pushing you down is about a thousand pounds! We don't feel this weight as our internal body pressure is the same as the air pressure, balancing this downward force. In a column in March, we will explore how many molecules we inhale with each breath.

February 26 - Free Sky Guide
Early this year, I was able to download for free a beautifully illustrated sky guide for 2006. The title is "What's Up 2006" by Tammy Plotner. After a very nice introductory forward on how to get started, Plotner has a page for each day of year, addressing key objects and even the craters of the moon then visible. The book is in pdf format and your computer needs Adobe Acrobat to view it. "What's Up 2006" takes up 15 Megabytes of your hard drive. You could try it for a while and then delete it if you didn't find the book worthwhile. You could also print it out the book but it may require an entire color inkjet cartridge to print out all 407 pages. The book is available through www.universetoday. com. In addition to this book, you need a sky atlas or set of sky charts.

Also worthwhile are low cost CD-ROM's in Science. Some of us remember the pre-Internet software services that sold hundreds of programs on floppy diskettes for a few dollars each diskette. Now we have CD-ROM drives on our computers; with each CD-ROM storing up to 650 Megabytes of programs, data, etc.

The company that I have found to have the largest array of educational CD-ROMs in the educational area is Ohio Distinctive Solutions. The average price is $4 a CD-ROM with shipping of $3 per single CD-ROM or set (up to 5 CD-ROM's in some sets) Some CD-ROM titles include: "Christianity and Civilization", "How Machines Work", a 5 CD-ROM set ("Earth", "Ecology" Part I and II, "Ecosystems" and "Total Biopark"), "Atlas of the Solar System", and "Encylopedia of Space and the Universe". When you consider how much gamesters pay for games on their Play Stations and X-Boxes, educational CD-ROM's are a much better value. Instead of learning how to evade police, shoot bad guys and other violent activities, use a computer to learn about science, history, literature, etc. These CD-ROM's don't require an internet access, so if you invest in these CD-ROM's for your children, they can be used on a computer not hooked up to the web. In that way, you can be sure that your children are not surfing the web and getting into chatrooms and sites that are not appropriate. The web address for Ohio Distinctive Solutions is: www.ohio-distinctive.com or their phone number is (614) 459-0453.