Earth science curriculum tailored to fit wavering fundamentalists

What about "herstories" of women scientists and their works? Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous DiscoveriesWomen in Science: Then and NowEnjoy

Yet there is also a reason that 14C was not in equilibrium in the atmosphere that has since been discovered.This is another example of a first approximation being made to explain how something works. Libby estimated the half-life at 5568 years and he assumed that the rate of 14C generation was constant.Then he finds that 14C hasn't reached a predicted equilibrium level, even though it is close -- there is an anomaly (and the greatest words in science are said ... "that's curious ... ")Then we find that the generation of 14C is NOT constant as had been assumed, but varies widely because the cosmic ray bombardment generator process varies widely with solar activity. This destabilizes the 14C atmospheric levels so that reaching equilibrium is not possible. This variation then affects the accuracy of the dating calculations even though the measurements are very precise.Then we find that the actual half-life is closer to 5730 years, so age calculations need to be adjusted to make them more accurate.Then the variation of 14C with age is determined from tree rings of known ages and we can either back-calculate the original atmosphere levels at the time the rings were formed, or we can just compare the measured 14C levels to those in the tree rings at find the age from the tree rings with matching levels (which has the benefit of incorporating the change to the half-life -- and any future improvement in that value), and it takes the post industrial revolution fossil fuel effect on recent values into account.This then improves the accuracy by reducing the effect on the results from the variations in atmospheric levels.Each step makes the process better and a more accurate measurement of age.btw -- you can model the equilibrium situation by using a bucket with a hole in the bottom. If you fill it with water at a constant rate the level will rise until the outflow rate (proportional to depth) matches the inflow rate. Now turn the tap on and off ...Enjoy.

If you take 10 pennies and toss them on the table we know that theoretically they land with 5 heads and 5 tails, but we also know that this isn't necessarily the result.What would be a good estimate of the error?If you did 10 such tosses and counted the number of times you got 5/5, 6/4, 7/3, 8/2, 9/1 and 10/0 results, and then calculate what the average error was for each throw.Does this average error mean that you never get 5 heads and 5 tails?How well does the average error predict what a single throw will show?If you distinguish 6 heads and 4 tails from 4 heads and 6 tails (ie record 0/10, 1/9, 2/8, 3/7, 4/6, 5/5, 6/4, 7/3, 8/2, 9/1 and 10/0) you can show that the average result approximates 5 each, with increasing accuracy the more throws you make.You can also experiment to find how many throws it takes to get a good idea of what the average error would be for infinite throws.Then introduce the concept of standard deviation and relate that to the number of throws necessary to get an accurate representation of the average value and the degree of error likely in a single throw.Now you have the ability to report the average and the values between +1σ and -1σ ... and you can ask if results ever fall outside those error bars. Climate Sanity, Applying Monte Carlo simulation to Sloan’s and Wolfendale’s use of Forbush decrease dataAnd you can note that this is a concept that is prevalent throughout science.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : 5 not 4 tails

Fixed thanks. Hate it when that happens.I was thinking you could also do it with 5 pennies with possible results0/5, 1/4, 2/3, 3/2, 4/1, and 5/0.In theory you would never get 2.5 heads or 2.5 tails, but that would be the long term average -- and now you can talk about accurate values and precise values. ac•cu•ra•cy
[ak-yer-uh-see] noun, plural ac•cu•ra•cies.

1. the condition or quality of being true, correct, or exact; freedom from error or defect; precision or exactness; correctness.
2. Chemistry, Physics. the extent to which a given measurement agrees with the standard value for that measurement. Compare precision (def 6).
3. Mathematics . the degree of correctness of a quantity, expression, etc. Compare precision (def 5).

In scientific use Accuracy means your ability to hit the bulls eye of a target. If we take a bow and shoot 200 arrows at a target, and all the arrow locations average out to a bull's eye, then the average result is very accurate, the closer they cluster to the bull's doesn't affect the degree of accuracy, even though there may be significant error in any one shot and there may not even be a single bull's eye in the whole group. There could be a fairly large degree of scatter in the data and still have an accurate overall average result. pre•ci•sion
[pri-sizh-uhn] noun

1. the state or quality of being precise.
2. accuracy; exactness: to arrive at an estimate with precision.
3. mechanical or scientific exactness: a lens ground with precision.
4. punctiliousness; strictness: precision in one's business dealings.
5. Mathematics . the degree to which the correctness of a quantity is expressed. Compare accuracy (def 3).

Again, in scientific usage Precision means the ability to replicate exactly the same results. With our bow and arrow example we now have 200 arrows all clustered very close together, but they may or may not be located near the bull's eye, and their location relative to the bull's eye does not affect the precision. There is very little scatter in this case, so it is highly precise, as the degree of scatter defines the precision.As you can see these terms are not quite the same, and ideally we would like to have a system that is both accurate and precise.Enjoy

Check me to see if I get this right:http://www.engr.uky.edu/~egr101/ml/ML3.pdf (symbols changed for consistency below, bold added)

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For now we will define the Reynold’s number as,

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N_R = ρ_f*V*D/μ

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where N_R is Reynold’s Number, ρ_f (fluid) is the mass density of the fluid, V is the velocity of the fluids relative to the sphere, and D is the diameter of the sphere. (and μ is the fluid viscosity)

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The application of the Reynold’s Number to fluids problems is to determine the nature of the fluid flow conditions — laminar or turbulent. For the case where we have a viscous and incompressible fluid flowing around a sphere, Stokes’ Law is valid providing the Reynold’s Number has a value less than 1.0. When utilizing Stokes’ Law, it is appropriate to verify the application of this law is appropriate.

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So N_R = 1.0 = ρ_f*V*D_(max)/μand D_(max) = μ/(ρ_f*V)Because this is the limit for laminar flow we can use the Stokes' equation for V ...Stokes' Law: V = {g*(ρ_p-ρ_f)*D^{^2})/(18*μ)}Where V = velocity, g = gravity, μ = the fluid viscosity, ρ_p = density of particle, ρ_f = density of fluid, and D = particle diameter.D_(max) = μ/ρ_f*{g*(ρ_p-ρ_f)D_(max)^{^2}/(18*μ)}D_(max)^{^3} = 18*μ^{^2})/{(g*ρ_f*(ρ_p-ρ_f)}D_(max) = (18*μ^{^2})/{g*ρ_f*(ρ_p-ρ_f)}^{^(1/3)}where D_(max) = maximum diameter for laminar flow,μ = the fluid viscosity, for water = 0.00089 kg/m*s
g = gravity, = 9.8 m/s^{^2}
ρ_f = density of fluid, for water = 1000 kg/m^{^3} (by definition at 4°C iirc)
ρ_p = density of particle, for glass = 1922 kg/m^{^3}So D_(max) = {(18*0.00089^2)/(9.8*1000*(1900-1000))}^(1/3)
D_(max) = 0.00012 meters
D_(max) = 0.12 mmfor glass particles in water. Steel particles would be smaller still.Larger than this diameter would result in turbulent flow which expends kinetic energy to the water in the wake reducing the kinetic energy for the marble so the velocity would be slower than the Stokes' Law (by a factor of 80 for the marble?), ... ie the drag from the turbulent flow slows the particles more than in laminar flow.Now I have to check the corn oil and corn syrup for laminar flow ... after you check my numbers?EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : clrty

First I would pose it as a question that disturbs you ...But I would ask how plant fossils are sorted by different types with grasses being last (did they run uphill?)Enjoy

And there are the stalactites that have formed over cave paintings ....

Try this:One of the main objections to radiometric dating

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The ages of the Fen Complex (A,B) are on two separate dikes within the Fen Complex. Not only are their ages similar, but the direction of magnetization in the rocks is also identical and indicates that Oslo, Norway was located at about 30 degrees south at the time. This is an important consideration. In order to refute the ages, ye-creationists must not only explain how three different isotopic systems (with different decay constantsa and chemical behavior) all gave the same age and the same magnetic direction. It is also not trivial that the magnetic direction in these rocks indicates that Norway has moved northward following the emplacement of these rocks.

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Joe Meert has posted on this forum in the past, and he has a list of articles regarding creationist claims Creationism Pages by Joe MeertCreationism Pages by Joe MeertLikewise Don Lindsay has a number of articlesEvidenceThis one involves dating a string of craters
Are Radioactive Dating Methods Consistent?

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To check, we need one single event which has been dated by several methods. A nice example is the Triassic multiple-impact event, which formed a 4500-kilometer-long chain of huge craters. (There must have been a train of big objects from space, which hit the spinning earth, one by one, across several hours. Much like the way comet Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter in 1994.)

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Here are the five confirmed craters:

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"Stratigraphic" dating means that the crater itself has not been dated. Instead, the rock strata above and below the crater was dated. (By now, the Red Wing crater is under 1.5 kilometers of sediment.)

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The table shows five datings that are consistent with each other. However, there is a sixth dating involved: the one for drawing the map.

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Today, the continents are moving about one inch a year. This is a simple fact which can be measured by anyone with good GPS equipment. So, in 214 million years, the continents could have moved three thousand miles. To get a map of that past world, geologists did K/Ar datings of ancient lava flows. As the article below shows, the three main craters form a dead straight line on that map.

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Enjoy

Do you mean this one Geoscience Research Institute | I think we need more research on that...?
THE IMPACT OF TEKTITES UPON AN ESTIMATED 700,000 YEAR HISTORY OF DEEP-SEA DEPOSITSThere is also a previous article by same author
Geoscience Research Institute | I think we need more research on that...
ANOMALOUS AGES FOR METEORITE IMPACTS AND TEKTITES

First off check these:CH561.1: Ecological zonation -- ecological zone sorting
CH561.2: Hydrologic sorting -- hydrological (size) sorting
CH561.3: Fossil sorting by fleeing -- sorted by the ability to escape
CH561.4: Geological column and the Flood -- combination of the aboveand these:CH541: Fish in the Flood -- aquatic animals survived
CH542: Plant survival in the Flood -- plants survivedNote that fossils are not only sorted in time but sorted in space -- again I recommend Song of the Dodo as an introduction to biogeography (and Wallace) -- and that those spacial relationships change with geological ages (ie when different continents were connected so animals could spread over the land).As in why are marsupial fossils in Australia and South America, and no placental fossils in Australia? How did a flood do that? Algae first -- including diatoms that are sorted in different layers with different species -- would be your floating plants example ...but we also have
CC250: Plant fossil record -- no plant origin/fossils?

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The fossil record shows the origins of several groups of modern plants. The groups listed here are some of the most prominent:

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• Land plants. Several fossils exist showing their origin (Bateman et al. 1998; Kenrick and Crane 1997). Molecular data combined with the fossil evidence shows that the first land plants were liverworts (Qiu et al. 1998). A fossil Ordovician fungus (about 460 million years ago) has the same form as modern arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, indicating that the earliest land plants had this kind of symbiotic relationship with fungi (Redecker et al. 2000).
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• Seed plants. The first trees were also among the first free-sporing plants sharing characteristics with seed plants (Meyer-Berthaud et al. 1999).
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• Angiosperms. Jurassic fossils of Archaefructus show some of the earliest and most primitive angiosperms (Sun et al. 2002). Ren (1998) described some Jurassic flies adapted for pollination, suggesting that angiosperms may have originated by then. Dilcher (2000) briefly reviews angiosperm paleobotany. Major events in their evolution were the appearance of closed carpels, bilaterally symmetrical flowers, and large fruits.
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• Monocotyledons. The early fossils of this group are meager, but some fossils exist (Gandolfo et al. 1998).

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Angiosperms are flowering plants, including trees. Monocotyledons are a subset of angiosperms.Embryophytes -- tree of life, green plants
Spermatopsida -- tree of life, seed plants
Angiosperms -- tree of life, angiosperms
Monocotyledons -- tree of life, monocotyledonsMonocotyledons include grasses Poaceae - Wikipedia, Evolutionary History of the Grasses1 | Plant Physiology | Oxford AcademicPolypodiopsida -- tree of life, fernsFerns predate angiosperms and are in earlier layers ...There is a layer below which no flowering plants are in the fossil record.So in a simplistic order, you have algae, ferns, flowering plants, grasses, all sorted by their age of original evolution.Also see Ferns - Evolution - Plants, Rhyniopsida, Botanists, and Extinct - JRank Articles
and Cycads - Evolution - Plants, Dominant, Million, and Haploid - JRank Articles
and Lycophyte - Wikipedia
and Zosterophyll - WikipediaEven with species living today from ancient groups you can show sorting problems when species living today do not exist in earlier fossil layers -- why do flower fossils not exist in lower layers? why do grasses not exist in lower layers?For a start.You can also google prehistoric extinct plants
List of extinct plants - WikipediaEnjoyps -- Free evolution and climate change book downloads! | National Center for Science Education free book downloadsEdited by RAZD, : linksEdited by RAZD, : mo

Ask him which ONE →(1)← one argument he finds the most convincing: focus on that, with "we can get to the others once we have resolve this one" ... and if he can't decide then say you'll take the first one first.That is usually a good way to get them to started thinking about the support (or lack of it) ...Enjoy

Dawkins answers the question about how we know that evidence is positive for science ... ie what is the evidence that evidence is of value ... and he answers "because it (science) works" and then listed a number of things that "work" -- airplanes, medicine, etc.I would clarify this a little by saying it is reproducible -- that when you design a plane it has to be tested to make sure it operates within design parameters (and new designs need to be modified when necessary to meet those parameters to be a successful design) ... but the acid test is that the design can be reproduced and the reproductions will fly as well as the original.Likewise medicine can be reproduced and cure people the same as the original medicine.Reproducible results is a key component to science and is part of the review process of testing new hypothesis.Enjoy

Kangaroos are fast and eat a variety of vegetation.Koalas are slow, are not great swimmers and only eat eucalyptus leaves.And why did no marsupials stay in the middle east?inquiring minds want to know ...Enjoy

The system I use/d for all websites in Age Correlations and An Old Earth, Version 2 No 1 (see Message 2):

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References

1. Anonymous "California's Ancient Bristlecone Pines, The Oldest Living Things" American West Travelogue, 1996-2007 ASA Consultants, Inc. accessed 10 Jan, 2007 from http://www.amwest-travel.com/awt_bristle.html
2. Anonymous "Methuselah (tree)" Wikipedia. updated 9 Jan 2007. accessed 10 Jan 2007 from Methuselah (tree) - Wikipedia
3. Anonymous "Prometheus (tree)" Wikipedia. updated 7 Jan 2007. accessed 10 Jan 2007 from Prometheus (tree) - Wikipedia
4. Anonymous "The "Prometheus" Story" Great Basin On-line. updated 2 Aug 2002. accessed 10 Jan 2007 from Requested Page Not Found (404)
5. Earle, Christopher J. "Pinus longaeva D.K. Bailey 1970" Gymnosperm Database. Last modified 28 Jan 2000. accessed 10 Jan 2007 from Fachbereich Biologie : Universität Hamburg
6. Grissino-Mayer , Henri D., "Ultimate Tree-Ring Web Pages " Department of Geography, The University of Tennessee. updated 28 Jun 2006. accessed 10 Jan 2007 from http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/
7. Miller, Leonard, "Dendrochronology" Sonic.net/bristlecone. updated 2 Jan 2005. accessed 10 Jan 2007 from Dendrochronology
8. Miller, Leonard, "The Ancient Bristlecone Pine" Sonic.net/bristlecone. updated 2 Jan 2005. accessed 10 Jan 2007 from Ancient Bristlecone Pine
   

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Where possible, I have tried to follow the standard academic procedure for citing online publications, where if you last accessed this page on January 30, 2007, and used version 2 number 1, you would cite this as:

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Smith, Paul "Age Correlations and An Old Earth: Bristlecone Pines." EvC Forum. Vers 2 no 1 updated 27 Jan 2007, accessed 30 Jan, 2007 from EvC Forum: Age Correlations and An Old Earth, Version 2 No 1.

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It is important to put the accessed date because websites (especially wiki) can be changed. Another common way to put the access date in brackets: [30JAN07] and I have also done webpages this way when the authorship is unknown:Wikipedia.com, Methuselah, last modified 22 December 2013 , [2013, December 23]: Methuselah (tree) - WikipediaLikewise Images:

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Note: all images used on this, and subsequent posts that this one refers to with links, have been copied to a mirror site - without any modification or any intent to take credit for them. In every case I reference the original site where they can be viewed in context and verified as needed. The only purpose to copying the images is to reduce band-width traffic on the original sites when these pages are accessed.

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... and in case the website stops using the image.Wiki does preserve the history of edits, unlike many websites, so date of access can be tracked and verified.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : ..

A couple of small quibbles: Example lengths and margins of error would make a nice graphic: ----------------------------------|___X___| (laser rangefinder)
--------------------------------|___X___| (Satellite GPS)
--------------------------------------|__X__| (yardstick)
----------------------------------|__|X|_|
(two out of three likely, three out of three very likely actual value)Notice how improving the accuracy of any one of these three methods does not significantly affect the consilience of all the methods.Your example Waay too long: think of how you would draw it on the whiteboard ... likely with bullet points for the information, then use it as a checklist on first arrival.Good start.Enjoy