Concepts,
Scales, and Measures in Science - a Transdisciplinary Guide for Basic
Scientific Understanding
For the student: This guide provides links to webpages that describe basic concepts, scales, and measures in the areas of astronomy, biology, geology, paleontology, and physics. This page is meant to help the user quickly understand and visualize such concepts as the relative sizes of the planets, distances to the stars, geological history of the earth, the size and structure of cells, the scientific method, and relativity. These links can be clicked from top to bottom, or at random. Most links are to interactive/multimedia tutorials designed for quick comprehension. Hopefully, after utilizing these resources, the user will come away with a better understanding of the abstract concepts, numbers, and measurements communicated by science. A list of resources to directly ask scientists questions is available at the end of this guide.
(Teachers, please see the description at the end of this guide.)
General Information - Science Basics and the Scientific Method
"How Stuff Works - Science" by Discovery Communications (Marshall Brain, North Carolina State University)
LINK: http://science.howstuffworks.com/
This is a website founded by Marshall Brain, a teacher, author, and consultant who holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a Master's in computer science, as an unbiased, credible, easy-to-use general resource on almost any topic for the public. Brain published a book by the same title and various other popular science books. Brain is also the host of the "Who Knew" TV series.
"The Scientific Method Made Easy" by Potholer54 (9:54 minutes; color, 2008, Peter Hadfield)
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcavPAFiG14
This 10-minute video offers an easy-to-understand overview of the scientific method. The "Made Easy" series was produced under the pseudonymn "Potholer54" by retired Australian journalist Peter Hadfield, who holds a degree in geology and has 14 years of experience as a science correspondent and 20 years as a journalist, writing for science magazines such as New Scientist, and working for various science programs such as the BBC's "Science in Action." More about Hadfield's free series here.
"Back to Basics" by the Australian Academy of Science
LINK: http://science.org.au/scied/basics.html
This website offers novice-level explanation and animated tutorials (with audio), then provides links labeled, "When you've mastered the basics, try these sites." Resources for teachers are also provided. Information instructs the user on the basic scientific concepts of atoms, DNA and genes, energy and electromagnetism, the immune system, the solar system, earth science, and weather and climate science. The menu of links at the left provide information about the Academy, access to the Basser Library, numerous educational links and activities, interviews with scientists, publications, and much more information.
"Measurements and Units Defined" by Gerard P. Michon, Ph.D
LINK: http://www.numericana.com/answer/units.htm
This is a general webpage with links giving definitions of the units used to measure time, length, surface area, volume, capacity, mass, and weight, as well as statistical processes and calendars. This is the online companion to Michon's book and a deep resource offering explanations of historical units, an index, a symbols and icons page, and errata. Michon holds a Ph.D in computer science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
General Cosmology: Imagining the Cosmic and the Microscopic - Logarithmic Scales (Orders of Magnitude)
"Powers of Ten" a film by Charles and Ray Eames (9 minutes; color, 1977)
LINK: http://www.allthingsscience.com/video/42/Powers-of-Ten
This film* was produced by the famous husband-and-wife designer team, with music by Elmer Bernstein, and inspired by the architect Eliel Saarinen and the Dutch writer Kees Boeke. Playfully beginning with a picnic on the grass, the camera moves out one meter, then travels by powers of ten from the earth into the intergalactic realm, and then down again to the realm of the proton in a carbon atom of the picnicker's hand. (Scale in meters.)
AllThingsScience.com is a free science and technology media aggregator endorsed by ScienceRoll.com (Bertalan Mesko, M.D.). Contributors include Dr. Jeremy Pickett-Heaps, Ph.D., Cambridge.
"Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics, and You" by Michael W. Davidson and the Florida State University (1995-2010) in collaboration with the Optical Microscopy at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
LINK: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/
Similar to the Eames' film, this interactive tutorial travels from the intergalactic to the microscopic and down to the subatomic by powers of ten. Increase and decrease buttons allow one to navigate the tutorial once it has played, while metrics (in meters) are indicated below the screen (picometers, femtometers, etc.). Java plug-in required. Links offer further information and tutorials via the ZEISS Online Campus.
Astronomy: The Solar System
"Relative Sizes of Some Well Known Celestial Bodies" by Gallaudet University
LINK: http://sci.gallaudet.edu/Science/relativesizes.html
This is a static illustration featuring quick views of the relative sizes of the planets in the solar system, the sun versus common visible (not necessarily the nearest) stars in the sky. This is a limited resource without links or much explanation; however, it supplies a quick "eyeball view" for the novice user, and external links to Cornell and the Hubble Telescope websites.
"Relative Sizes of the Planets" - Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionary Online
LINK: http://visual.merriam-webster.com/astronomy/celestial-bodies/planets-satellites.php
This Merriam Webster illustration shows the relative sizes of the planets and of their satellites to the sun. This resource offers related pages showing the relative sizes of the orbits, a cross-section of the sun, and a diagram of the solar eclipse, along with a relevant glossary.
"Relative Sizes of the Planets and Orbits" by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University
LINK: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/Solar/sizes.html
This is a small, illustrated guide with links for easy navigation, showing the relative sizes of the planets, along with two small taxonomies (astrophysics and solar system concepts), and index to other subjects, a clickable illustration of the solar system (not to scale), and references. Pluto is included among the planets in the solar system. Also included: " Relative Scale Model of an Atom and the Solar System."
"The Thousand-Yard Model (or the Earth as Peppercorn)" by Guy Ottewell, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (Kitt Peak)
LINK: http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html
This is an activity-based resource for visualizing the relative sizes and distances from each other of the sun and the planets via walking with objects. With the earth the size of a peppercorn, Pluto is over 242 paces, or a half a mile, from the sun. No illustrations; metric version plus in-depth details of the planets sizes versus the sun and Jupiter, angular size, the positions of the planets in their orbits, Pluto's oddity, etc. (Pluto is treated as a planet.)
Sloan Digital Guide Survey (SDSS):
"A Simple Diagram - Distances"
LINK: http://cas.sdss.org/DR6/en/proj/advanced/hubble/simple.asp
"Estimating Distances to Galaxies"
LINK: http://cas.sdss.org/DR6/en/proj/advanced/hubble/distances.asp
The "Simple Diagram" offers a tutorial on how astronomers measure distances by comparing magnitudes. "Estimating Distances to Galaxies" builds upon the previous tutorial to estimate distances to galaxies by using the radiant flux formula. The Sloan Digital Guide Survey represents the most ambitious astronomical mapping project undertaken, and is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, NASA, U.S. Department of Energy, and MEXT (Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology). Includes dopplar effect animation.
Astronomy: Solar System and the Galaxy
"Size Scales in Astronomy" by William P. Blair, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University
LINK: http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~wpb/scale.html
Blair gives several different scales - based upon a 16-inch earth, a 3-inch sun, a 12-inch sun, and a 3-inch earth, respectively - for helping students conceive of the relative distances of the sun, moon, and planets from the earth, along with a one astronomical unit-thick piece of paper for imagining the size of the galaxy and the distance to other galaxies. No illustrations; contact information provided.
Biology:
"How Big is A...?" by James A. Sullivan, wildlife biologist, now with T/A Quill Graphics
LINK: http://www.cellsalive.com/howbig.htm
Beginning with the head of a pin (2mm), this interactive tutorial offers views of the objects that can fit on it: a human hair, a dust mite, ragweed pollen, Lymphocyte, red blood cells, Baker's yeast, E coli, Staphylococcus, Ebola virus, and Rhinovirus. Magnification and measures are given, but without explanation. However, a menu of links leads the user to illustrations of cellular objects and processes. T/A Quill Graphics provides visual, video, and computer animated documentation in the biomedical area. Sullivan's resume here: http://www.cellsalive.com/resume.htm
"Size and Biology, Studying Cells Tutorial" by The Biology Project, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, University of Arizona
LINK: http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/cells/cells2.html
This is a short, static webpage showing the sizes of various organic structures, from molecules to cells, with microscopic cross sections and short descriptions of various microscopes. Links to other pages in the tutorial, vocabulary (under development), and to an explanation of the scientific method are provided, as is a link to problem sets and external resources.
"Cell Size" by Johnson Explorations in collaboration with McGraw-Hill Higher Education
LINK: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/biolink/j_explorations/ch02expl.htm#
This interactive tutorial allows the user to manipulate the surface-to-volume ratio of a cell and see any resulting change in its rate of diffusion. Explanatory text appears in a pop-up when the "How to use this exploration" link is clicked. Links provide other interactive tutorials on cellular processes, such as mitosis, respiration, and heredity. Shockwave plug-in required.
Geology and Paleontology: Visualizing Deep Time
"How the Earth was Made - the Continents" (Pilot, 94 minutes; color, 2008, Pioneer Productions via the History Channel, available via amazon.com)
Part I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IVBfhbhU-c
This documentary, the pilot to a later series (also here), follows the geological history of the earth from its fiery birth to its most recent history. A ruler-type time scale at the bottom of the screen places events in their geological eras and epochs, and the progression of the eras reminds the viewer that the Precambrian takes up fully seven-eighths of the earth's history, from 4500 Ma (million years ago) to 542 Ma, before the earth developed breathable oxygen, forests, dinosaurs, and mammals. There is also a brief history of how an old earth came to be accepted and Archbishop Ussher's 6000-year-old earth rejected.
"Tour of Geologic Time" by the University of California Museum of Paleontology
LINK: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/geologictime.php
This is an interactive "tour" of the earth's geological history, including in-depth explanation, a clickable time scale, and the history of its development. Included is an online exhibit of the processes and history of plate tectonics, along with Quicktime and AVI animations. This is a deep resource with many internal and external links, and lists of sources.
"The Age of the Earth: How Old is the Earth, and How Do We Know?" by Chris Stassen (1996-2005) of the Talk Origins Website
LINK: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-age-of-earth.html
TalkOrigins.org is a Usenet newsgroup dedicated to the question of biological and physical origins, and offers answers to debate questions about creationism and evolution. The TalkOrigins Archive offers articles and essays by scientists and writers, and is linked to the virtual University of Ediacara and the blog The Panda's Thumb, which also explore evolution, abiogenesis, geology, and paleontology, often in response to creationist claims. This is a rich resource with links to other articles, FAQ, essays, and transcripts of debates with creationists/intelligent design advocates. On the "Age of the Earth" page, links also provide context for radiometric dating.
"2009 Geological Time Scale" by The Geological Society of America
LINK: http://www.geosociety.org/science/timescale/
This is the most correct timeline to date (April/May 2009), but it is a static image available for printing in PDF, given along with its 1999 version which is also available in PDF. The link to the "Read about the changes" section brings one to a journals page rather than directly to a list of changes, but the page also has a link to its Facebook discussion on the corrected timeline. This timeline features magnetic polarity changes as well as granular information as periods, epochs, ages, all measured in Ma (millions of years ago).
Geology: Visualizing the Earth's Interior
"The Restless Earth: a Geologic Primer" by the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Washington
LINK: http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/geo_history_wa/The%20Restless%20Earth%20v.2.0.htm
This resource offers to-scale cut-aways of the earth's interior with descriptions, explanations of geologic processes, a map of the major lithospheric (tectonic) plates, a simple geological time scale, and internal links to more examples. The top menu offers links to exhibits and other resources at the museum, which emphasizes local geology.
Physics/Chemistry: Atomic
"A Science Odyssey: Atom Builder" by the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS)
LINK: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/atom/#
This interactive tutorial allows the user in the "Atom Builder Activity" to drag-and-drop electrons, and "up" and "down" quarks, into a basic hydrogen atom to create a carbon atom. Pop-up warnings notify the user if an elementary particle is wrongly placed, or if the addition of an electron creates an unstable ion. If the user violates basic physio-chemical principles, the tutorial will force the user to start over. Atom builder guides and a glossary provide help. Internal links to important physicists and concepts are given. Requires Shockwave plug-in, but a non-Javascript version is also provided. (Not to atomic scale.)
Interactive Periodic Table of the Elements by Murray Robertson, Dr. John Emsley, and the Royal Society of Chemistry
LINK: http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/pages/pertable_fla.htm
This collaboration between an artist and a scientist, commissioned by the Royal Society of Chemistry, yields a "clickable" Periodic Table, with each link taking the user to a separate element page. It also offers news, an essay on the Table's development, and supplementary information such as relative atomic masses and radii, links (including artistic and humorous), e-postcards, and imaginative computer animated "fly-throughs" of the elements generated by the Table's relationships and patterns. An explanation of Murray's conception can be found here. (Quicktime plug-in required; large illustrations/videos require much bandwidth and memory.)
Physics: Wave Dynamics
"Acoustic and Vibrations Animations" by Dan Russell, Ph.D at Kettering University
LINK: http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos.html
This webpage offers animated demonstrations of various acoustic wave patterns and effects, along with explanation and external links. Nonacoustic wave phenomena, including quantum effects, are included toward the bottom of the page. (Some animations require Quicktime plug-in.)
Physics: Voice Synthesization
"Wolfgang von Kempelen's Speaking Machine and its Successors" by Hartmut Traumuller, Professor Emeritus, Stockholm University
LINK: http://www.ling.su.se/staff/hartmut/kemplne.htm
This webpage gives an overview of the history of the machine-produced human voice, along with diagrams and photographs of early machines, and audio files. External links are provided for more information and sound samples.
Physics: Relativity Explained
"Einstein Light" by the University of New South Wales, Australia
LINK: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/
This interactive tutorial allows the user to move through various questions of relativity in terms of mechanics, magnetism, the speed of light (constant c), etc., and view short film animations demonstrating the development of the principles of relativity from Galileo to Einstein. While the animation loads, the user in invited to explore background links, also available below the modules, for further information.
Other Interactive Resources - "Ask Me" Services
"Ask an Astronomer" by astronomy graduate students at the Lick Observatory
LINK: http://www.ucolick.org/~mountain/AAA/
Limitations apply to this resource; please read the FAQ page.
"Ask an Astrophysicist" by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
LINK: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/ask_an_astronomer.html
Limitations apply to this resource, which also offers links to answered questions.
"Ask a Biologist" by U.K. and Canadian scientists
LINK: http://askabiologist.org.uk/
This resource is aimed at schoolchildren, but users can browse answered questions.
"Ask an Engineer" by the school of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
LINK: http://engineering.mit.edu/ask/
The user can pick from a cloud of canned engineering questions.
"Ask the Physicist" by F. Todd Baker, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, the University of Georgia
LINK: http://www.askthephysicist.com/
This resource is geared toward the general public and is not meant for highly technical questions, or for "obvious" homework questions.
For the teacher: This guide offers descriptive and/or interactive standard concepts, scales, and measures in the areas of astronomy, biology, geology, paleontology, and physics. Most of these resources contain illustrations, tutorials, and/or animation for quick comprehension. This is a general guide meant to aid the user in understanding basic scientific ideas, and in visualizing fundamental distances, amounts, timelines, and comparisons in science such as the relative sizes of and distances to interstellar and intergalactic objects, the speed of light, the earth's age and geological timeline, cells and viruses, atomic structure, and relativity. Many resources quickly provide basic or introductory information; other resources are more rich and offer in-depth explanation and analysis, plus links to other sites.
Short and/or introductory resources are listed first, with links giving more in-depth explanation and analysis next. This guide can quickly answer specific questions ("How big is Jupiter in relation to earth?") or be a browsable, discovery-based introductory tool for the casually interested user. Resources can be followed by subject from the top down, or merely clicked at random. Hopefully, after utilizing some of the resources on this page, either in order or by perusal, users at any educational level will come away with a better perspective on the abstract and often bewildering concepts, numbers, and measurements communicated by science.
*"Powers of Ten" was selected in 1998 for preservation in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Copyright © Kristin Harley, May 2, 2010