Mizoram Board Solutions for Chapter: Physical World, Exercise 1: EXERCISES

Write in about $1000$ words a fiction piece based on your speculation on the science and technology of the twenty-second century.

Attempt to formulate your ‘moral’ views on the practice of science. Imagine yourself stumbling upon a discovery, which has great academic interest but is certain to have nothing but dangerous consequences for the human society. How, if at all, will you resolve your dilemma?

Science, like any knowledge, can be put to good or bad use, depending on the user. Given below are some applications of science. Formulate your views on whether the particular application is good, bad or something that cannot be so clearly categorized: 

(a) Mass vaccination against small pox to curb and finally eradicate this disease from the population. (This has already been successfully done in India.)
(b) Television for eradication of illiteracy and for mass communication of news and ideas.
(c) Prenatural sex determination.
(d) Computers for increase in work efficiency.
(e) Putting artificial satellites into orbits around the Earth.
(f) Development of nuclear weapons.
(g) Development of new and powerful techniques of chemical and biological warfare.
(h) Purification of water for drinking.
(i) Plastic surgery.
(j) Cloning.

India has had a long and unbroken tradition of great scholarship—in mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, logic and ethics. Yet, in parallel with this, several superstitious and obscurant is attitudes and practices flourished in our society and unfortunately continue even today—among many educated people too. How will you use your knowledge of science to develop strategies to counter these attitudes?

Though the law gives women equal status in India, many people hold unscientific views on a woman’s innate nature, capacity and intelligence, and in practice give them a secondary status and role. Demolish this view using scientific arguments, and by quoting examples of great women in science and other spheres; and persuade yourself and others that, given equal opportunity, women are on par with men.

“It is more important to have beauty in the equations of physics than to have them agree with experiments”. The great British physicist P.A.M. Dirac held this view. Criticize this statement. Look out for some which strike you as beautiful.

Though the statement quoted above may be disputed, most physicists do have a feeling that the great laws of physics are at once simple and beautiful. Some of the notable physicists, besides Dirac, who have articulated this feeling, are Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Chandrasekhar and Feynman. You are urged to make special efforts to get access to the general books and writings by these and other great masters of physics. (See the Bibliography at the end of this book.) Their writings are truly inspiring! Give few examples to show the beauty of laws of Physics. 

Text books on science may give you a wrong impression that studying science is dry and all too serious and that scientists are absent-minded introverts who never laugh or grin. This image of science and scientists is patently false. Scientists, like any other group of humans, have their share of humorists, and many have led their lives with a great sense of fun and adventure, even as they seriously pursued their scientific work. Two great physicists of this genre are Gamow and Feynman. You will enjoy reading their books listed in the Bibliography.