Genesis Apologetics K8 Student Zone What is Science? (6-8th Grade)

What Science Is and Why It Matters

Well, hello and welcome to The Zone. I'm your host, Big Wave Dave. So, we're back with a brand new look and an exciting new season. Today, we're going to talk about science. So, let's start with a definition.

So, I found a lot of different definitions out there, but I really like this one. Science is the search for the truth. The effort to study the world around us. So, if we're going to talk science, we need to learn about some of the terms.

The first one is hypothesis. Now, what is that? A hypothesis is an idea that we want to test to see if it's true. For example, I think there might be air in this room. So, we could do experiments to prove if that's true or not.

Now, the second one, a lot of people get confused about this. When scientists call something a theory, it's an idea that has been supported through research. And it's generally accepted to be true until it's proven not to be.

Now, one bit of caution about this. Some things are called theories that really shouldn't be. We're going to talk about that next month when we talk about evolution. And finally, there is what's called scientific law.

Now, these are things found to be always true. For example, the law of gravitation. If you jump out of an airplane like these guys, you better have a parachute or you're going to learn all about gravity.

The Scientific Process and the Two Types of Science

So, scientists, when they're doing research, they use something called the scientific process. Here's how it works. First, they come up with the idea or the hypothesis that they want to test. The second thing they do is conduct research and or experiments to find out if the idea is true.

And then finally, they will either refine, accept, or reject that idea. Now, in reality, this step often repeats. Scientists will test something and refine the hypothesis. They'll test it again and refine it and so on and so forth.

This is especially true when we're talking about creating new technologies. So, there are two different types of science. The first type is observational or operational science. Now, have you ever done an experiment like this?

Then you have done observational science. You see, observational science deals with the present, the here and now. It involves doing tests that we can repeat and get the same results over and over again.

Observational science is responsible for really cool technologies. Let's look at a few examples. You know, thanks to modern communications, we can now talk to anybody almost anywhere instantly. Now, I'm old enough that I remember before we even had cell phones.

Okay, if somebody wasn't at home, you had to leave a message. There was no way to get a hold of them. Another example is food production. We produce more food than ever. And thanks to things like refrigerators and freezers, we can store that food and keep it from spoiling.

You know, technology is also responsible for renewable energy production. We can find environmentally friendly ways to power our homes and our businesses. But my personal favorite is medicine. You know, it is incredible what doctors and surgeons can do these days.

You know, my dad just had an operation to help him walk again, and I was just amazed at how they used technology to help him.

A Laser Balloon Experiment

Let's do an experiment.

All right, so the first step is to develop our hypothesis. But before we do that, I think we need a little bit of background. Have you ever heard of lasers? Lasers are so cool. We use lasers for a lot of different things.

We use them to cut metal or etch. We use them to print, to make CDs and DVDs. We also use them for lighting, and that's what we're going to talk about today. So the light that lasers produce is very interesting.

It's monochromatic. What does that mean? It means it's one color. So, for example, some lasers produce blue light. Some will make red. Others will make yellow and pink and purple and so on. It all depends on how they put the laser together.

Now, the light coming from lasers is very intense and makes for a very tight beam, which makes it perfect for things like light shows and lightsaber fights and fun things like that. So let's talk about our hypothesis.

So lasers emit concentrated photons or light energy. And we know that concentrated light energy produces heat. Therefore, we should be able to use a laser to pop a balloon. And that's what we're going to test today.

Are you ready?

Let's go. Okay, so let's do our experiment.

Here's what we've got.

We've got a laser on a tripod. We've got a balloon set up over here with a tower of cups. So what's supposed to happen is when I turn on the laser, it's going to burn a hole through the balloon and make it pop, which is going to bring the cups down.

Are you ready?

Let's give it a try. Whoops, I almost forgot. Because lasers can hurt your eyes, I'm going to put on these safety glasses.

Now we're ready.

Three, two, one.

So why isn't it working? Hmm, I have an idea. Let's switch to a darker balloon and try again.

All right, we're back.

This time we have a black balloon. Let's see what happens.

Three, two, one.

Why the Black Balloon Popped and the Blue One Did Not

That was so cool. Let's talk about our results. Welcome back. Let's unpack this experiment. So in order to understand what happened, I think we should talk about light a little bit. So white light is actually made up of different wavelengths or different colors.

Have you ever seen a rainbow? So what's happening there is the sunlight is being split by the water vapor in the clouds. Pretty cool, huh? So now when white light hits a white object, what happens is most of the light energy is reflected.

It bounces off. Now when it's a black object, the opposite occurs. A black object will absorb almost all the light energy and convert it to heat. So colored objects are very interesting. Let's say that we're looking at a red object.

Now what's happening is almost all of the different wavelengths of light are being absorbed by the object, but the color we see is the one that bounces off. Now let's talk about our first attempt. We had the light coming out of the laser was blue.

And what color is the balloon? It was blue as well. All that light from the laser bounced off. The blue balloon didn't absorb it, and so that's why it didn't pop. Now when we changed it to a black balloon, the balloon absorbed almost all the light energy and converted it to heat.

That's why the balloon popped almost instantly. During this experiment, we did learn that yes, you can pop a balloon with a laser, but you have to make sure that the light from the laser and the balloon are not the same color.

Pretty cool, huh? So that's observational science. There's a second type of science called historical science. Now with historical science, we're dealing with things in the distant past. For example, scientists will dig up fossils like this dinosaur fossil and then come up with ideas about them.

Now we're very limited with historical science. I mean, we can do some testing to determine the weight and the length and the chemical composition, but when it comes to answering questions about where this fossil came from and understanding the creature that made it, we really can't test that.

So that's why historical science can be so subjective. In fact, the worldview, what the scientist believes about the Bible and about God, really has a big impact on how they interpret fossils like this one.

That's why people can look at the exact same fossil evidence and come up with completely different ideas about the creature that made them. You get it? Great. So while we're on the subject, should we always trust scientists?

Well, the short answer is no. And here's why. First of all, scientists are people. And they make mistakes. Now I was in lighting research for over 20 years, and I can tell you that scientific research is affected by a lot of different things, like politics and policy, who paid for the study, the educational background and worldview of the scientist.

It affects what is studied, how the results are presented, and where. So when you hear things, always remember, especially with historical science, that it can be very subjective and that opinions vary greatly.

Why Historical Science Can Be Subjective

So when we're talking about historical science, there are some people who don't believe in God. This gentleman here is one of them. He tries to explain everything, the entire universe, without God. And that has led to some mistakes in the past.

Let's look at a few examples. Now scientists used to believe that the universe has always existed. Well, we now know that that's simply not true. Everything is winding down. It's called the second law of thermodynamics.

So that proves that the universe definitely had a beginning. Now there are tons of opinions about when that beginning was, but almost everybody agrees now that the universe had a beginning. Another one is what's called spontaneous generation.

Now this is the belief that life can come from non-living chemicals. Some school textbooks still say this, and that's a shame because Louis Pasteur and other scientists have proven that life always comes from life.

It's called the law of biogenesis. And by the way, I put some links here on the screen that if you want to go learn more about these topics in detail, you should go check these out. Now scientists used to teach something called vestigial organs.

Now these are organs that scientists used to think didn't have any function anymore, that they were just leftover parts from evolution. Well, we now know that that's not true. These organs do serve important functions.

For example, the appendix is part of our immune system. And finally, this thing called junk DNA. When they first started looking at DNA, they said, well, we know what this does, but all this other stuff we have no idea.

It must be leftover from our evolution ancestry. No. Further research has shown that all the DNA has some function. In fact, it does some very important things. If you get nothing else from this lesson today, here's what I want you to remember.

All science is not the same. Observational science is testable, repeatable, and responsible for cool technologies like cell phones and airplanes and things like that. Historical science can be very subjective, and a lot of the ideas simply can't be tested.

So the thing to remember as Christians, we should always use God's word to test to see if what we're being told is true. You know, in fact, did you know that science can't answer some question that the Bible can?

For example, where did everything come from? How did life start on Earth? What is a soul? Is there life after death? What about miracles? Now, scientists have tried to come up with all different ideas, like the Big Bang or evolution, things like that.

We're going to talk more about why those things don't work next month. But for now, let's talk about miracles. So, aren't miracles unscientific? I mean, they violate the laws of science? Yes, they do.

Otherwise, they'd be called ordinaries or something like that.

Jesus' Miracles and God's Authority Over Nature

But remember this.

Since God created everything, he is not bound by the laws of science. He can do whatever he wants. Let's look at some of the miracles that Jesus did when he was here on Earth with us. So, Jesus healed hundreds of people, people that couldn't see or walk or talk, and some of them had leprosy.

He even raised other people from the dead. Totally amazing. And Jesus also one day calmed a storm. He and his disciples were on a boat, and this huge storm came up, and the apostles were so scared, going,.

We're going to drown!

So Jesus woke up and said,.

No problem. Hey, be still. And the waves just stopped.

It was the coolest thing.

You see, as God, he had total command over nature. Another example is when Jesus fed thousands of people from just a little boy's lunch. But the greatest miracle of all is after Jesus was crucified and died for our sins, he rose again from the dead and is alive today.

Now that, to me, is the greatest miracle of all. All right, let's wrap this up. So, observational science is testable, repeatable, and responsible for cool technologies that we enjoy today. Historical science is very subjective and cannot answer a lot of questions.

As Christians, we should always test what we're being told against God's word to see if it's true. And finally, God is not bound by the laws of science. He's the one who created everything, so he can do miracles anytime he chooses.

I really hope that you like science and want to learn more. And if you do, I found some really cool resources at ICR. You should check them out. Well, that's all the time we have together today. I'm Big Wave Dave.

I hope to see you soon here at The Zone. God bless you.