Why Learn Science?

Most recent answer: 10/22/2007

Q:
Why are science courses required as part of a baccalaureate education? Educators must have legitimate reasons for it being required? 2. What were the significant findings of the Greek astronomer, Eratosthenes? What controversies did he cause? What are the short-term and/or long-term ramifications of his discoveries? 3. How can you tell the difference between a rock and a mineral? Do you think you can get a fairly good idea of what it is just by looking at the object in your hand?
- Kristy
East Ascension High School, Gonzales, LA, USA
A:
Kristy -

We recently had someone submit a question entitled "Is love a purely chemical reaction?" It’s important to understand science because it applies to every part of our lives. No matter what you are studying in college, you will have questions that can be answered only with science. For example, if love were truly a purely chemical reaction, philosphers would have much less to talk about. But how could they know if it is or not if they don’t know at least a little bit of science?

Athletes also have to understand science in order to know how to best play their game. Try searching our answers sections for the word ’tennis’ or ’basketball’. You might be surprised how much science there is there.

On to question number 2... Much though I’m sure you’d like me to, I’m not going to write your paper for you. I would suggest that you go to and run a search for ’Eratosthenes’. I guarantee that you will get plenty of useful information.

For your last question, there are a lot of different definitions of ’rock’ and ’mineral’. For example, one definition says that a rock is a chunk of stuff made up of minerals, and that a mineral is a pure crystal of an element. Another definition says that a mineral is just a rock that contains only inorganic molecules. Without knowing what definitions your teacher is using, I can’t really answer your question.

-Tamara

(published on 10/22/2007)