Natural Science - Year I

For 2026: Please note that units are considered "under revision" until two weeks before the class date, and page content, web assignments, and exercises may change before that deadline.

Unit 26: The Copernican Revolution

Preparation

• History Web Lecture: This covers biographical information about Copernicus. He was largely a product of the Medieval university system that we have already discussed in earlier units, and educated in a tradition that relied on Aristotle for a description of the physical universe and on Ptolemy for a method of predicting planetary positions for medical and time keeping purposes. Aristotle had separated mathematics from natural philosophy, those who followed him accepted a division that required the methodology of mathematical calculation be applied only to abstractions such as perfect circles. The tension that had always existed between the physical and mathematical descriptions comes to a head in Copernicus' study of planetary motion, and he asks the question "Why can't mathematical methods be applied to physical bodies?" This is part of the furor that erupts in Europe as a result of his theory: it challenges not only literal interpretations of specific scriptural passages that implied the earth stood still while the sun moved, but also challenged the very hierarchy of knowledge and the methods used in the different "sciences".

• Science Web Lecture: This is a fairly straightforward survey of the characteristics of each of the planets. We'll spend time in class going over the reports students turn on on the plane of their choice, so much of this material will be covered twice. Students should identify two different types of characteristics: those all planets share (mass, shape, atmosphere, surface features), and those unique to specific planets (rings, moons, liquid on the surface). Encourage them to consider what factors affect differences in common characteristics: for example, why do atmospheres differ from planet to planet?

• Homework: The major intent of the homework is to help students identify the major criteria (size, distance from the sun, orbital period, chemical composition, construction of the core layers — solid vs. gas — of the planets; which have moons, and so on). We use these characteristics to compare the planets and try to understand what they have in common and how their differences may have resulted from different processes during the formation of the solar system.

• Discussion: The major point of our discussion will be what Copernicus actually changed by attacking the concept of geocentricity and eliminating the equant as a principle of calculating planetary motion. Next time we'll talk about the reasons people had for accepting his theory.

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