首页
登录
职称英语
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hyp
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hyp
游客
2023-12-17
6
管理
问题
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory. As philosopher of science, Karl Popper has emphasized a good theory is characterized by the fact that it makes a number of predictions that could in principle be disproved or falsified by observation. Each time new experiments are observed to agree with the predictions the theory survives, and our confidence in it is increased; but if ever a new observation is found to disagree, we have to abandon or modify the theory. At least that is what is supposed to happen, but you can always question the competence of the person who carried out the observation.
In practice, what often happens is that a new theory is devised that is really an extension of the previous theory. For example, very accurate observations of the planet Mercury revealed a small difference between its motion and the predictions of Newton’s theory of gravity. Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicted a slightly different motion from Newton’s theory. The fact that Einstein’s predictions matched what was seen, while Newton’s did not, was one of the crucial confirmations of the new theory. However, we still use Newton’s theory for all practical purposes because the difference between its predictions and those of general relativity is very small in the situations that we normally deal with. (Newton’s theory also. has the great advantage that it is much simpler to work with than Einstein’s ! )
It turns out to be very difficult to devise a theory to describe the universe all in one go. Instead, we break the problem up into bits and invent a number of partial theories. Each of these partial theories describes and predicts a certain limited class of observations, neglecting the effects of other quantities, or representing them by simple sets of numbers. It may be that this approach is completely wrong. If everything in the universe depends on everything else in a fundamental way, it might be impossible to get close to a full solution by investigating parts of the problem in isolation. Nevertheless, it is certainly the way that we have made progress in the past. The classic example again is the Newtonian theory of gravity, which tells us that the gravitational force between two bodies depends only on one number associated with each body, its mass, but is otherwise independent of what the bodies are made of. Thus one does not need to have a theory of the structure and constitution of the sun and the planets in order to calculate their orbits:
Today scientists describe the universe in terms of two basic partial theories-the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. They are the great intellectual achievements of the first half of this century. Unfortunately, however, these two theories are known to be inconsistent with each other-they cannot both be correct. One of the major endeavours in physics today, is the search for a new theory that will incorporate them both-a quantum theory of gravity. We do not yet have such a theory, and we may still be long way from having one, but we do already know many of the properties that it must have. [br] According to the passage, why can’t any physical theory be permanently established?
选项
A、Such a theory is only suggested as a possible way of explaining an idea.
B、The person proposing such a theory may be incompetent.
C、Observations always disagree with predictions.
D、Observations are always falsified by predictions.
答案
A
解析
本文第一段第一句就指出,任何物理理论总是暂时性的,因为它只是一种无法得到证实的假设。而hypothesis的意思就是a possible way of explaining an idea。因此选A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.tihaiku.com/zcyy/3280854.html
相关试题推荐
1 "Itisalwaysconsolingtothinkofsuicide,"theGermanphilosopherFriedric
1 "Itisalwaysconsolingtothinkofsuicide,"theGermanphilosopherFriedric
1 Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Theofficialcasefor
1 Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Theofficialcasefor
1 Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Theofficialcasefor
Inadditiontohistheoryofcolor,Newtondevelopedatheoryofhowlighttr
Inadditiontohistheoryofcolor,Newtondevelopedatheoryofhowlighttr
TheLandofDisneyPredictingthefutureisalwaysris
Materialculturereferstothetouchable,material"things"--physicalobjects
Materialculturereferstothetouchable,material"things"--physicalobjects
随机试题
职业道德的基本职能是调节职能。()
A.1800VA B.600VA C.600W D.1800W
担保权人到期不能够实现债权的,有权采取( )救济方式。A.对担保物进行折价
胆石症致阻塞性黄疸可见的实验室检查结果是A.血中结合腮红素增多.尿中尿胆原增多
进入密闭空间作业应由用人单位实施安全作业准入,用人单位应采取综合措施,消除或减少
义齿重衬采用间接法,下述操作步骤错误的是()A.将印模材料放入义齿组
乌梅丸的功用是( )。A.清热燥湿,安蛔止痛 B.温中祛寒,安蛔止痛 C.
下列各项,不属蝉蜕功效的是A.疏散风热B.透疹止痒C.息风止痉D.明目退翳E.宣
2020年11月,经统计可知,北京轨道交通路网运营线路达23条,总里程699.3
下列房地产估价活动中,价值时点为过去,估价对象状况为过去状况的估价是( )。A.
最新回复
(
0
)