Is the scientific method

Accurate?

(How reliable is science)

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The scientific method seems to be a logical, clear, and forward thinking way to find the truth. Even though this seems to be the case, how can we know for sure how accurate the scientific method really is? Does it really work to actually find the truth? We need to make sure this is a full-proof way to find the truth. In order to find out if it’s reliable for our questions. We need to see if it has worked in the past for others who have used it. Has this happened?

The scientific method has been around for at least 500 years as we know it (however the idea of a scientific method has been around for at least 1,500 years!) [1] And many people by now have used it for hard complicated questions here are some examples of everyday scientists using this method to answer their hard questions:

Example 1#

Isaac Newton

An Englishman scientist who valued the truth above all he even wrote in his own notes called “Certain Philosophical Questions” (In the original Latin: "Quæstiones quædam Philosophiæ") that :

“Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.”

(In the original Latin: “Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles magis amica veritas”)[2]

But he had a question, A question about light:

What was light really made of?

So, he researches what other though:

In the 1600’s it was common to think that light was a mixture of light and darkness and a device called a prism was believed to color the light.

So, with what Isaac knew he forms a hypothesis

Newton questioned this thinking and began to think it was not true. He believed that the colors he saw from the Prizm were what light was made of!

So, Newton devised a test and collected data from it:

So, in order to test he bought a Prizm (or two) to prove his hypothesis and cut a hole into a board and got a white piece of cardboard. So, he went in a dark room with the board with only one hole in the window where a stream of light came in and shown on the white piece of cardboard that projected the light onto it. He took one of the two prisms and held it under the light and the light became a rainbow on the while cardboard paper; like others had said it does. But if the light was really only colored light made by the Prizm, then logically it would be no different if a second prism was held under the rainbow light. So, he took the second Prizm and held it under the rainbow light coming out of the first one, but only normal light came out this time. He writes down the data in a form of a detailed observation of the results of the experiment.

With the results of the data, he finally makes a conclusion:

From this experiment Newton concluded that the Prizm did not color light like many said but rather it separated light into its simpler forms (in this case color!) and he also concluded that light was not made up of light & darkness but colors.[3]

Example #2

Gregor Mendel

An Austrian scientists, monk, and professor who loved to look at how heredity and traits work together in living organisms. He loved to teach, and like Isaac, he was a firm believer in searching for the truth.

One day working in the monastery Gardens he had a question:

As he was in charge of caring for the monastery garden, he began to wonder why some peas were yellow and others green

So, Gregor Research’s the subject:

many people in the 1800’s taught that traits were blended permanently together from both parents to their descendants, and that once this happened certain traits would be lost forever in the gene pool.[5]

So, from what he knew Gregor made a Hypothesis:

Gregor wanted to find this out for sure, however he was beginning to think this was not fully true and some traits just disappeared for a little while and came back again and were not truly lost. [5]

Gregor then makes a test

He got an idea; Peas were fast growers and would have 100’s of descendants in no time. For this reason, they would be perfect for his genetic studies. So, he was granted a portion of the garden for his studies. So, for his experiment He planted peas with different traits: Tall and short, Green and yellow, smooth and constricted pea pods, and one’s that produced purple flowers and others White flowers. he then got a fine brush as well to cross-pollinate the peas.

When the peas plants matured and gained flowers, Gregor took the fine brush and cross pollinated them with the opposite traits pea’s plants on their female parts. When the flowers produced seeds, he planted these cross-pollinated seeds in the ground to see what traits they would show.[5]

Then from the test he collects data in the form of observation of the plant traits and their generations:

As the second generation grew, Gregor noticed certain traits were only expressed and the other was gone. (Like a pea seed that was breed with a green pea producing seed plant and a yellow pea producing seed plant, the pea grows and only produces yellow pea seeds.) After this generation matured, he pollinated them again with one another, and when they produced seeds, he planted them once again.

When the third generation matured, he observed it produced mostly yellow peas with the same traits as their parents, but some were green peas and had other traits that seem to have disappear in the second generation.

Mendel repeated this breeding for many generations and got the same results that the third generation had. He wrote down this data [5]

So, from the data he came to a Conclusion:

From the data, Gregor Concluded that traits do not “Disappear” or “Blend” with Generations permanently, but some are just expressed more than others and those that are not expressed are dormant until it can be expressed. He also made a new discovery; that there are dominate and recessive traits, that are carried by all living things. He also concluded certain traits are inherited independently for another such as height and flower color and these “things” that carried traits inside of organisms were called ‘Genes’[5]

So, we see from these examples of real scientists who have successfully answered their questions and got back valid answers and even made new discoveries. However, as time went one did their answers match up with other people’s findings and ultimately the truth of what they studied?

Well to answer that we have to recall: what is truth?

As defined in the “What is truth” section truth is:

“A fact or reality of life”

So, if these scientific answers are really true, they will continue to line up with reality and will be reliable for deeper study into answering other similar questions. Has this happened to the scientific discoveries made by Isaac Newton and Gregory Mendel? Since by now (the 2000’s) it’s been well over a 100 years, so have these scientific discoveries been proven so far to be true?

Let’s see!

Isaac Newton’s Discovery of light:

From his use of the scientific method to answer his question about light, he finds that light is made up of colors. After this new scientific discovery, Isaac Newton followed the extra-steps of the scientific method:

Classified the new truth

Isaac Newton classifies the new Discovery he has made as a scientific Observation (A Detailed observation) [5]

And he shares his discovery with others

He recorded his experiment and wrote his data from the experiment and scientific discovery of Light in a book called “Opticks” And published his discoveries through the scientific method for other to read and share his discoveries and added it to the world’s knowledge.[5]

What happened to Newton’s discovery of light?

So, how did Newton’s discovery impact the world’s scientific knowledge? Also, as new discoveries about light using the scientific method arose how did newton’s discovery of light hold up to observations of the truth in nature about light?

Newton’s discovery has led to a deeper understanding of what light is:

Newton’s discovery helped clarify what light was. In the ancient world, light was not really thought of and often taken for granted. However, the ancient Greek scholars were the first to take a step to question what exactly light was: Greek philosopher (and in a very extended definition: Scientist) Aristotle though light itself was nothing but a ray of white and that colors themselves were caused by a mixture of the white light with darkness together. As covered before, for over 2,000 years this was the main understanding of light for scientists and general knowledge in the western world. Until Isaac Newton began his questioning about this long-held view, and when he did his experiment by the scientific method, he disproved the long held though from Aristotle that light was just white. But proved light WAS color and made all other things colorful! Since then, it was accepted in the scientific community and the knowledge of the western world that light was not just white light that shed light on color but was color and made other objects colors. [7]

As time went on more scientists try to detail even more about lights essence and what it really was. In the 1900’s scientists such as Albert Einstein Finally proved by the scientific method what light really was: Light was not just a white ray illumining light that was made of color, it was actually a sub-atomic form of energy/matter called a Photon that is released from a high powered light source when an atom’s electron in the source loses energy and this lost energy flies off from the Atom into space in the form of an electromagnetic wave (light).[7]

So was Newton, by using the Scientific method to answer his question, still proven right that light is made of color?

The Answer is yes, light is still color!

Isaac Newton’s discovery that light was color was only confirmed by future experiments though it was added onto that there is certain light (wave lengths) that cannot be seen by the human eye. Though this discovery did not change the fact that colors still make up (visible) light. So, it seems the scientific method was reliable for showing the truth of light for Isaac Newton and has proven true many years after being tried and tested by others![7]

Newton’s discovery led to a deeper understanding of why the rainbow (and other rainbow-like glares) happen

Another thing Newton’s discovery clarified once and for all is why rainbows appear and what they are. Before this rainbows were thought to be a wide variety of things through history from divine bridges made by and for the Gods transportation [8] to a more recent scientific thought of the time: Rain Droplets in the sky coloring the sun’s light [9] By this scientific understanding at the time, it was also assumed other rainbow-like lights (like glares in the sun or rainbow reflections in water, cut gems or raw clear crystals) were just white light being colored by the reflectors. Because of this the knowledge of the day they also though this about the man-made Prisms that Newton used in his experiment [3]. However, when Newton did his experiment, it showed through the scientific method that the prisms were not coloring sunlight but rather it was spitting up sunlight into its basic components!

This added a whole new understanding of what Rainbows were:

A=because if Prisms were acting like water, reflective gems, and rain droplets when it came to light

B= and Prizm did not really color light but split it up…

C= Then this must mean water, reflective gems, and rain droplets also spit light up as well!

(Wondering what this formula is?)

This scientific experiment and analogy afterward suggested that rainbows were really sunlight being split up into its simpler colored forms. Has this lined up with the truth of reality?

Well as time went on other scientists also observed the Rainbow and color caused by light refraction and came to the same conclusion using the scientific method as Newton did. Today (in the 2000’s) it is accepted as the general knowledge that rainbows (and rainbow-like glares) are light being split up through a refractor (water and gems) [10]

So yes, The Scientific Method seemed to point to the closest thing to the truth on rainbows!

In fact, if you wanted, you could make your own rainbow anywhere where there is strong sunlight and a reflector. Some simple ways include spraying a garden hose opposite to the sun or having a crystal in strong sunlight [10]

Newton’s discovery led to a deeper understanding about colors and their arrangement

Since along with newton main scientific discoveries about light he also observed that colors have a certain pattern in the light he spit up. He also noticed this same pattern in nature when light was naturally spit up (Usually in the form of a rainbow or the glare of the sun) all had the same colors in order as the prism’s rainbow: Red was first, then Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo (A darker blue), and finally at the end Violet (Purple). Though this competed the colors Newton saw, he noticed at the very end of red was Violet (Purple) like there was a color loop going on in the rainbow. With this scientific observation Newton found a constant color pattern in his observation. With this scientific observation, Newton recorded this data and observation by using colors he saw in order in the form of a circle diagram that he called a “color wheel”[12]

Newton’s original color wheel was published in his figures in his book “Optikcs”. This was the first way to categorize color in a natural way [11]. Shortly after Newton’s scientific observation and data in the form of the Color Wheel, many more scientists and artists got inspiration from Newton’s Discovery and added onto Newton’s scientific finds. Over and over again by the scientific method and observation; Newton’s scientific observation of the order of color was proven true and eventually became to be accepted as scientific fact. They also made colors Wheels of their own variations of their own and in the 1800’s and 1900’s the color Wheel was in all formal Art and Optics classes. as of today (2000’s) Newton’s discovery about color in the color wheel has not been disproven by observation in reality, but in fact has only been confirmed![12]

It is considered a fact of Reality because it has lined up with what is observed in reality from then to today it’s the same:

Rainbows today still have the same amount of colors in the same pattern as it was 400 years ago during Newton’s observation.

It’s also still the same in the glare of the sun, and it’s still the same in gleaming in Gems, also it’s still the same in the refraction in man-made prisms. So, Newton’s color observation does look like it’s the truth! Because the scientific method was used to make the color wheel and find out this observation (In other words the truth!)

In fact, no one today can be a professional Artists or optometrists or any other profession dealing with color/light if they don’t even have a basic understanding of the Color Wheel! Because of Newton’s observation of Color in the Color Wheel many artists have learned how to make certain colors out of primary colors (Red, Yellow, and Blue) because of the colors wheel designers and artist alike know about complementary colors (colors who are opposite to one another on the color wheel).[12]

So Newton’s answer about light and everything he concluded from his answer has proven to be 100% truthful as it can get, so far, the scientific method has proven 100% accurate

Gregor’s Discovery of traits:

From his use of the scientific method to answer his question about traits, he finds that traits do not disappear but always remained but are not always expressed. After this new scientific discovery, Gregor Mendel followed the extra-steps of the scientific method:

Classified the new truth

Gregor Mendel classifies the new Discovery he has made as a scientific law (A pattern that has been observed to happen over and over again) [5]

And he shares his discovery with others

He recorded his experiment and wrote his data from the experiment and scientific discovery of traits in a book called “Experiments on Plant Hybrids” And published his discoveries through the scientific method for others to read and share his discoveries and added it to the world’s knowledge. he also told of his discoveries in lectures to The Natural Science Society in Brno. [5]

What happened to Gregor’s discovery of traits?

So, how did Gregor’s discovery impact the world’s scientific knowledge? Also, as new discoveries about these gene’s using the scientific method arose how did Gregor’s discovery of traits hold up to observations of the truth in nature about inherited traits?

At first Gregor’s discovery was criticized and refuted by many scientists of his day. But Since then, many scientists by the 1900’s had proven over and over again that Gregor’s discovery from the scientific method is 100% true: that traits do not just “mix” with one another and are lost forever but instead they are always there, it’s just sometimes they seem to “disappear” because there is a dominate trait that “hides” them and expresses itself more.

As time went on, Scientists discovered where exactly these traits came from and what Gregor’s hypothesized ‘Genes’ actually were: from the center of the cell, They found a double spiraling phosphorous chain linked in the middle with Nucleic acid called D.N.A. that was the originator of all traits and was the ‘gene’ that Gregor though existed. They also found that certain strands of D.N.A. on the long chain, identified more specifically as the ‘genes’ Gregor suspected to exists, actually control these specific traits. This new discovery though did not change Gregor’s original discovery that traits do not mix together, but only proved in more detail that his discovery was correct. That certain genes, that is strands of particular codes within the D.N.A. chain that controlled certain traits, sometimes carried two or more copies of different versions of a single trait. These two or more versions controlling the same trait were called alleles. The reason an organism that had more than one trait in its genetic code did not actually express them all was because only the dominate genetic code of these alleles were expressed (the one actually copied and thus expressed) while the others recessive alleles were still encoded within D.N.A. but never actually expressed(never actually coded and thus not expressed) this physically proved Gregor’s discovery that these traits were still there but just not expressed in a particular organism and gave a physical reason how these “hidden” traits did not appear in one generation but appeared again in others: they were always there encoded in D.N.A. they just had to be dominate to actually be coded in an organism. This proved even more that Gregor’s discovery was the truth! This is still seen in all plants, animals, and humans today, and is considered a scientific fact and law today.[13]

Because of Gregor’s discovery of Genetic laws, he became the father of modern Genetics

After Gregor’s work was rediscovered by the scientific community, he became the father of modern genetics. Through his discovery that traits do not disappear but are expressed more than others and his observation of certain genetic laws, this led to a whole new look on heredity and genetics. He laid the foundation for all modern genetic principals today in genetic science now called “the Laws of Mendel”.[14]

So, Gregor’s answer about genetics and everything he concluded from his answer has proven to be 100% truthful as it can possibly get.

So, these are two examples of scientists who used the scientific method to answer their question, we see they not only got a very accurate answer to their question; but they got the truth from it (this is just what we want!). From these examples alone (and many more countless scientists who have used the scientific method for their questions) we have enough evidence that the scientific method not only works to finding the truth but will find the most truthful answer to our questions. So now we can be pretty assured that the scientific method is very reliable at finding the truth.

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Source:

[1]

Explorable “History of the Scientific Method” Martyn Shuttleworth Aug 18, 2009

Website:

https://explorable.com/history-of-the-scientific-method

[2]

[A] Quotes Lover “Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth”

Website:

https://quotes-lover.com/picture-quote/plato-is-my-friend-aristotle-is-my-friend-by-my-greatest-friend-is-truth/

[B] The Newton Project 'Quæstiones quædam Philosophiæ' ('Certain Philosophical Questions')

Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK Oct 2003

Website:

http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00092

[3]

[A] Reference* “What Did Isaac Newton Find Out About Light?”

Website:

https://www.reference.com/science/did-isaac-newton-out-light-621ed6b8db87225f

[B] Molecular Expressions Science, Optics & you Interactive Java Tutorials Newton's Prism Experiments

Website:

https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/newton/

[C] The College of Optometrists “Newton and the colour of light” London 2020

Website:

https://www.college-optometrists.org/the-college/museum/online-exhibitions/virtual-observatory-gallery/newton-and-the-colour-of-light.html

[D] “Opticks: or, A treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflexions and colours of light” pg 18 Proposion 2 Theory 2 Experiement 3 by Issac Newton in Walford, London, 1704

Printed for Sam. Smith, and Benj.

(Sources in Smithsonian Library)

Website:

https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/optickstreatise00newta

[4]

“Opticks: or, A treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflexions and colours of light” by Isaac Newton in 1704 Walford, London, Printed for Sam. Smith, and Benj. (Sourced in Smithsonian Library)

Website:

https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/optickstreatise00newta

[5]

[A] The Biography.com website,Biography.com Editors”Gregor Mendel Biography” A&E Television NetworksApril 1, 2014

Website:

https://www.biography.com/scientist/gregor-mendel

[B] Sciencing “Mendel's Experiments: The Study of Pea Plants & Inheritance” May 08, 2019 By Kevin Beck

Website:

https://sciencing.com/mendels-experiments-the-study-of-pea-plants-inheritance-13718433.html

[7]

[A] Photon Terrace, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., “History of research on light” by Haruyoshi TOYODA and Yoshiyuki OHTAKE

Website

https://photonterrace.net/en/photon/history/

[B] William Harris & Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. "How Light Works" 10 July 2000.HowStuffWorks.com.

Website:

https://science.howstuffworks.com/light.htm

[C] “Meteorology” by Aristotle 350 B.C. Book 3 Translated by E.W. Webster from the Internet Classic Archive 1994

Website:

http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.3.iii.html

[8]

Belief.net Iris, “the Rainbow-Messenger Goddess” Adapted from "Soul Sisters: The Five Sacred Qualities of a Woman's Soul," published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, a division of Penguin Putnam.

Website:

https://www.beliefnet.com/wellness/2002/06/iris-the-rainbow-messenger-goddess.aspx

[9]

[A] HowStuffWorks.com Science “Top 10 Isaac Newton Inventions” by Robert Lamb & Tristin Hopper 12 January 2011.

Website:

https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/famous-inventors/5-isaac-newton-inventions6.htm

[B] Biography.com “How Isaac Newton changed our world” by Barbara Maranzani Sept 12 2018

Website:

https://www.biography.com/news/how-isaac-newton-changed-our-world

[10]

Cool Kid facts “rainbow facts” 2020

Website:

https://www.coolkidfacts.com/rainbow-facts/

[11]

Book1 Part2 Plate3 fig11(pg 148 in book and pg 188 of 458 on website book) in “Opticks: or, A treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflexions and colours of light” by Isaac Newton in 1704 Printed for Sam. Smith, and Benj. Walford, London, (Sourced in Smithsonian Library)

Website:

https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/optickstreatise00newta

[12]

[A]“Color Wheel Pro - See Color Theory in Action” Color Theory Basics: What is color theory? 2015 QSX Software Group.

Website:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-theory-basics.html

[B] Colour Lovers “History Of The Color Wheel” By evadMay 8, 2008

Website:

https://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/05/08/history-of-the-color-wheel

[13]

[A]23AndMe Understanding DNA Traits Reports

Website: