Idiotic Poll in Orlando Sentinel Right Now

[Mugweed]

Should evolution be taught in Florida's public schools?

Yes. The state already decided the issue. Science teachers should teach the curriculum.
No. The teaching of evolution is an afront to my religious beliefs.
Yes. Evolution, like gravity, is a theory that grows stronger with time. It would be a crime to deny children this knowledge.
No. I just don't believe I'm related to the earth worm.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-evolution-teaching-florida-agg-03-23-220100323,0,5916284.story

Gravity is a theory? Are these people high? (and I don't mean is their potential energy at a greater state than those at lower altitudes)

[Ian David]

1. Yes. Evolution and Gravity are both theories.

a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of ...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS334US334&defl=en&q=define:theory&ei=CvyoS5G6MsWblgfX7aiqDw&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAgQkAE

[Loge23]

2. Paper serves the Village (Idiots)

The Sent would probably be the paper of choice (along with the New York Post) for the Villages, a noted haven for right-wing wacko's.
This is where the former Governor of Alaska like to hang when she's in FL.

[lame54]

3. gravity is a theory...

they can predict but they can't measure it

[GodlessBiker]

6. They can't measure gravity?

F(gravity) = gMm/r^2

[lame54]

8. their are light waves - there are sound waves...

but what is gravity?

[GodlessBiker]

12. Newton: A force between two objects directly proportional to the masses of the objects and...

inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Einstein: Gravity is the result of the physical curvature of space-time, like a ball on a stretched rubber sheet, that causes bodies to follow the curvature around the object causing the curvature. That fluctuation of space-time radiates out like a wave - a gravitational wave - so gravity is a wave like light and sound.

[lame54]

15. A Newton is a combination of...

other units

kg x m/s2

these are combined to create a unit that predicts the behavior of gravity

they still don't know what the tangible form of gravity is

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/questions/graviton.html

Although gravity is well understood at the macroscopic (every-day-life) scale, scientists are far from understanding it well at the microscopic scale (quantum level).

Gravity is a force. For all other forces that we are aware of (electromagnetic force, weak decay force, strong nuclear force) we have identified particles that transmit the forces at a quantum level. In quantum theory, each particle acts both as a particle AND a wave. This is called duality. So if there is a graviton, we expect it to behave both as particle and as a wave as well.

The electromagnetic force, for example, is transmitted by photons, and light is nothing but a large number of photons. Photons/light show wave and particle properties. (See http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/questions/light_dual.html for more information.)

Scientists expect that gravity functions in a similar way. However, physicists haven't yet observed a gravitational force carrier at the quantum level, and chances are they won't do any time soon. It takes very sophisticated experiments - much more sensitive and with much better resolution than we can build so far - to detect such a phenomenon. Nevertheless, scientists expect that a force-transmitting particle - the graviton - exists. Theorists, however, are still struggling to formulate a consistent gravitational quantum theory that incorporates a graviton and that correctly describes all well-known gravitational phenomena, including Einstein's theory of general relativity. The most promising attempt for a gravitational theory so far is based on Superstring Theories, and you can learn more about it at this Web site: http://www.superstringtheory.com

Before setting out to find such a thing as a graviton, scientists currently try to verify whether gravity produces classical (not quantum) waves, something that nobody has observed, but Einstein's theory of general relativity allow for such gravitational waves. The same way that you can study the wave phenomena of light without knowing about the existence of light particles (photons), one expects to be able to detect some sort of gravity waves without producing evidence for a graviton.

It takes huge massive objects, such as stars spinning around each other, to produce gravitational waves that might be strong enough to be detected on earth.

[FSogol]

7. D- on your science project. Please see me after class. n/t

[lame54]

9. if you're the teacher I'll change schools

[FSogol]

11. Here's my project

[lame54]

13. You assume much?

Gravity is a theory when it comes to tangibility. I think some have little respect for what a theory actually is.
http://thehappyscientist.com/science-experiment/gravity-theory-or-law

OK, pick an object that will not break, dent the floor, cause a mess, or get either of us in trouble. Hold it out in front of you and release it. What happens? It falls, of course. The gravitational attraction between the Earth and the object pulls it towards the ground. But, when we do this experiment, should we be talking about the Law of Gravity or the Theory of Gravity?

Actually, we should be talking about both. To understand why, we need to understand the scientific mean of the words "law" and "theory."

In the language of science, the word "law" describes an analytic statement. It gives us a formula that tells us what things will do. For example, Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation tells us that "Every point mass attracts every single point mass by a force pointing along the line intersecting both points. The force is directly proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses." That formula will let us calculate the gravitational pull between the Earth and the object you dropped, between the Sun and Mars, or between me and a bowl of ice cream.

We can use Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation to calculate how strong the gravitational pull is between the Earth and the object you dropped, which would let us calculate its acceleration as it falls, how long it will take to hit the ground, how fast it would be going at impact, how much energy it will take to pick it up again, etc.

While the law lets us calculate quite a bit about what happens, notice that it does not tell us anything about why it happens. That is what theories are for. In the language of science, the word "theory" is used to describe an explanation of why and how things happen. For gravity, we use Einstein's Theory of General Relativity to explain why things fall.

A theory starts as a hypothesis, an untested idea about why something happens. For example, I might propose a hypothesis that the object that you released fell because it was pulled by the Earth's magnetic field. Once we started testing, it would not take long to find out that my hypothesis was not supported by the evidence. Non-magnetic objects fall at the same rate as magnetic objects. Because it was not supported by the evidence, my hypothesis does not gain the status of being a theory. To become a scientific theory, an idea must be thoroughly tested, and must be an accurate and predictive description of the natural world.

While laws rarely change, theories change frequently as new evidence is discovered. Instead of being discarded due to new evidence, theories are often revised to include the new evidence in their explanation. The Theory of General Relativity is has adapted as new technologies and new evidence have expanded our view of the universe.

[GodlessBiker]

4. They should be more precise. Newton's gravitational theory? Einstein's gravitational theory?

[Subdivisions]

5. Religion-based stupidity is getting out of control in this country. A day that

SCIENCE teachers start questioning evolution is another day in our descent into religious oppression.

[MrScorpio]

10. What the paper's position on centrifugal force? nt

[peekaloo]

14. if you spin shit with enough force

we all get covered in it.