Overview
One of the most pressing fundamental questions that face the philosophically minded human being is "Are we Alone in the Universe?" This question has been pondered for much of human history, but scientific, technological advances in Astronomy have added a tremendous amount of data to the discussion. Ever since the famous Drake equation was proposed in 1965, which attempted to determine the probabilistic factors that are primary to the existence of intelligent life, scientists have attempted to predict the likelihood of intelligent extraterrestrial life. It is my goal in this unit to explore the current data that exists regarding the requirements for life, the probability that such life could find a suitable existence elsewhere in the Universe and the physics required to detect it.
The debate ranges from those that claim that intelligent life is very rare to those scientists who believe that intelligent life is pervasive throughout the Universe. I will be considering the factors that are postulated to be prerequisites for life, the history of life on our planet that has resulted in our own existence and the relative significance of this fact, the scientific data that allows us to predict the probabilities of life elsewhere in the Universe and the reliability of these claims. I will be considering all of these issues in light of the physics involved in searching for extraterrestrial life and the technological advances that have recently improved our capacity to conduct this endeavor.
I intend to teach this unit in physics classes to explore probabilities in scientific claims, discerning the fundamental aspects of a problem, critical thinking, the physics of stars, rotation and thermodynamics relevant to establishing habitable zones, an analysis of the conditions necessary for life and estimates of time required for life to evolve, and the advantages to having space satellites to detect planets and any signals of intelligent life since this is the only real tangible way to detect intelligent life at this time. Using all of this information it is my intention to present a scientific discourse about the relative likelihood that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the Universe.
I will be teaching this to a variety of levels of physics classes in the urban Pittsburgh City school district. I will address this unit to general main stream first year physics classes, gifted first year physics classes and algebra based Advanced Placement second year physics classes. This is a broad range of mathematical and conceptual skill levels. However, I believe this unit is accessible on a variety of levels. Conceptually, I believe this unit is accessible to eleventh and twelfth grade students. Some of the specific scientific concepts might be too difficult for the general physics class but adaptations can be made to the unit by varying the level of explanation of the most difficult concepts. This is also true mathematically. The general physics students will be introduced to the formulas whereas the second year physics students will be expected to manipulate and in some cases, derive the formulas. This unit is intended to be broad enough to be applicable to a! ny physics course.
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