Journal Assignment for M 10/30 (due by 5 PM)

1. Journal Assignment for M 10/30 (due by 5 PM) • Speaking of Halley’s comet…Read section 26.2 from Kutner on comets • a. What are the two main reservoirs of comets in the Solar System? • b. In your own words, explain why comets (unlike planets or asteroids, etc) develop tails when they enter the inner solar system. • 2. Discuss how you liked the collaborative writing exercise(s) during the past week. How do you think the final product compared to what you would/could have made yourself? • 3. In your own words, explain what Godel’s Theorem is. • In your own words, explain what a Turing machine is. • Last year, NASA had to terminate the Galileo spacecraft mission to Jupiter—it simply went far beyond its planned life and would not die of its own accord. NASA faced an ethical dilemma in that it was possible that crashing the spacecraft into one of the moons of Jupiter might harm any forms of (likely primitive) life that could exist on these worlds. Thus, the craft was destroyed by plunging into Jupiter’s atmosphere. You can go online and find many codes that will enable you to run the game of Life (ummm..not the Milton-Bradley board game…the one discussed in The Mind of God). In fact, when Prof. King was a grad student, he had a Life screen saver. • Even if it isonly possible that you create self-replicating consciousness in the virtual Life space on your computer by running the Life program, and then destroy this by shutting it off, argue in a short paragraph whether it is ethical to run a piece of software like Life??

2. Reading Assignments, etc 0. 1 Group member please bring a laptop for Tue 10/31 class 1. Chapter 5 of Davies’ The Mind of God (over the next week) For Thursday 11/02 2. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/kinetic/kintem.html and http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/kinetic/eqpar.html#c2 http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/kinetic/kinthe.html#c1 Key Ideas: How is the temperature of a gas related to the kinetic energy of individual gas particles? To the speed of those particles? Given a temperature of a gas, can you determine individual particle’s typical speeds? Can you determine the thermal (total kinetic) energy of the gas? Alternatively, try following the derivation from the ideal gas law to the temperature-based energy of a gas at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kinetic_theory_of_gases (also done on the third gsu.edu link above) • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell-Boltzmann_distribution • I expect no one to be able to follow much of this…I’m interested in the nature of the final results at the bottom of this web resource: How do speeds of gas particles of the same mass vary with different temperatures? How do speeds of gas particles of different mass vary at the same temperature? Take the Online Reading Quiz prior to Th 11/02 Class

3. Collaborative Writing Exercise In chapter 4 of The Mind of God, Davies relates John Barrow’s remark that “if a religion is defined to be a system of thought which requires belief in unprovable truths, then mathematics is the only religion that can prove it is a religion.” Divide into groups of no more than three people. Write 1-3 paragraphs (each 5-10 sentences) defending a point of view about whether or not mathematics is a religion. If so, why? If so, why not? and do they contain common elements? Here we want solid logical structure (you might even employ topic sentences!), clear arguments or explanations about your group position, and proper grammar/correct spelling. I would start with a 5 minute group discussion about your off-the-cuff thoughts, then a couple minute deliberation about which side of the argument you want to defend. Then brainstorm, and make an outline for 20 minutes. Take the next half hour to assemble your literary masterpiece. Notes: You might wish to anticipate and argue against the opposing viewpoint in your final product as well as defend the viewpoint you are taking. For this exercise, your personal beliefs are utterly irrelevant. I am exclusively interested in your ability to present a written argument one way or the other—you need not subscribe to your own arguments. You may choose which side of the argument you’d like to defend simply upon which you think is easier or more effective to present. If you find yourself with different beliefs than what your group is presenting, then play devil’s advocate—provide counterarguments that must be argued against, etc. Please produce as a WORD document if possible and e-mail to me jking2@clemson.edu