“Where they went wrong” assignment

Science has at times really gone off on the wrong track.  In this assignment you will look at one of these occurrences and try to analyze what went wrong.  You may think of another possible “wrong” than the list below.  Some wrong theories resulted from several errors.

List of possible “wrongs”

  1. Ignoring data that contradicts a theory.
  2. Many variables in the observable that makes it difficult to vary just one or a few at a time.
  3. The variables may not be independent.
  4. Equipment that is not sensitive or reproducible enough. This is essentially the observation step of the Scientific Method that has errors.
  5. Math mistakes. Yep sometimes physicists make these too. Not often though.
  6. Incorrect assumptions.
  7. Not actually doing an experiment vis a vis the Scientific Method. This sometimes happens when the accepted theory seems so obviously true.
  8. Not reproducing an experiment vis a vis the Scientific Method. This can happen when the experiments are long and drawn out.
  9. Equipment simply not being available to test the hypothesis.
  10. Confusing correlation with causation.

Topics-

There are some possibilities below.  You may also think of your own “where they went wrong” topic.

Possible topics:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superseded_theories_in_science

And also.

  1. The UV catastrophe. Also called the Rayleigh–Jeans catastrophe.
  2. The ether theory. Might be spelled aether.  If you get articles about organic separation, then you are looking at the wrong topic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_theories
  3. The four humors theory. If you are reading things that sound really gross, you are on the right topic.
  4. Heritability theories. Originally a person’s attributes were thought to be some average of their parents’ attributes.
  5. Miasma theory.
  6. Geocentric universe, i.e., earth as the center of the universe.
  7. Flat earth. (sailors actually knew the earth was round but not how big it was.  For this though, you may assume that the stories that they thought they would fall off the edge of the earth are true.)
  8. Two fluid theory of electrostatics.
  9. Four elements theory of compounds of the Greeks.
  10. Darkon theory of light. This is actually a spoof, but you may use it. https://www.osa-opn.org/opn/media/Images/PDFs/11530_23363_110676.pdf?ext=.pdf
  11. Plum pudding model in chemistry.
  12. Alchemy
  13. Aristotle’s theory of free fall.
  14. Cold weather makes you sick.
  15. Polio is caused by ice cream.
  16. Humans only use 10% of their brains.
  17. Sugar turns kids into monsters.
  18. Ulcers are caused by spicy food and stress.
  19. Caloric theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_theory