Read Online The Prometheus Project by Douglas E. Richards - Free Book Online
Authors: Douglas E. Richards
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entrance moved,” offered Regan. “Carl said the city seemed like a living thing sometimes. We didn’t find out what he meant. Maybe parts of the city can move around on their own.”
Ryan shook his head. “We’ve stayed on the walkway all the way back so we know we didn’t get lost. This is where we entered. The cavern is a few inches from us and we know it didn’t move. If the original entrance moved somehow, the lasers and other machinery in the cavern would have torn another hole here.”
They stood in silence for several minutes straining to see an opening in the force-field wall that wasn’t there. Ryan felt totally helpless and he had no idea what to do. If only his parents were there. They always knew what to do.
So what would they do in this situation?
The answer came to him almost at once. If they were confronted by this puzzle they would try to solve it using a process called the scientific method . His dad had gone over the scientific method with him in great detail just a few months before. First, you observed things. They had done that. They had observed a swarm of deadly insects devour everything human and nothing alien. They had observed that the entrance to the city was gone. Then you formed a hypothesis—some kind of idea that could explain everything you had observed. An idea that would allow you to make predictions, and to design experiments to test these predictions. If the results of your experiments failed to support your predictions, you would have to modify your hypothesis or even throw it away completely. Your goal would be to find a hypothesis that would account for all of your observations and allow you to successfully predict the outcome of additional experiments.
To make sure Ryan understood his explanation, his father had borrowed a feather from an old pillow and marched him into the backyard. Mr. Resnick was soon holding his arms out in front of him over the lawn, at exactly the same height, with the feather in one hand and a large rock in the other. Then he let go of both at the same time. The rock quickly slammed into the grass with a thud while the feather lazily made its way down to earth.
“What did you observe?” asked Mr. Resnick.
“The rock fell faster,” said Ryan immediately.
“Do you have a hypothesis that could explain this?”
Ryan rolled his eyes. His dad could have chosen a more difficult example than this. “Heavy objects fall faster than light objects.”
“How could you test this hypothesis?”
“There’s no need to test it,” said Ryan. “In this case it isn’t a hypothesis, it’s an absolute fact.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Mr. Resnick, his eyes twinkling.
Ryan nodded. “Positive.”
His dad grinned broadly. “Let’s try it anyway. Show me a way to test the hypothesis.”
Ryan found a small pebble and retrieved the same large, heavy rock his dad had dropped. He held them out in front of him, one in each hand, and dropped them with a bored look.
They landed at the exact same time!
Impossible! Ryan couldn’t believe his eyes.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Ryan picked up the pebble and rock and tried once again, this time making absolutely certain he released them at the same time, from the exact same height. Sure enough, he had not imagined it—they both hit the ground at the exact same instant.
Ryan still refused to believe it. His father watched, amused, as he tested rubber bands and pebbles and paperclips against basketballs and rocks and phone books. In each case, both of the test objects landed at exactly the same time. He had been so sure . All his instincts told him the heavy objects would fall faster. But they didn’t.
Ryan winced, feeling a little foolish. “Okay, maybe I’m not as positive as I thought.”
His dad smiled. “Okay, so your original hypothesis is wrong, after all. Good thing we did the experiments. Can you think of a hypothesis that does account for all of the results?”
Ryan thought
Ryan shook his head. “We’ve stayed on the walkway all the way back so we know we didn’t get lost. This is where we entered. The cavern is a few inches from us and we know it didn’t move. If the original entrance moved somehow, the lasers and other machinery in the cavern would have torn another hole here.”
They stood in silence for several minutes straining to see an opening in the force-field wall that wasn’t there. Ryan felt totally helpless and he had no idea what to do. If only his parents were there. They always knew what to do.
So what would they do in this situation?
The answer came to him almost at once. If they were confronted by this puzzle they would try to solve it using a process called the scientific method . His dad had gone over the scientific method with him in great detail just a few months before. First, you observed things. They had done that. They had observed a swarm of deadly insects devour everything human and nothing alien. They had observed that the entrance to the city was gone. Then you formed a hypothesis—some kind of idea that could explain everything you had observed. An idea that would allow you to make predictions, and to design experiments to test these predictions. If the results of your experiments failed to support your predictions, you would have to modify your hypothesis or even throw it away completely. Your goal would be to find a hypothesis that would account for all of your observations and allow you to successfully predict the outcome of additional experiments.
To make sure Ryan understood his explanation, his father had borrowed a feather from an old pillow and marched him into the backyard. Mr. Resnick was soon holding his arms out in front of him over the lawn, at exactly the same height, with the feather in one hand and a large rock in the other. Then he let go of both at the same time. The rock quickly slammed into the grass with a thud while the feather lazily made its way down to earth.
“What did you observe?” asked Mr. Resnick.
“The rock fell faster,” said Ryan immediately.
“Do you have a hypothesis that could explain this?”
Ryan rolled his eyes. His dad could have chosen a more difficult example than this. “Heavy objects fall faster than light objects.”
“How could you test this hypothesis?”
“There’s no need to test it,” said Ryan. “In this case it isn’t a hypothesis, it’s an absolute fact.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Mr. Resnick, his eyes twinkling.
Ryan nodded. “Positive.”
His dad grinned broadly. “Let’s try it anyway. Show me a way to test the hypothesis.”
Ryan found a small pebble and retrieved the same large, heavy rock his dad had dropped. He held them out in front of him, one in each hand, and dropped them with a bored look.
They landed at the exact same time!
Impossible! Ryan couldn’t believe his eyes.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Ryan picked up the pebble and rock and tried once again, this time making absolutely certain he released them at the same time, from the exact same height. Sure enough, he had not imagined it—they both hit the ground at the exact same instant.
Ryan still refused to believe it. His father watched, amused, as he tested rubber bands and pebbles and paperclips against basketballs and rocks and phone books. In each case, both of the test objects landed at exactly the same time. He had been so sure . All his instincts told him the heavy objects would fall faster. But they didn’t.
Ryan winced, feeling a little foolish. “Okay, maybe I’m not as positive as I thought.”
His dad smiled. “Okay, so your original hypothesis is wrong, after all. Good thing we did the experiments. Can you think of a hypothesis that does account for all of the results?”
Ryan thought
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