UNIT-1
INTRODUCTION
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Science and engineering are two streams that are taken by a lot of students. There are some
who cannot appreciate the differences between science and engineering, confused by the fact
that engineers study those very science subjects that are studied by scientists. Here the
differences between science and engineering are given
Science Engineering
The word ‘science’ implies the knowledge, Engineering is the application of this
understanding and implementation of scientific knowledge to solve real world
phenomenon occurring in the universe problem. It is the study of the existing body
relevant to human things. Science is of scientific knowledge to make its use to
enhancing our knowledge about the create new designs and structures.
universe and our surroundings in a rational
and logical manner. Understanding laws of
nature is what science is all about.
Science studies about how things work. Engineering creates what never was.
Main domains: Physics, chemistry, Main domains: IT, ME, SCE, CIVIL, EC.
mathematics, biology.
Applied science comes closer to engineering as it thinks for making products that are more
useful and better for human beings.
Both scientists and engineers have a sound of knowledge of basic science subjects.
Only engineers are trained to use these principle in designing creative solutions to the
challenges.
FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BY
DRAWING A COMPARISON BETWEEN EYE AND CAMERA:
The conceptual philosophy of the human eye and the camera have many things in common --
the eye captures images in a similar way like the camera captures an image. Most surprisingly
the anatomy of the camera has more similarities to a biological eyeball of a living being than
anyone would possibly imagine, including the lens which is compared to cornea and the film-
to the retina. However, the camera and the eye are no way identical to each other though there
are many similarities between them.
EYE VS CAMERA
1. PUPIL AND APERTURE: Light enters through the pupil in the eye and through aperture
in camera respectively.
2. IRIS AND DIAPHRAGM: IRIS regulates the amount of light enters in the eye and
DIAPHRAGM regulates the amount of light enters in the camera.
3. LENS AND LENS: Lens focuses light and image in retina of the eye and Lens focuses
light and image in film of the camera.
4. RETINA AND FILM: The retina is present at the back of the eye. Its main function is to
collect the light reflected from the surrounding environment to form the image. In case of the
camera a similar task is performed either by film or sensors in digital cameras.
Differences
EYE CAMERA
The distance between retina and lens (Focal The focal length between film and lens can
length) is always constant. be changed.
Retina remains the impression of image for Pictures remain permanently.
1/6th of a second.
Retina views unlimited no. of images. A photograph has to be changed to get next
image.
The lens and eyeballs are flexible in eye. Lens and body are rigid in camera.
Rod and cone cells on retina help to form Using silver nitrate chemical, image is
image. formed in film.
COMPARISON OF BIRD FLYING AND AIRCRAFT
Biomimicry is a type of innovation where scientists and engineers look for solutions to the
challenges that human faces by using the patterns of nature. Nature has configurations that
are time tested and accurate. Human beings aim to create processes that will be sustainable
for the future generations and the later life on earth. There are many instances where
biomimicry has solved problems in the natural world. In engineering, biomimicry applies
because nature inspires designs like navigation vessels, ships among other creative and
innovative products. Nature acts an inspiration for many designs and innovations. One of the
main innovations is how airplanes have taken the shape of birds.
People have looked up at birds for years and birds have inspired us to fly. Airplanes have
wings, that look similar to birds, Airplanes also have a light skeleton (or framework) that
helps to decrease their weight, and they also have a streamlined shape to decrease drag. The
big difference is that airplanes do not flap their wings like birds do. Airplane wings are
designed by changing the pressure, rather than by flapping them up and down.
Birds and Aircraft use the same principle to fly. Both aircraft wings and bird wings have a
basic air foil shape with both top and bottom sides cambered but with the upper chamber is
more pronounced than the bottom. Air moving above the wings moves faster than the air
below creating a pressure difference that lifts the wing but to do this, air must move over the
wing. Aircraft does this using engine, the jet engines, or propellers. The flapping motion is in
a swimming fashion where the wings fold and sweep forward during the upstroke and spread
out and flap down with a slight backwards sweep to create thrust and lift. Some birds make a
running take off to get some speed while others jump from heights to utilise gravity to get the
required starting momentum. When the birds are gliding the aerodynamics are exactly
similar. All wings work by bending the air downwards and exert a force equivalent to the
force that the weight of the bird or aircraft exerts on the air.
Birds generate thrust by flapping their wings up and down. This would be a very complicated
and inefficient method for airplanes to use, perhaps even impossible. Both airplanes and birds
control the pitch (climbing or descending movement) by a similar method. The tail of the bird
is same as the horizontal stabilizer of an airplane.
But airplanes have a tail that is vertical for controlling the yaw (left-right orientation) of the
airplane. Birds in contrast perform this function by twisting their horizontal tail in one
direction or the other (clockwise or counter clockwise about the central axis of the bird). This
pushes their rear end to the right or left keeping them pointed in the right direction. Large
birds soaring in a high wind have shown this behaviour. So, birds unlike airplanes control
their pitch and yaw with a single control surface (the tail). It is quite amazing and humbling
to see how skilfully they manoeuvre with a tail.
Terminologies and function Parts of bird Parts of aircraft
Lift: the force that pushes the Muscles Propeller airfoils
bird or the plane upward due to
the pressure differences.
Drag: the force of air pressing Light, hollow bones and streamline shape
against the body of bird/ plane streamline shape
(slowing).
Thrust: Force that moves the Flapping of wings Movements of aircraft and
bird/aircraft through the air. wings of engine
Propulsion: the push or drive to Muscle Engine
move an object forward (push)
MOST EXCITING ASPECT OF BIOLOGY AS AN INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC
DISCIPLINE
Like physics and chemistry, biology is a science that gathers knowledge about the natural
world. Specifically, biology is the study of life. Biology is the study of life and living things
through rigorously-tested and peer-reviewed scientific research. The methods of science
include careful observation, record keeping, logical and mathematical reasoning,
experimentation, and submitting conclusions to the scrutiny of others. Modern biology is a
very vast and eclectic field that has many specialized disciplines like the study of the growth,
structure, function, evolution, distribution, or other features of living beings.
Biology is the science of life. The name is derived from the Greek words "bios" (life) and
"logos" (study). Biologists study the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution and
distribution of living organisms. Biology is a vast field that is generally considered to have at
least nine "umbrella" fields of biology, each of which consists of multiple subfields.
Some of the main branches of biology are briefly discussed below:
1. Taxonomy: It is the science of identification, nomenclature and classification of
organisms.
2. Physiology: it deals with the study of the functions of organisms and their parts.
3. Biochemistry: it deals with the study of the material substances that make up living
things.
4. Histology: It is the study of tissue organization and structure as observed through light
microscope.
5. Biotechnology: biotechnology is technology based on biology - biotechnology harnesses
cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help improve
our lives and the health of our planet.
6. Cell Biology: It is the study of morphological, organizational, biochemical, physiological,
genetic, developmental, pathological, and evolutionary aspects of cell and its components.
7. Molecular Biology: It is the study of the nature, physicochemical organization, synthesis
working and interaction of bio-molecules that bring about and control various activities of the
protoplasm.
8. Physiology: It is the study of different types of body functions and processes.
9. Embryology: It is the study of fertilization, growth, division and differentiation of the
zygote into embryo or early development of living beings before the attainment of structure
and size of the offspring.
10. Ecology: It is the study of living organisms is relation to other organism and their
environment.
11. Evolutionary biology: it is the study of the origins and changes in the diversity of
life with time
12. Genetics: It is the study of inheritance of characters or heredity and variations. Heredity
is the study of expression and transmission of traits from parents to offspring.
13. Biochemistry: it deals with the study of the material substances that make up living
things
14. Botany: it is the study of plants.
15. Zoology: the study of animals, including behaviour of Animals
16. Microbiology: Microbiology is the study of all living organisms that are too small to be
visible with the naked eye. This includes bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, prions, protozoa
and algae, collectively known as 'microbes'.
All the major branches that are included in biology can be summarised within a framework of
five basic understandings about living things.
• The Cell Theory: There are three parts to cell theory — the cell is known as the basic
unit of life, all living things are composed of cells, and all cells arise from pre-existing
cells.
• Energy: All living things need energy, and energy flows between organisms
and also between organisms and the environment.
• Heredity: It deals with living things that have DNA and genetic information codes
the structure and function of all cells.
• Equilibrium: It’s a condition of all living things that must maintain homeostasis, a
state of balanced equilibrium between the organism and its environment.
• Evolution: Is the overall unifying concept of biology. Evolution is the change over
time that is the engine of biological diversity.
According to Biological research the first forms of life present on the earth that
evolved billions of years ago and later came the evolution of larger organisms. The new ones
which we are familiar with are the mammals, birds, and flower, that originated within the last
200 million years. Modern-appearing humans, Homo sapiens, are precisely the new species,
having inhabited this planet for only the last 200,000 years (approximately). Although
modern biology is considered as a most recent development and sciences related
to it included studies since ancient times.
BIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS OF 18TH CENTURY THAT LEAD TO MAJOR
DISCOVERIES
• Over the 18th and 19th centuries, biological sciences such as botany and zoology
became increasingly professional scientific disciplines. The invention of the the
microscope opened the way for biologists to investigate living organisms at the
cellular level, and ultimately at the molecular level.
• 1590: Two Dutch spectacle-makers and father-and-son team, Hans and Zacharias
Janssen, create the first microscope.
• 1665: Robert Hooke's famous "Micrographia" is published, which outlines Hooke's
various studies using the microscope and he identified the first cells by examining
cork tissue.
• During the eighteenth century, Carolus Linnaeus proposed a system for naming and
classifying plants and animals which is still used today. In his book, Species
plantarum, which was written in 1753, Linnaeus described nearly 6,000 plants, each
one assigned a binomial name—genus and species. For example, the binomial name
for humans- Homo sapiens.
• Antoine Lavoisier, leading figure in the 18th-century chemical revolution, developed
an experimentally based theory of the chemical reactivity of oxygen and coauthored
the modern system for naming chemical substances.
• A most decisive blow against laws, forces, and teleology was dealt by Charles Darwin
(1809-1882). His 1859 theory of natural selection provided a concrete biological
mechanism of evolution.
• French chemist Louis Pasteur confirmed Darwin's findings by the discovery of certain
bacteria that caused diseases. Louis Pasteur performed experiments with the use of
microorganisms in fermentation and early vaccination procedures, and invented the
process of pasteurization, in which heat is used to kill microorganisms found in food
products. In his studies, Pasteur disproved the notion of spontaneous generation,
showing that microorganisms can only arise from other microorganisms.
• Edward Jenner discovered the vaccine for smallpox in 1798.
• Gregor Mendel was considered as the father of genetics. He published his work in
1866, demonstrating the actions of invisible "factors"—now called genes—in
predictably determining the traits of an organism. The profound significance of
Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century (more than three
decades later) with the rediscovery of his laws.
• The germ theory of disease is the currently accepted scientific theory for many
diseases. It states that microorganisms known as pathogens or "germs" can cause
disease. Robert Koch introduced the Germ theory of Disease at the end of the
nineteenth century and by the early twentieth century, chemotherapy was developed.
The use of Antibiotics began with penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928.
• The advancement of technology furthered biological research significantly into the
20th century, particularly with respect to understanding microbiology and genetics.
• In 1951-52, Rosalind Franklin discovered the molecular structure of the DNA double
helix who obtained images of DNA using X-ray crystallography, but Watson and
Crick were credited with her discovery. But in 1953, Watson and Crick published the
academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson,
Crick and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids
and its significance for information transfer in living material".
BROWNIAN MOTION
“Brownian motion refers to the random movement displayed by small particles that are
suspended in fluids. It is commonly referred to as Brownian movement”. This motion is a
result of the collisions of the particles with other fast-moving particles in the fluid.
This motion is named after the botanist Robert Brown, who first described the phenomenon
in 1827, while looking through a microscope at pollen of the plant Clarkia pulchella
immersed in water.
In 1905, theoretical physicist Albert Einstein published a paper where he modeled the motion
of the pollen particles as being moved by individual water molecules, making one of his first
major scientific contributions.
A particle changes its path when another particle collides with it. Further collisions cause the
particle to follow a random, zig-zag motion. It involves a transfer or exchange of
momentum/energy between the particles.
What Causes Brownian Motion?
• The size of the particles is inversely proportional to the speed of the motion, i.e. Small
particles exhibit faster movements.
• This is because the transfer of momentum is inversely proportional to the mass of the
particles. Lighter particles obtain greater speeds from collisions.
• The speed of the Brownian motion is inversely proportional to the viscosity of the
fluid. The lower the viscosity of the fluid, the faster the Brownian movement.
• Viscosity is a quantity that expresses the magnitude of the internal friction in a liquid.
It is the measure of the fluid’s resistance to flow.
Effects of Brownian Motion
• Brownian movement causes the particles in a fluid to be in constant motion.
• This prevents particles from settling down, leading to the stability of colloidal
solutions.
• A true solution can be distinguished from a colloid with the help of this motion.
Albert Einstein’s paper on Brownian motion was vital evidence on the existence of atoms and
molecules. The kinetic theory of gases which explains the pressure, temperature, and volume
of gases is based on the Brownian motion model of particles.
Brownian Motion Examples
• The motion of pollen grains on still water.
• Movement of dust motes in a room (although largely affected by air currents)
• Diffusion of pollutants in the air.
• Diffusion of calcium through bones.
• Movement of "holes" of electrical charge in semiconductors.
ORIGIN OF THERMODYNAMICS WITH REFERENCE TO ORIGINAL
OBSERVATIONS OF ROBERT BROWN AND JULIUS MAYER
A brief account of microscopical observations made in the August, 1827, by Robert
brown when he looked through a microscope at pollen grains suspended in water, and
discovered what we now call Brownian Motion. He examined them closely, he found
them “filled with particles” of around 5 µm diameter that were “very evidently in motion”.
Brown’s work was the first comprehensive observation of a phenomena called Brownian
Motion which remained unexplained until the beginning of the 20th century by Bachelier and
most notably by Einstein in his famous paper in 1905.
Julius Robert von Mayer was a German physician and physicist one of the founders of
thermodynamics. He is best known for enunciating in 1841 one of the original statements of
the Law of Conservation of Energy or what is now known as one of the first versions of the
first law of thermodynamics which states that: energy is neither created nor
destroyed. According to Mayer the sun is the ultimate source of energy utilized by for both
plants and animals and plants convert this light energy to chemical energy through the
process of photosynthesis.
Thus the Brownian motion is one of the characteristic examples used to illustrate the
present approaches to stochastic thermodynamics, considerable effort has been made to
identify thermodynamic quantities like heat, work, entropy at the level of a single Brownian
particle, on the other hand Julius Mayer is best known for his original statements on the
conservation of energy which is now known as the First law of thermodynamics, namely
that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Therefore, the discoveries of Robert Brown
and Julius Mayer formed the basis for thermodynamics.
These examples highlight the fundamental importance of observation in any scientific
inquiry
Scientific inquiry indicates to the various ways in which scientists study the natural world
and suggested explanations based on the evidence derived from
their experimental work. The steps involved in a scientific inquiry are as follows:
➢ Observation
➢ Question
➢ Hypothesis
➢ Experiment
➢ Results
➢ Conclusion
The initial fundamental importance to define and describe Brownian motion was that it
supports the modern atomic theory. In the recent days, the mathematical models that
describe Brownian motion are used in physics, economics,
engineering, math, chemistry, biology, and a host of other disciplines.
Mayer described the vital chemical process, referred to as oxidation, which is the primary
source of energy for all living creature. This relation implies
that heat and work are identical to each other and are present in various forms of energy
which can be transformed.
