Philosophy of Experiment.....Re: 1/4 wave TC (fwd)

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Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:10:22 -0400
From: Dave Pierson <davep@xxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Philosophy of Experiment.....Re: 1/4 wave TC (fwd)

 
>    I concur that experimentation is a great teacher,  perhaps the best. I 
>was just trying to ascertain the reasoning, or driving  force, if you will,  
>behind the experiments. An old professor of mine once  said that there are two 
>distinct types of  experiments. He called them  "science experiments" and 
>"science appreciation experiments". The first begin  with a theory, proposition, or 
>conjecture, and an experiment is designed  and conducted to verify the 
>hypothesis.
   My impression is that an experiment should 'always' be looked at as
   having the potential to DISprove, as well.

> The second type is one in which you do something just to "see what will 
>happen". The theoretical basis for this experiment was not clear to me, nor 
>was it obvious to me what the experiment  would illustrate in light of the 
>points I raised. If it is one of the latter  type investigations, that is 
>perfectly OK.
 
>"The most subtly difficult part of any experiment is determining what it  
>really is we have learned from it."
>--Alfred E. Bender
    There is Huge Wisdom in this thought.  Sometimes an experiment's results
    may mean something very differnt from what was planned, or, even, thought to
    be observed.

    best
     dwp