physics

On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences

On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences rather than just read about it. In short: On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, by Mary Somerville, is one of the best-selling science books of the 19th century. The book went through many editions and was translated into several European languages.

Key takeaways

On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, by Mary Somerville, is one of the best-selling science books of the 19th century. The book went through many editions and was translated into several European languages. It is considered one of the first popular science books, containing few diagrams and very little mathematics. It describes astronomy, physics, chemistry, geography, meteorology and electromagnetism as they were scientifically understood at the time. In an anonymous review of the book in the March 1834 issue of The Quarterly Review, later attributed to William Whewell, the term "scientist" appeared in print as a proposed collective name for investigators of the material world.

Review and the term "scientist" In the review, the reviewer wrote:

A curious illustration of this result may be observed in the want of any name by which we can designate the students of the knowledge of the material world collectively. We are informed that this difficulty was felt very oppressively by the members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at their meetings at York, Oxford, and Cambridge, in the last three summers. There was no general term by which these gentlemen could describe themselves with reference to their pursuits. Philosophers was felt to be too wide and too lofty a term, and was very properly forbidden them by Mr. Coleridge, both in his capacity of philologer and metaphysician; savans was rather assuming, besides being French instead of English; some ingenious gentleman proposed that, by analogy with artist, they might form scientist, and added that there could be no scruple in making free with this termination when we have such words as sciolist, economist, and atheist—but this was not generally palatable; others attempted to translate the term by which the members of similar associations in Germany have described themselves, but it was not found easy to discover an English equivalent for natur-forscher. The process of examination which it implies might suggest such undignified compounds as nature-poker, or nature-peeper, for these naturae curiosi; but these were indignantly rejected. Ross identified the "ingenious gentleman" as Whewell himself.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences

In research: On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1830s English-language non-fiction books, 1834 non-fiction books, Books by Mary Somerville, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences in simple terms?

Why does On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences.