Problems:
Are these testable claims? Are they testable in principle? in practice?
if yes, suggest [at least] one way to test it.
if not, explain why not.
HINT: in astronomy, principle means theory, practice means observation.
Is it testable theoretically? Could we possibly observe it?
1. Mars was home to an ancient, advanced civilization, but the civilization vanished without a trace. (25%)
Testable in principle? No. the civilization "vanished without a trace." IE, "in principle", there will be nothing we could possibly find, even if we were to go look for it.
Testable in practice? No. There is nothing to find! "without a trace" means "no data to collect".
3. There is no liquid water on the surface of Venus today. (25%)
Testable in principle? Yes. Testable in principle, only due to the fact that Venusian landers have been successful. Not testable from outside Venus's atmosphere (even if we can detect a high concentration of water in the Venusian atmosphere, that does not confirm surface water). In principle, a probe only needs to breach the atmosphere. Water changes from a liquid to a gas at 100 degrees C. Any documented temperature above that would prove that liquid water could not exist on the surface of Venus.
Testable in practice? Yes. The longest a probe has lasted on the surface is for 47 hours. We only need to know the temperature of the ambient atmosphere, though. Assume the atmospheric temperature is roughly the same throughout a height gradient. This way we would not need to land. Venera 13 recorded a temperature of 457 degrees C on the surface in 1982. This is far above boiling temperature, proving that water cannot exist on the Venusian surface.
taken from Missions to Venus - Explore the Cosmos | The Planetary Society:
Vega 1
Successful Venus probe and Comet Halley flyby (USSR)
Launch: December 15, 1984
Venus flyby and gravity assist: June 11, 1985
As Vega 1 swung by Venus, it deployed a 2.4-meter probe into the atmosphere. The probe deployed a balloon almost immediately upon entering the atmosphere. The balloon, which measured temperature, pressure, wind velocity and visibility of the atmosphere, covered 9,000 kilometers in 47 hours before it burst. The probe took readings of the atmosphere as it descended to the surface.
Vega 2
Successful Venus probe and Comet Halley flyby (USSR)
Launch: December 21, 1984
Venus flyby and gravity assist: June 15, 1985
Vega 2 was identical to Vega 1.
Venera 13
Successful Venus orbiter and lander (USSR)
Launch: October 30, 1981
Venus arrival: March 1, 1982
Venera 13 returned the first color images from the surface of Venus, landing at 7.5 degrees S, 303 degrees E. A drilling arm collected a sample that was examined by an onboard x-ray fluorescence spectrometer to determine its composition. The lander survived 127 minutes before giving in to the extreme heat (457 degrees C) and the tremendous pressure (84 times the pressure at sea level on Earth).
Discussion Question:
5. Absolute Truth (50%)
Culture influences rate of discovery in science.
"Necessity is the mother of invention"
example: Archimedes (date ~250BC), around the same time that he developed a technique to measure the density of an object (see this source for an interesting story as to why he wanted to know how to calculate density!), he was working on the beginning steps to calculus. It wasn't until the 18th century that modern-day calculus was truly developed (by Riemann, Cauchy, etc.). Archimedes wrote calculus-like problems (think the sum of an infinite number of infinitely smaller rectangles, defined under a curve) in a book called The Method. This work was lost, for the most part, after he died (FYI, he was murdered while trying to solve a problem!). Most documents at that time were kept in monestaries. In the 12th century the book was unbound and washed, in order that the parchment leaves could be folded in half and reused for a Christian liturgical text. It was a book of nearly 90 pages before being made a palimpsest of 177 pages; the older leaves folded so that each became two leaves of the liturgical book. The erasure was incomplete, and Archimedes' work is now readable using digital processing of ultraviolet, X-ray, and visible light. We are just now realizing how far ahead of his time (nearly 2000 years!) Archimedes was in math and science. This is one example of how our culture influenced advancement in science.
More well known is the development of the hydrogen bomb during WWII. Allied forces wanted a weapon more and more powerful than before, which encouraged scientists of the day to make more rapid scientific breakthroughs (albeit catastrophically fatal).
conclusion:
The laws of science that ANY society discovers depends on its culture. If nothing else, it depends on the culture for the rate of discovery. "Alien cultures" may develop more rapidly, or more slowly, depending on events in their history. But the underlying physical laws are always the same.
Science concerns absolute truth, society's impact on scientific discoveries is influenced by the enormous variable that is culture and human (alien?) differences.
I graded this question on how well you understood the main ideas (what is absolute, what is variable), and how well you defended your opinion.