observation vs. science?

Question

okay, i know poeple sometimes say the moon makes poeple crazy or a lunatic. by science its true but by observation its not.

or

the moon looks bigger when next to the earths horizon but in the sky it looks smaller. science says it never shrank but by observation it did.

any help?

Answer 1

People make people crazy, not the moon. And where does science say that the moon makes people crazy? It's difficult to answer a question that's poorly formed and based inaccurate assumptions.

And the moon appearing bigger at the horizon IS NOT DUE TO ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION OR THE COMPARISON TO OBJECTS ON LAND, like one respondent said.

See this: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/3d/moonillu.htm

Finally, science is, in part, the practice of making observations. These two are not mutually exclusive at all.

Answer 2

Science uses observation. They are not two opposing forces. Science is built on observation, but not just casual observation. Casual observation is subject to all kinds of mistakes and biases. Science tries to cancel these mistakes and biases by using structured and standardized observation techniques.

The moon does not make anyone crazy. The moon is just a ball of rock orbiting the Earth. The only effect it has is to cause a slight bulge in the Earth (ocean tides), and to make the sky a bit brighter at night. The root of the belief that the moon makes people crazy is women's menstrual cycle, which usually occurs about 13 times per year (the moon's phases also cycle 13 times per year). However, the two phenomena are not related. The moon has no effect on menstruation whatsoever. It's just a coincidence that they happen to have nearly the same frequency (for most women).

As for the moon looking bigger when near the horizon, it's just an optical illusion. It's easy to fool the human eye, but harder to fool a scientific instrument for measuring angles. The scientific instrument will always reveal that the moon is the same size.

Answer 3

Case (1) just because people say the moon makes people crazy doesn't mean that science says it. In fact, studies show there is no correlation between crime and lunar phase, so neither science nor observation would make this claim.

Case (2) is a better example. A poor observation (such as with the naked eye) might indicate one thing, while a more careful observation (such as with some angle-measuring device that eliminates human bias from the system) will conclude the opposite. Clearly, the more careful observation is to be preferred and science will side with that.

Answer 4

question 1) The best I've heard is anecdotal evidence. Emergency response workers (police, fire, hospitals) swear that things are worse on the full moon. Somebody must have real data on this somewhere, but I don't know it.

2) Refraction by the earth's atmosphere can make the moon appear bigger or smaller. Also, the moon may appear bigger when it is near the horizon that in the middle of the sky just because your eye compares it to things nearby.

Answer 5

If people act crazy during a full moon, it has more to do with psychology than with the moon. If millions of people believe a full moon will make them crazy, a few are bound to act crazy.