Comparing Science and Technology
Introduction
Imagine that you are camping. You wake up in the middle of the night scratching your head, arms, and legs in the dark. That’s when you realize somebody forgot to close the mosquito netting. To top it off, you can’t even find a flashlight to help you put the tent in order!
This kind of thing may be tolerable on a camping trip, but what if it happened in your home? Suppose there are “bed bugs” in the form of dust mites and fleas. That’s when you need to flick on the light, strip the sheets off the bed, wash them in hot water, and then vacuum the room. But what if you couldn’t? What if there was no electricity?
As a society, we tend to take electricity and devices that use them—such as hot water tanks, vacuum cleaners, and lights—for granted. That is, until we don’t have them anymore. Science is the study of the natural world and the laws that govern it; technology is the application of that knowledge for some purpose. The question “What is electricity?” belongs to science. Asking “How can electricity be used to heat water, produce suction, or generate light?” relates to technology.
How do science and technology compare? As you know, science is both a body of knowledge and a way of gaining more knowledge. The process and knowledge of science can make your life easier. The application of science to solve problems is called technology. When you think about it, using electricity to power a machine that can suck up air, dust, and dust mites is a pretty cool idea. In the next activity you will have a close look at a vacuum cleaner while you compare science and technology.
