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Question
No physicist has ever "“seen"” an electron. Yet, all physicists believe in the existence of electrons. An intelligent but superstitious man advances this analogy to argue that ‘ghosts’ exist even though no one has '‘seen'’ one. How will you refute his argument?
Solution 1
No physicist has ever seen an atom but there are practical evidences which prove the presence of electron. Their size is so small, even powerful microscopes find it difficult to measure their sizes. But still its effects could be tested
On the other end there is no phenomena which can be explained on the basis of existence of ghosts.
Our senses of sight and hearing are very limited to observe the existence of both.
So there is no comparison between the two given cases.
Solution 2
Many phenomena which depend upon the existence of electrons have been predicted and actually observed in everyday life. There is no phenomenon which can be explained on the basis that ghosts exist though they are not seen. So, obviously, the comparison between two situations does not make any sense.
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The shells of crabs found around a particular coastal location in Japan seem mostly to resemble the legendary face of a Samurai. Given below are two explanations of this observed fact. Which of these strikes you as a scientific explanation ?
(a) A tragic sea accident several centuries ago drowned a young Samurai. As a tribute to his bravery, nature through its inscrutable ways immortalized his face by imprinting it on the crab shells in that area.
(b) After the sea tragedy, fishermen in that area, in a gesture of honor to their dead hero, let free any crab shell caught by them which accidentally had a shape resembling the face of a Samurai. Consequently, the particular shape of the crab shell survived longer and therefore in course of time the shape was genetically propagated. This is an example of evolution by artificial selection.
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