Natural science

The lunar farside as seen from Apollo 11

In science, natural science is the rational study of the universe via rules or laws of natural order. The term natural science is also used to differentiate those fields using scientific method in the study of nature, in contrast with social sciences which use the scientific method applied to human behavior, and in contrast to formal science, which uses different methodology.

Overview

In the natural sciences, i.e. according to the American chemist Gilbert Lewis and the American physical chemist Merle Randall, from their famous 1923 textbook Thermodynamics – and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances, there are three great branches:

Aside from the logical and mathematical sciences, there are three great branches of natural science which stand apart by reason of the variety of far reaching deductions drawn from a small number of primary postulates – they are the mechanics, electrodynamics, and thermodynamics.

Explanation

Natural sciences form the basis for the applied sciences. Together, the natural and applied sciences are distinguished from the social sciences on the one hand, and from the humanities, theology and the arts on the other. Mathematics, statistics and computer science are not natural sciences, but provide many tools and frameworks used within the natural sciences.

Alongside this traditional usage, more recently the words natural sciences are sometimes used in a way more closely matching their everyday meaning, stemming from natural history. In this sense "natural sciences" can be an alternative phrase for biological sciences, involved in biological processes, or perhaps also the earth sciences, as might be distinguished from the physical sciences (more directly involved in the study of physical and chemical laws underlying the universe).

See Category:Science for articles about the individual Natural sciences

Natural sciences

• Astronomy, the study of celestial objects and phenomena that are outside the Earth's atmosphere, e.g. stars, the cosmos, etc.
• Biology, the study of life.
  • Ecology and Environmental science, the studies of the interrelationships of life and the environment.
• Chemistry, the study of the composition, chemical reactivity, structure, and properties of matter and with the (physical and chemical) transformations that they undergo.
• Earth science, the study of earth and specialties including:
  • Geology
  • Hydrology
  • Meteorology
  • Science-based or Physical Geography and Oceanography
  • Soil science
• Physics, the study of the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces and interactions they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces.

See also

• List of academic disciplines
• Nature
  • Natural history
  • Natural philosophy, the precursor of the physical sciences, but especially physics.
• Science
  • Fields of science
    • Natural sciences
      • Natural Sciences Tripos University of Cambridge, UK
    • Behavioral sciences
    • Social sciences
  • History of science
  • History of technology

External links

• Natural Sciences at Cambridge University
• The History of Recent Science and Technology
• Reviews of Books About Natural Science This site contains over 50 previously published reviews of books about natural science, plus selected essays on timely topics in natural science.

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