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I would include procedures as tools, but in response to the rock question:

Assuming that dropping two rocks is a gravity experiment, let's start with 
simple apparati: What are you going to use to measure the distance from the 
dropping point to the earth and ensure that they are the same? What are you going 
to use to measure the size and mass of the rocks? What are you going to use to 
measure the time from the drop to the impact? Then the procedure: How many 
times will you repeat the experiment until you are satisfied that the results 
are valid? What different circumstances, say different heights, will you use in 
your experiment?

Charlie


In a message dated 6/8/04 11:29:21 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:


> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related 
> institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> 
> I had always envisioned technology as a created system or device -- eg, a
> tool built for a purpose.  Thus, designing and completing an experiment in 
> which
> two rocks are dropped at the same time and observed as they fall, since it
> doesn't require "a technological tool" would be different from, say, 
> observing an
> ant using a magnifying glass (which does require a technological tool).
> 
> Is this incorrect?
> Any apparatus or procedure one would use to conduct experiments and measure
> the results is technology. You can't do Galileo's gravity experiments or
> Darwin's research without technology.
> 
> Lisa Jo Rudy, Writer/Consultant
> 625 Chelten Hills Drive
> Elkins Park, PA 19027
> www.lisarudy.com
> 215-635-9735
> 
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