El día del escepticismo científico, la alquimia y la Química moderna.
Hoy 20 de diciembre de 2010 se conmemora el decimocuarto aniversario del fallecimiento de Carl Sagan. Por este motivo, desde el año pasado se celebra el Día del Escepticismo y Contra el Avance de las Pseudociencias, al que numerosos blogs del mundo nos vamos a adherir. Es una buena oportunidad para denunciar el auge que ciertas «prácticas» están alcanzando entre la población.
Los científicos tenemos que decir basta ya de parasicologías, pulseras milagrosas, homeopatías, quiromancia, astrología, ufología, numerología, grafología, etc… En España, el asunto está tomando una deriva peligrosa cunado observamos que las universidades públicas están permitiendo, e incluso financiando, actividades relacionadas con la pseudociencia.
El debate científco sólo se puede seguir con las reglas del Método Científico. Es muy importante que los científicos nos tomemos este asunto en serio y que seamos capaces de transmitir a la sociedad, datos y opiniones contrastadas científicamente. Una de nuestras obligaciones es contribuir a aumentar la Cultura Científica del ciudadano, para que este pueda tomar decisiones y opinar con base científica sobre cuestiones que afectan a nuestar vida.
El origen de la química fue la alquimia. Aunque los alquimistas realizaron numerosos experimentos que pudieron ser útiles en ciertos aspectos de la Química (especialmente relacionados con técnicas experimentales), la influencia de la alquimia en el desarrollo científico de la Química fue nefasto, pues la impidió alcanzar una madurez científica durante siglos (a diferencia de lo que ocurrió con la Física). Hoy en día, ningún científico serío realizaría experimentos alquimistas, aunque nos lo quieran «vender» como algo científico, como ha ocurrido con el reciente artículo en PÚBLICO sobre el «Newton alquimista» (algo ya conocido hace muchísimos años, auque intentado ocultar por dignidad y respeto hacia el personaje).
La unidad de materia en Química es la molécula. Puesto que la molécula es muy pequeña, se usa el concepto de mol (un Número de Avogadro de partículas, el Número de Avogadro es aproximadamente 602.200.000.000.000.000.000.000, ¡un número de 24 cifras!). Esta cantidad (o sus múltiplos o divisores) se usa para expresar cantidades de manera científica en Química. Si se especifica el número de moles en un determinado volumen o peso de un medio, se está hablando de concentración, otro concepto fundamental en la Ciencia de la Química. El uso de estos conceptos tiene valor comparativo entre las sustancias químicas presentes en un medio o sistema. El empleo de cualquier otra magnitud no tiene sentido en Química y sólo sirve para crear confusión o un titular en los medios de comunicación. Por eso, noticias como «El río Ebro carga con 620 kilos de cocaína y 430 kilos de otras sustancias» o «El aire de Barcelona y de Madrid contiene varias drogas en suspensión y, entre ellas, destaca la cocaína«, dónde no se especifica la concentración (por cierto, del orden de 0’0000000000001 molar, ¡casi cero!) no tienen ningún valor científico.
Direcciones de interés sobre escepticos científicos:
Sociedad para el Avance del Pensamiento Crítico
Bernardo Herradón
IQOG-CSIC
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