What is Natural: Definition and 1000 Discussions

Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, material world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena.The word nature is borrowed from the Old French nature and is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". In ancient philosophy, natura is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.
The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers (though this word had a dynamic dimension then, especially for Heraclitus), and has steadily gained currency ever since. During the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries, nature became the passive reality, organized and moved by divine laws. With the Industrial revolution, nature increasingly became seen as the part of reality deprived from intentional intervention: it was hence considered as sacred by some traditions (Rousseau, American transcendentalism) or a mere decorum for divine providence or human history (Hegel, Marx). However, a vitalist vision of nature, closer to the presocratic one, got reborn at the same time, especially after Charles Darwin.Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects—the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness—wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things that can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural.

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  1. Y

    What kind of internet access is most reliable in natural disaster?

    Hi, I decide to get rid of all ATT. I am looking at internet provider. I know Hughesnet and Viasat are satellite that "supposedly" immune to natural disaster like storm, earthquake that can break the electric or F/O cables underground. BUT, is it true? I don't know how satellite connection...
  2. U

    Spring first natural frequency and hysteresis

    Could anyone help me with some info on compression helical springs. First I would like to know if this type of spring would even have any appreciable histeresis when new, and if so does it does it grow with repeted use and age. I would also like to know if there is any relationship beteen the...
  3. D

    I Elastic Constants for Natural Rubber

    Hi, Looking for the Elastic Constants for any rubber-like material such as Natural Rubber. It can be inorganic or organic. The constants I am looking for take the form of a fourth-rank tensor. I only need the first order elasticities, not the zeroth or higher (not Cij or Cijklmn.. just Cijkl)...
  4. kyphysics

    If Up to You, Would You Live in Natural Disaster Prone Area?

    Florida hurricanes...Oklahoma tornados...These are two areas I never want to live no matter the salary (okay, for $500,000 or more, sure...I'm there!). I have to imagine it sucks having having your house flooded/blown down every three or so years. Not to mention your loved ones possibly dying...
  5. A

    I Formula for integration of natural coordinates over an element

    In a textbook I own a formula is given for the integration of natural coordinates over an element. In this case it is a 1 dimensional element (i.e. a line segment) with coordinates ##x_i## and ##x_j##. The coordinate ##x## over the element is written as: $$ x = L_1(x) x_i + L_2(x) x_j $$ with...
  6. hilbert2

    Medical Natural compounds for radiation protection

    The "sleep hormone" melatonin, sold at health supplement stores, has been found to prevent radiation sickness from ionizing radiation: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30073934/ There are also some other references for this findable with a Google search. But you don't want to be on melatonin...
  7. T

    Engineering project: Harvesting energy from natural water fall

    - design of a micro-turbine based on different scenarios of waterfalls - build a system that involves a battery for storing power - test in the lab I have attached a image. I know the image is not very detailed but wanting some advice on this situation. I have done some water calculations on...
  8. R

    News What Can Nature Teach Us? Join the Natural Robotics Contest!

    Hi! I'm a roboticist / university lecturer, and I'm running a design contest together with several other universities that I thought might be a great place for all the scientists in this forum! It's called the Natural Robotics Contest: www.naturalroboticscontest.com All you need is drawing...
  9. MevsEinstein

    B How to express ##3^{\sqrt(2)}## in terms of natural logarithms

    So in my Calculus book, it asked a question in its Transcendental Functions chapter. It wanted me to express ##3^{\sqrt{2}}## in terms of natural logarithms I have no idea how to solve this. All I know is that ##3^{\sqrt{2}} = e^{\sqrt{2}\ln{3}}## but that's not completely in natural logarithm form.
  10. crhurley

    I Looking for a Comprehensive Explanation of Natural Units

    Would anyone know of a book or article that comprehensively explains Natural Units? I am looking for a document that explains all the versions of natural units and why, when, and how to use these units. I am looking for a source that provides many examples of how to use Natural Units. I found...
  11. Prez Cannady

    I Relationship between factorials and squares of natural numbers

    Was fooling around and wrote down these two equations today that appear to work. I'm not all that bright and I'm positive these either have some proof or restate some conjecture--probably something in a textbook. Could somebody help me out? \forall n \in \mathbb{N}_0\smallsetminus\{0\} n^2 =...
  12. docnet

    Does there exist a surjection from the natural numbers to the reals?

    1) Two sets have the same cardinality if there exists a bijection (one to one correspondence) from ##X## to ##Y##. Bijections are both injective and surjective. Such sets are said to be equipotent, or equinumerous. (credit to wiki) 2) ##|A|\leq |B|## means that there is an injective function...
  13. C

    Most compressible volumes: synthetic fibre versus natural eider down?

    I'm just purchasing some exped kit including coats and sleeping bags containing down as the insulator. The key superlative of down is that it can be compressed and then recovers to a big volume. If one ounce of material re-expands, after compression, to 800 cubic inches then this is called '800...
  14. ergospherical

    I Natural direction of pushforwards and pullbacks

    Given a diffeo ##\phi : M \rightarrow M'## (and with ##f## a function on ##M'##), vectors ##X## can be "naturally" pushed forward with ##\phi_*## from ##T_{p}M## to ##T_{\phi(p)}M'## subject to ##\phi_{*}X(f) \bigg{|}_{\phi(p)} = X(\phi^* f) \bigg{|}_{p}##. And 1-forms ##\omega## are naturally...
  15. P

    B Natural Numbers contain all the Primes

    w = {0,0 | 1,1 | 2,2...} Let x = number of primes up to w+1 Let y = number of primes up to w-1 Now there's an empty prime box in the 0,0 slot not connected to anything. So I let x = p-1 and y = p+1 p = [p0, p1, p2...] Now p0 becomes 1,0/1 It can be either on or off. For the sake of...
  16. M

    Synthetic resins vs. natural amber

    I'm completely in the dark when it comes to resins. I hope someone can help me out here. Amber is a natural resin that can last for hundreds of thousands - or millions - of years. Synthetic resins like acrylic and fiberglass impregnated resins break down within decades. What is the difference...
  17. M

    MHB Number of natural numbers that have primitive roots

    Hey! :giggle: How can we calculate the number of natural numbers between $2$ and $n$ that have primitive roots? Let $m$ be a positive integer. Then $g$ is a primitive root modulo $m$, with $(g,m)=1$, if the modulo of $g\in (Z/m)^{\star}$ is a generator of the group. We have that $g$ is a...
  18. CPW

    More info about natural nuclear fission going critical 2 Million years ago?

    This week I read through the chapter "Energy from the Nucleus" inside the familiar intro physics textbook Halliday, Resnick, Walker. I found it fascinating that there is evidence from a uranium mine in West Africa that there may likely have been a nuclear fission natural reactor that went...
  19. S

    MHB Finding Even Natural Numbers w/ No Repetition: 0-5 & 6

    The number of even natural numbers less than 100000 that can be formed from the digits of the set (0,1,2,3,4,5,6) so that the digits in the number are not repeated is? Here I understand that the even number in the last place is an even number, that is, it has 4 possibilities, but won't the...
  20. S

    Engineering Finding the natural frequency of transfer function (2s) / (3s^2+5s+2)

    In the context of control systems, if I have a vibratory second-order system, (ω_n)^2 / [s^2 + 2ζ(ω_n) + (ω_n)^2], I know how to get the natural frequency ω_n. So, if I have something like 2 / (3s^2+5s+2), I know how to get the natural frequency ω_n. However, if I instead have something like...
  21. H

    Measuring the natural frequency of a spring-mass system driving force

    Hi, On a driving force graph ##y = displacement (m)## and ##x = time## where the external force start at t = 0 and the system is in equilibrium at x=0, it's easy to find the driving frequency. $$F = \frac{\omega}{2\pi}, \omega = \frac{2\pi}{T}$$ and we can get ##T## easily with the steady...
  22. Andrew Mason

    INKT (Invariant natural killer T cells) as a COVID-19 therapy

    I would be interested in hearing from the experts such as @Ygggdrasil about the prospects for a new therapy for COVID-19 using iNKT cells. According to this information page from the British Society for Immunology site: My interest was piqued by a recent announcement by AgenusBio (Agenus Inc...
  23. S

    MHB Proof of Triangle Inequality for $n$ Natural Numbers

    Prove for all $n\in N$ $\dfrac{|a_1+...a_n|}{1+|a_1+...+a_n|}\leq\dfrac{|a_1|}{1+|a_1|}+...\dfrac{|a_n|}{1+|a_n|}$
  24. E

    A Natural parametrization of a curve

    Hello, I need the natural parametrization or a geodesic curve contained in the surface z=x^2+y^2, that goes through the origin, with x(s=0)=0, y(s=0)=0, dx/ds (s=0)=cos(a) and dy/ds(s=0)=sin(a), with "a" constant, expressed as a function of the arc length, i.e., I need r(s)=r(x(s),y(s)). Thank...
  25. R

    How Does Space Travel Affect Natural Aging?

    Changes in the body that come from space travel resemble growing older, providing opportunities to perform aging studies on astronauts. https://www.nmn.com/news/how-does-space-travel-affect-natural-aging Any validity to this?
  26. kshitij

    Number of choosing r non-consecutive numbers out of N natural numbers

    I have seen a solution for this question which was as follows, first out of 15 elements, take away 5, thus there are 11 gaps created for the remaining 10 numbers (say N) as, _N_N_N_N_N_N_N_N_N_N_ now, now we can insert back the 5 to comply with the non-consecutive stipulation for which, number...
  27. DaTario

    I P-adic valuation expression for a given natural number

    Hi All, If p is a prime, the p-adic valuation, ## v_p(n) ##, of a positive natural number is defined as the highest power of p that divides n. For instance, ##v_3(45) = 2##. My question is: Is there a mathematical expression for ##v_p(n)## ?
  28. M

    MHB Natural and forced response of a differential equation

    Greetings everyone, I am a bit new to differential equations and I am trying to solve for the natural and forced response of this equation: dx/dt+4x=2sin(3t) ; x(0)=0 Now I know that for the natural response I set the right side of the equation equal to 0, so I get dx/dt+4x=0, thus the...
  29. H

    MHB Natural Solutions for Positive Variables?

    Hi everyone, Consider a finite set of positive variables $P = \{x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_n \}$, and a non-strict order on the expressions $\Sigma_{x_i \subseteq P}x_i$. For example: $$P = \{x_1,x_2,x_3\}$$ $$x_1 + x_2 + x_3 > x_1 + x_2 > x_2 + x_3 > x_1 = x_2 > x_3$$ Can we claim that if there is a...
  30. mark!

    Is epigenetics an additional mechanism for natural selection?

    Mammals go through two rounds of epigenetic "reprogramming" -- once after fertilization and again during the formation of gametes (sex cells) -- in which most of the chemical tags are https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/03/end_the_hype_over_epigenetics__lamarckian_evolution.html. The...
  31. C

    Engineering Calculate valve sizing to regulate the flow of natural gas

    Working out as follows x= (20-6)/20 = 0.7 Fk = k / air specific heat ratio Fk = 1.31/1.4 Fk = 0.94 xT = Fk * x 0.94 x 0.7 = 0.658 because xT < x = 0.658<0.7 flow through the valve is choked Expansion factor Y Y = 1 - x/( 3 x Fk x xT ) Y= 1- 0.7/( 3 x 0.94 x 0.658) Y = 0.623...
  32. DaveC426913

    Natural Selection Simulator like Conways' Game of Life

    I'm considering making a Natural Selection Simulator (possibly in Java). I've always been fascinated with the idea that so many traits can evolve independently of each other in the same population (even little things like tufted ears and loss of tail, etc.) and I want to see it in action. Like...
  33. H

    Effect of initial stress on the natural frequency of vibration

    Hello all, We might have observed that by tightening a string of a musical instrument, the natural frequency of the string changes. But I can not describe this phenomenon by the theory of linear elasticity. Also if we simulate the vibration of a bar with the help of structural software tools...
  34. Amirul96

    Mass and Volumetric Flow rate of Natural Gas

    Hi. I am currently doing my internship in the oil and gas industry (contractor) as process engineer. My supervisor give me a task to do some reverse engineering where i need to study how a spreadsheet (calculation) construct by other process engineer was been constructed. Ok the situation is the...
  35. G

    Natural convection enhanced by a "chimney effect"

    It has been suggested to me that the ability of the heatsink shown below to remove heat from its base (orange) by natural convection could be enhanced by closing the open side (pink) shown in the figure below. Assume a lid (pink) of non-conductive/isolating material. I think the idea is that...
  36. anemone

    MHB Unsolved Challenge: Natural logarithm and Exponent

    Prove $e^{-x}\le \ln(e^x-x-\ln x)$ for $x>0$.
  37. A

    B Mechanical Resonance and Natural Frequency at the Atomic/Lattice Level

    How do we explain resonance of a complex system (say a bridge) at the atomic level? What's happening to its molecules when it's oscillating at resonance, and does that have anything to do with the frequency at which the molecules oscillate in the material?
  38. R

    How Many Natural Elements Are There?

    I always thought there were 92 natural elements, ending with atomic number 92 Uranium. However, I read where 94 are considered natural, to wit, 93 Neptunium and 94 Plutonium. Yet, the latter two need to be synthetically prepared. How can they be considered natural? Was 94 always the accepted...
  39. T

    Density operator and natural log/trace

    I feel like I'm going around in circles trying to do something with the expression ## tr( \rho *log(\rho)) ##. I thought about a Taylor expansion, but I don't think there's a useful one here because of the logarithm. We learned the Jacobi's formula in class, but I don't think I want a derivative...
  40. jim mcnamara

    Change in perspective for Natural Selection

    https://phys.org/news/2020-01-fossil-upend-basic-tenet-evolutionary.html Sandra Catania et al. Evolutionary Persistence of DNA Methylation for Millions of Years after Ancient Loss of a De Novo Methyltransferase, Cell (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.12.012 Using pathogenic fungus species, the...
  41. J

    I Can I Use a Natural Log Function for Least Square Fitting?

    Hello, I'm trying to follow Wolfram to do a least square fitting. There are multiple summations in the two equations to find the coefficients. Are the i's the same in this case? Thanks!
  42. D

    MHB Natural Language Processing Help

    Hey, I need some help with the following exercise, it's probably not as hard as I think but I can't really think clear right now. I would really appreciate your folks help, thanks in advance :) I wasn't sure wether to post this in the computer science or statistics category so I posted it in...
  43. R

    I Find the natural frequencies of small oscillations

    Hi, Given a mechanic-problem, I've linearised a system of two differential equations, which the origin was Lagrange-equations. The system looks like this; $$ 5r \ddot{\theta} + r \ddot{\phi} + 4g \theta = 0´ \\ 3r \ddot{\theta} + 2r \ddot{\phi} + 3g \phi = 0 $$ $$ $$ And I shall find the...
  44. E

    B Manipulating quantities with natural units

    I'm only really just learning how natural units work so forgive me if this seems like a silly question. I was just wondering if someone could verify whether the following line of reasoning is valid (I will use joules instead of electron volts just so we can ignore the e conversion factor for...
  45. Ranku

    I Exploring Natural Phenomena Similar to Nuclear Fission

    Is there any phenomenon in nature that resembles or is analogous to nuclear fission?
  46. maistral

    A Deriving the derivative boundary conditions from natural formulation

    PS: This is not an assignment, this is more of a brain exercise. I intend to apply a general derivative boundary condition f(x,y). While I know that the boxed formulation is correct, I have no idea how to acquire the same formulation if I come from the general natural boundary condition...
  47. Stormzy67

    Elastic potential energy and natural length of a spring- relation?

    I figured out that the spring constant is inversely proportional to the natural length, but there’s still an unknown change in a quantity( most likely extension).
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