Answer to Question #241089 in Classical Mechanics for Gianong

Question

A certain belief system attempts to correlate man and the universe. Such a belief system includes methods for orienting buildings and human activities with reference to stars to help improve the flow of positive energy.

An elderly man in the village who practices this belief system claims that students could benefit from this system by following a simple method. When studying, student must sit facing north and also sleep with his or her head pointed to the north. As claimed by the elderly man, students who followed his method will benefit from the alignment with the earth's magnetic field. This in turn will result in consistently high grades for the students during examinations for the remainder of the semester. 

Evaluate such claim using the diagnostic features of science; Explain why such a belief system could persist.

Answer 1

A claim like this does not have a scientific basis. There is no scientific evidence or research that proves that alignment with the magnetic field would result in the advantages of intellectual activity. Moreover, we know that the earth's magnetic field is not aligned from geographical South to North, it is shifted from this direction.

Moreover, if specific alignment with the magnetic field could impact someone's intellectual quotient, our brain should have contained some magnetic regions that interact with the magnetic field. There is no scientific evidence that our brain has such areas.

Such a belief system could persist because people do not have enough knowledge, do not understand or do not want to understand science, or because cannot accept a point of view that is different from their own.