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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
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10.37547/tajssei/Volume07Issue04-09
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SUBMITED
28 February 2025
ACCEPTED
25 March 2025
PUBLISHED
28 April 2025
VOLUME
Vol.07 Issue 04 2025
CITATION
Nurillayev Bobomurot Nadjmitdinovich. (2025). Historical-methodological
foundation, mental-model representation, physical theory and ideal
experiment. The American Journal of Social Science and Education
Innovations, 7(04), 62
–
65.
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajssei/Volume07Issue04-09
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
Historical-methodological
foundation, mental-model
representation, physical
theory and ideal
experiment
Nurillayev Bobomurot Nadjmitdinovich
Associate professor of the department “physics and methodology and
teaching” Tashkent state pedagogical university the name of the
university is Nizami, PhD., Uzbekistan
Abstract:
In the history of the formation and
development of scientific thought in the study of natural
phenomena and objects, theoretical and experimental
approaches remain the main research methods. In this
case, the process of knowledge (scientific) priority
belongs to the experimental method. As you know, a
real experiment “is a matter of decrees before nature”
and nature itself answers it.
Generalization of experimental data is empirical
knowledge - the foundation of natural sciences [2].
Keywords:
Experimental data, empirical knowledge,
natural sciences.
Introduction:
The essence of the theoretical method is
that on the basis of scientific and logical, generalized,
mastered knowledge is a condition for the formation of
elements of new knowledge about physical phenomena
and objects of the surrounding reality.
It should be noted that with a theoretical approach to
the study of natural phenomena, the researcher finds
answers to the questions posed on the basis of formed
knowledge. In the theoretical method of research, the
main tool for the scientific and logical construction of
physical phenomena is various forms of theoretical
thinking?
As you know, one of the forms of theoretical thinking is
a thought experiment. To reveal the essence of a
thought experiment, an example proposed by Maxwell,
known in physics as “Maxwell's demon”, is given. This
thought experiment was put forward by Maxwell as a
possible
objection
to
the
second
law
of
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The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations
thermodynamics, according to which heat itself cannot
pass from bodies a with a lower temperature to a div
with a higher temperature. " Maxwell's Demon " could
sort gas molecules according to speeds without energy
supply. The experiment showed that the entropy of the
system decreases, which contradicts the second law of
thermodynamics. A discussion of this thought
experiment showed that the existence of a “Maxwell
demon” that does not consume energy contradicts the
laws of thermodynamics. The most convincing proof of
the impracticability of Maxwell's demon has been
provided by quantum mechanics. The demon must
measure both the speed and position of the molecule
in space with high accuracy, which contradicts the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle [6].
A thought experiment is a special theoretical
procedure that consists in obtaining new or testing
existing knowledge by constructing idealized objects
and manipulating them in artificially (conditionally)
specified situations [7].
As the author of [6] notes and we fully support that the
purpose of setting up such thought experiments may
be to prove the fallacy of the hypotheses put forward.
For example, Galileo was mistaken, believing that by
inertia a div can not only move uniformly and
rectilinearly, but also move uniformly in a circle (the
latter is incorrect!), His idea allowed Newton to
correctly formulate the law (principle) of inertia, which
he calls Newton's first laws [4]. Therefore, if the results
of a thought experiment contradict common sense or
known scientific principles, then the hypothesis was
recognized as erroneous. Unlike a physical experiment,
in a thought experiment, the interpretation of its
results is very important.
Subsequent studies of this issue by a number of
scientists (Silard, Lewis, Slater, Brillouin, Wiener)
showed that in the "Maxwell demon" reasoning was
based on the use of incorrect premises ...., it was only
a theoretical reasoning, it was carried out in the form
of an analysis of a certain situation, which basically
impossible to do. This form of theoretical thinking was
called a “thought experiment” [2].
As you know, Maxwell is not the first who turned to a
thought experiment to describe idealized physical
phenomena, objects. Thus, Galileo first used the idea
of a thought experiment. with the help of which he
proved that the time of free fall of bodies from a given
height with different masses is the same. Indeed, in
any real experiment on earth, we cannot free the div
from the action of gravity and friction. However, we
can put the question this way: what will happen if we
gradually reduce these forces, at least mentally ......
This is the idea of a mental experiment in which the
div is free from any external influences led Galileo to
the idea of inertial motion of the div [4]. As Einstein
himself said: “... the phenomena that we want to
observe cause some changes in our measuring device,
as a result of which some processes begin to occur in it
..... affecting our sensations and leading to fixing the
results in our minds. If we want to claim that we have
observed something, we need to know how nature
functions all the way from the observed phenomenon
to fixing its results in our minds. We must at least have
a practical knowledge of the laws of nature” [5]. This
understanding of Einstein contains the meaning of
understanding the function of a thought experiment.
Physical science, as the oldest in the study of (nature) of
the surrounding reality, was one of the first to turn from
descriptive to exact. The world around us is infinite and
limitless in its manifestations. In this regard, each stage
of the study and forecasting of natural phenomena is a
process of approaching the truth of the origin and
development of the world around us (nature).
It should be noted that, based on the foregoing, it is not
necessary to take into account all factors of natural
phenomena, without exception, when solving various
physical problems. In this regard, the model
representation of physical phenomena and objects in an
ideal experiment is most often used.
In our understanding, an ideal experiment is a process
of mental and model representation of objects and
phenomena of reality, which form the basis of a thought
experiment with certain limits of their application in
scientific research.
For example, the author of [2] notes that in a thought
experiment, the objects of study are replaced by certain
idealized ideas about the original. At the same time, a
mental experiment is presented as an ideal form of a
real experiment.
It must be emphasized that thought experiments are
“carried out” not only with idealized representations,
but also with idealized models of the original.
From all the variety, causes and consequences of the
analyzed physical phenomena and objects, the mental-
model representation highlights the main (essential)
properties and connections that most clearly
approximate the structure and content of the model to
the original.
Thus, the purpose of the mental-model representation,
i.e. creating a model - the original, is to identify cause-
and-effect relationships between specific variables of
certain natural or social processes, in particular physical
phenomena or objects. The implementation of such a
task is facilitated by the smaller the number of variables.
Depending on the content and object of the task-
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execution, the models are conditionally divided into
fundamental and private. Many examples of such
models can be cited in the development of physics.
Thus, the fundamental scientific model is
Newtonian mechanics, which uses the concepts of a
material point. The fundamental model is Maxwell's
electrodynamics, it served basis (condition) for the
emergence
of
new
fundamental
models
(generalization of Newtonian mechanics and
electrodynamics). Another fundamental model is
Einstein's special and general theory of relativity. This
list goes on.
A private model is the concept of an ideal
incompressible fluid (it does not depend on pressure
and internal friction). In the nature of such media there
are no effects, within the framework of these
representations qualitatively different from real
phenomena. So, with a disappearing low viscosity, the
resistance of a real medium to the movement of bodies
with a bad streamlined shape is all the same great.
Despite this, the use of the model of an ideal
incompressible fluid in scientific research gives
valuable results and is effectively used [1].
The concept of an ideal gas is a particular model where
the volume of a molecule and their interactions are
neglected.
Thus, from the foregoing, it can be seen that before
talking about a thought experiment in the study of
natural phenomena, in particular physical ones, it is
necessary to reveal the mental-model representation,
with the gradual formation of (mental) mental actions
to reveal the basic properties, essential links between
the model and the original and their relationship with
the performer (trainee, teacher, students, etc.).
It should be emphasized that the development of
modern physics has led to the impossibility of
understanding and perception by the human senses
(registered only by instruments) of phenomena based
on the existing systems of visual-figurative
representations, analogies and mechanical models
that make up the classical picture of the world
according to Newtonian mechanics. In physics, a crisis
of “visibility” arose with the advent of quantum
mechanics. However, further development of science
itself showed that the use of mental-model
representations made it possible to penetrate into the
microcosm of elementary particles and the macrocosm
of cosmic processes. On this basis, it is necessary to pay
attention to the mental-model representation, which
unites and synthesizes the conceptual-sign and object-
sensory reflections of objective reality, becomes
essential in the cardinal, key and critical stages of the
development of physics (Newton's dynamics -
mechanics and the creation of Einstein's theory of
relativity and quantum mechanics).
It should be noted that the opposition mental-model
representation of the experiment to sensory-
conceptual forms of cognition are incompatible, since
both forms of cognition are united by their common,
objective content. In this sense, the imagery mental-
model representation is a necessary, main component
of the process of scientific knowledge, complementing
the world of abstract-logical constructions, in the form
of a model - the original.
As A. Einstein wrote, “In my life, the view of the world
through the eyes of an artist played a big role. After all,
the work of scientific research develops on the basis of
the imagination. Just as an artist creates his images
partly intuitively, so a scientist must have a great deal of
intuition” [8].
As the author notes [2], the main means of uniting
conceptual-sign and subject-sensory forms of reflection
of real phenomena and objects is a mental experiment.
However, in our understanding, this process is
theoretically based on a mental-model representation
and the gradual formation of mental (mental) actions of
realization in an ideal, abstract experiment.
As you know, a thought experiment in scientific
knowledge is not directly related to the possibility of its
implementation in a material-objective form.
However, on this basis, one should not completely
separate the thought experiment from those stages of
research activities that are directly related to the
development and planning of laboratory experiments.
This activity, to a large extent, is also associated with a
thought experiment, representing a "playing in the
mind" of some idealized situations [2].
In line with the foregoing, mental-model representation
as the main component of a thought experiment is an
effective means of implementing the prognostic
function of scientific research on phenomena and
objects of reality.
Thus, the mental-model representation as a component
of a thought experiment complements the process of
constructing an abstract reflection of the main
properties of the connections of their relations between
the model, the original and the performer (researcher,
teacher, student, etc.).
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