Dictionary Definition
natural adj
1 in accordance with nature; relating to or
concerning nature; "a very natural development"; "our natural
environment"; "natural science"; "natural resources"; "natural
cliffs"; "natural phenomena" [ant: unnatural]
2 existing in or produced by nature; not
artificial or imitation; "a natural pearl"; "natural gas"; "natural
silk"; "natural blonde hair"; "a natural sweetener"; "natural
fertilizers" [ant: artificial]
3 existing in or in conformity with nature or the
observable world; neither supernatural nor magical; "a perfectly
natural explanation" [ant: supernatural]
4 functioning or occurring in a normal way;
lacking abnormalities or deficiencies; "it's the natural thing to
happen"; "natural immunity"; "a grandparent's natural affection for
a grandchild"
6 unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct;
"a cat's natural aversion to water"; "offering to help was as
instinctive as breathing" [syn: instinctive]
7 (used especially of commodities) in the natural
unprocessed condition; "natural yogurt"; "natural produce"; "raw
wool"; "raw sugar"; "bales of rude cotton" [syn: raw(a), rude(a)]
8 related by blood; not adopted; "natural
parent"
9 being talented through inherited qualities; "a
natural leader"; "a born musician"; "an innate talent" [syn:
born(p),
innate(p)]
10 unaffected and natural looking; "a lifelike
pose"; "a natural reaction" [syn: lifelike]
Noun
1 someone regarded as certain to succeed; "he's a
natural for the job"
2 a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat
[syn: cancel]
3 (craps) a first roll of 7 or 11 that
immediately wins the stake
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
Adjective
- Of or relating to nature.
- Without artificial additives.
- As expected.
- It's natural for business to be slow on Tuesdays.
- Almost white, with tints of grey, yellow or brown.
- The color of a material that has not been adjusted or added to.
- Neither sharp or flat. Denoted ♮.
- Without, or prior to, modification or adjustment.
- So-called second-generation silicone breast implants looked and felt more like the natural breast.
Antonyms
Translations
relating to nature
- Arabic:
- Chinese: 自然的 (zìrán de)
- Czech: přírodní
- Dutch: natuurlijk
- Esperanto: natura
- Finnish: luonnollinen, luonnonmukainen
- French: naturel
- German: natürlich
- Hungarian: természetes
- Indonesian: alamiah
- Interlingua: natural
- Italian: naturale
- Japanese: 自然な (しぜんな, shizenna)
- Korean: 자연의 (jayeonui)
- Novial: natural
- Polish: naturalny, naturalna, naturalne
- Portuguese: natural m|f
- Romanian: natural , naturală
- Russian: естественный
- Scots: naitural
- Serbian: prirodan , prirodna
- Slovene: naraven , naravna , naravno
- Spanish: natural m|f
- Swedish: naturlig
- Telugu: సహజమైన (sahajamaina)
without additives
as expected
- Czech: přirozený
- Dutch: normaal
- Finnish: normaali, tavallinen, tavanomainen, luonnollinen
- French: normal
- Polish: naturalny , oczywisty
- Romanian: natural , naturală
- Serbian: prirodno, normalno
colour: almost white
- Finnish: luonnonvalkoinen
- Polish: cielisty
- Serbian:
- Roman: neutralna
colour: not adjusted
- Finnish: luonnonvärinen, luonnollinen
- Polish: cielisty
- Serbian:
- Roman: neutralna
musically not sharp or flat
- Finnish: luonnollinen
without adjustment
- Finnish: luonnollinen
Noun
- A note that is not or is no longer to be modified by an accidental
- The symbol ♮ following such a note.
- One with an inherited talent at something.
- He's a natural on the saxophone.
- an almost white colour, with tints of grey, yellow or brown.
- natural colour:
Translations
musical note
musical symbol
- Italian: bequadro
inherited talent
- Afrikaans: natuurlike talent
- Dutch: natuurtalent
- Finnish: luonnonlahjakkuus
- Serbian:
colour
Derived terms
- naturally
- naturalness
- natural advantages
- natural aging
- natural breast
- natural business year
- natural childbirth
- natural death
- natural disaster
- natural fiber
- natural food
- natural frequency
- natural gas
- natural historian
- natural history
- natural killer cell
- natural language
- natural language processing
- natural law
- natural light
- natural logarithm
- natural medicine
- natural monopoly
- natural number
- natural philosophy
- natural religion
- natural resources
- natural scale
- natural science
- natural selection
- natural slope
- natural theology
- natural virtue
- natural wastage
- natural world
- natural-born
- naturalise/naturalize
- naturalist
- unnatural
Descendants
See also
Portuguese
Adjective
natural (plural naturais)- natural
Related terms
Spanish
Etymology
Latin naturalisAdjective
Related terms
Extensive Definition
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to
the natural world, physical universe, material world or material
universe. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical
world, and also to life in
general. Manufactured objects and human interaction are not
considered part of nature unless qualified in ways such as
"human
nature" or "the whole of nature". Nature is generally
distinguished from the supernatural. It ranges in
scale from the subatomic to the galactic.
The word nature is derived from the Latin word
natura, or "the course of things, natural character." Natura was a
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. This is
shown in the first written use of the word φύσις, in connection
with a plant. 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,
and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was
confirmed during the advent of modern scientific
method in the last several centuries.
Within the various uses of the word today,
"nature" may refer to the general realm of various types 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, and the
matter and energy of which all these things
are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural
environment" or wilderness – wild
animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that
have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which
persist despite human intervention. This more traditional concept
of natural things which can still be found today implies a
distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the latter
being understood as that which has been brought into being by a
human or human-like
consciousness or
mind.
Etymology
The word nature means the universe, with all its
phenomena. Natura was a 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 word φύσις occurs very early in Greek philosophy,
generally in similar senses to those of the modern English word
nature. This is shown in the first written use of the word φύσις,
in connection with a plant by Homer. The concept of
nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several
expansions of the original notion. This usage was confirmed during
the advent of modern scientific
method. Isaac Newton's
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), for
example, is translated "Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy". The etymology of the word "physical" shows its use as
a synonym for "natural" in about the mid-15th century.
Earth
Earth (or, "the earth") is the only planet known to support life, and as such, its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar system, it is third nearest to the sun; it is the largest terrestrial planet and the fifth largest overall. Its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region. Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre. About 70 percent of the surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the inhabited land in the Northern Hemisphere.Earth has evolved through geological and
biological processes that have left traces of the original
conditions. The outer
surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic
plates, which have changed relatively quickly several times.
The interior remains active, with a thick layer of molten mantle and
an iron-filled core that generates a magnetic
field.
The atmospheric conditions have
been significantly altered from the original conditions by the
presence of lifeforms, which create an ecological balance that
stabilizes the surface conditions. Despite the wide regional
variations in climate by latitude and other geographic
factors, the long-term average global climate is quite stable
during interglacial periods, and variations of a degree or two of
average global temperature have historically had major effects on
the ecological balance, and on the actual geography of the
Earth.
Historical perspective
Earth is estimated to have formed 4.55 billion
years ago from the solar
nebula, along with the Sun and other planets. The moon formed
roughly 20 million years later. Initially molten, the outer layer
of the planet cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Outgassing and
volcanic
activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor,
augmented by ice delivered
by comets,
produced the oceans. The highly energetic chemistry is believed
to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years
ago.
Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as
the surface of Earth reshaped over hundreds of millions of years,
occasionally combining to make a supercontinent. Roughly
750 million years ago, the earliest known supercontinent Rodinia, began to
break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia which
broke apart about 540 million years ago, then finally Pangaea, which
broke apart about 180 million years ago.
There is significant evidence, still being
discussed among scientists, that a severe glacial action
during the Neoproterozoic
era covered much of the planet in a sheet of ice. This hypothesis
has been termed the "Snowball
Earth", and it is of particular interest as it precedes the
Cambrian
explosion in which multicellular life forms began to
proliferate about 530-540 million years ago.
Since the Cambrian
explosion there have been five distinctly identifiable mass
extinctions. The last mass extinction occurred some 65 million
years ago, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the
extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other large
reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals, which then resembled
shrews. Over the past 65
million years, mammalian life diversified.
Several million years ago, a species of small
African ape gained the ability to stand upright. The subsequent
advent of human life, and the development of agriculture and
further civilization allowed humans
to affect the Earth more rapidly than any previous life form,
affecting both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well
as global climate. By comparison, the Oxygen
Catastrophe, produced by the proliferation of algae during the
Siderian
period, required about 300 million years to culminate.)
The present era is classified as part of a mass
extinction event, the Holocene
extinction event, the fastest ever to have occurred. Some, such
as E.
O. Wilson of Harvard
University, predict that human destruction of the biosphere could cause the
extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years. The
extent of the current extinction event is still being researched,
debated and calculated by biologists.
Atmosphere, climate and weather
The atmosphere of the Earth serves as a key factor in sustaining the planetary ecosystem. The thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by the planet's gravity. Dry air consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and other inert gases, carbon dioxide, etc.; but air also contains a variable amount of water vapor. The atmospheric pressure declines steadily with altitude, and has a scale height of about 8 kilometres at the Earth's surface: the height at which the atmospheric pressure has declined by a factor of e (a mathematical constant equal to 2.71...). The ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes.Terrestrial weather occurs almost exclusively in
the lower part of the
atmosphere, and serves as a convective system for
redistributing heat. Ocean currents are another important factor in
determining climate, particularly the major underwater thermohaline
circulation which distributes heat energy from the equatorial
oceans to the polar regions. These currents help to moderate the
differences in temperature between winter and summer in the
temperate zones. Also, without the redistributions of heat energy
by the ocean currents and atmosphere, the tropics would be much
hotter, and the polar regions much colder.
Weather can have both beneficial and harmful
effects. Extremes in weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes and cyclones, can expend large
amounts of energy along their paths, and produce devastation.
Surface vegetation has evolved a dependence on the seasonal
variation of the weather, and sudden changes lasting only a few
years can have a dramatic effect, both on the vegetation and on the
animals dependent on its growth for their food.
The planetary climate is a measure of the
long-term trends in the weather. Various factors are known to
influence the
climate, including ocean currents, surface albedo, greenhouse
gases, variations in the solar luminosity, and changes to the
planet's orbit. Based on historical records, the Earth is known to
have undergone drastic climate changes in the past, including
ice
ages.
The climate of a region depends on a number of
factors, especially latitude. A latitudinal band of
the surface with similar climatic attributes forms a climate
region. There are a number of such regions, ranging from the
tropical
climate at the equator to the polar
climate in the northern and southern extremes. Weather is also
influenced by the seasons, which result from the
Earth's
axis
being tilted
relative to its orbital
plane. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one
part of the planet is more directly exposed to the rays of the
sun. This exposure
alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time,
regardless of season, the northern
and southern
hemispheres experience opposite seasons.
Weather is a chaotic
system that is readily modified by small changes to the
environment,
so accurate weather
forecasting is currently limited to only a few days. Overall,
two things are currently happening worldwide: (1) temperature is
increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates have been
undergoing noticeable changes.
Life
Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life is characterized by organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli and reproduction. Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of organisms.Properties common to terrestrial organisms
(plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea and bacteria) are that they are
cellular, carbon-and-water-based with complex organization, having
a metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, and
reproduce. An entity with these properties is generally considered
life. However, not every definition of life considers all of these
properties to be essential. Human-made analogs of
life may also be considered to be life.
The biosphere is the part of
Earth's outer shell — including air, land, surface rocks and water
— within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or
transform. From the broadest geophysiological
point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system
integrating all living beings and their relationships, including
their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere (rocks),
hydrosphere (water),
and atmosphere (air).
Currently the entire Earth contains over 75 billion tons (150
trillion pounds or about
6.8 x 1013 kilograms) of biomass
(life), which lives within various environments within the
biosphere.
Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is
plant life, on which animal life depends very heavily for its
existence. More than 2 million species of plant and animal life
have been identified to date, and estimates of the actual number of
existing species range from several million to well over 50
million. The number of individual species of life is constantly in
some degree of flux, with new species appearing and others ceasing
to exist on a continual basis. The total number of species is
presently in rapid decline.
Evolution
Life, as we understand it, is currently only known to exist on the planet Earth. The origin of life is still a poorly understood process, but it is thought to have occurred about 3.9 to 3.5 billion years ago during the hadean or archean eons on a primordial earth that had a substantially different environment than is found at present. These life forms possessed the basic traits of self-replication and inheritable traits. Once life had appeared, the process of evolution by natural selection resulted in the formation of ever-more diverse life forms.Species that were unable to adapt to the changing
environment and competition from other life forms became extinct.
However, the fossil
record retains evidence of many of these older species. Current
fossil and DNA
evidence shows that all existing species can trace a continual
ancestry back to the first primitive life forms. Cells within
colonies became increasingly specialized, resulting in true
multicellular organisms. With the ozone layer absorbing harmful
ultraviolet
radiation, life colonized the surface of Earth.
Microbes
The first form of life to develop on the Earth were microbes, and they remained the only form of life on the planet until about a billion years ago when multi-cellular organisms began to appear. Microorganisms are single-celled organisms that are generally smaller than the human eye can see. They include Bacteria, Fungi, Archaea and Protista.These life forms are found in almost every
location on the Earth where there is liquid water, including the
interior of rocks within the planet. Their reproduction is both
rapid and profuse. The combination of a high mutation rate and a
horizontal
gene transfer ability makes them highly adaptable, and able to
survive in new environments, including outer space.
They form an essential part of the planetary ecosystem. However
some microorganisms are pathogenic and can post
health risk to other organisms.
Plants and animals
The distinction between plant and animal life is not sharply drawn, with some categories of life that stand between or across the two. Originally Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move, and animals. In Linnaeus' system, these became the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered plants in many contexts. Bacterial life is sometimes included in flora, and some classifications use the term bacterial flora separately from plant flora.Among the many ways of classifying plants are by regional floras, which, depending on the
purpose of study, can also include fossil flora, remnants of plant
life from a previous era. People in many regions and countries take
great pride in their individual arrays of characteristic flora,
which can vary widely across the globe due to differences in
climate and terrain.
Regional floras commonly are divided into
categories such as native flora and agricultural and garden flora,
the latter of which are intentionally grown and cultivated. Some
types of "native flora" actually have been introduced centuries ago
by people migrating from one region or continent to another, and
become an integral part of the native, or natural flora of the
place to which they were introduced. This is an example of how
human interaction with nature can blur the boundary of what is
considered nature.
Another category of plant has historically been
carved out for weeds. Though the term has fallen into disfavor
among botanists as a
formal way to categorize "useless" plants, the informal use of the
word "weeds" to describe those plants that are deemed worthy of
elimination is illustrative of the general tendency of people and
societies to seek to alter or shape the course of nature.
Similarly, animals are often categorized in ways such as domestic,
farm animals, wild animals, pests, etc. according to their
relationship to human life.
Animals as a
category have several characteristics that generally set them apart
from other living things, though not traced by scientists to having
legs or wings instead of roots and leaves. Animals are eukaryotic and usually
multicellular
(although see Myxozoa), which
separates them from bacteria, archaea and most protists. They are heterotrophic, generally
digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from
plants and algae. They are also distinguished
from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell
walls.
With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges
(Phylum Porifera), animals have bodies differentiated into
separate tissues.
These include muscles,
which are able to contract and control locomotion, and a nervous
system, which sends and processes signals. There is also
typically an internal digestive chamber. The
eukaryotic cells possessed by all animals are surrounded by a
characteristic extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins. This may be
calcified to form structures like shells,
bones, and spicules, a framework upon which
cells can move about and be reorganized during development and
maturation, and which supports the complex anatomy required for
mobility.
Ecosystems
All forms of life interact with the environment in which they exist, and also with other life forms. In the 20th century this premise gave rise to the concept of ecosystems, which can be defined as any situation where there is interaction between organisms and their environment.Ecosystems are composed of a variety of abiotic and biotic components that function
in an interrelated way. The structure and composition is determined
by various environmental factors that are interrelated. Variations
of these factors will initiate dynamic modifications to the
ecosystem. Some of the more important components are: soil,
atmosphere, radiation from the sun, water, and living
organisms.
Each living organism has a continual relationship
with every other element that makes up its environment. Within the
ecosystem, species are connected and dependent upon one another in
the food
chain, and exchange energy and matter between themselves as well
as with their environment.
Every species has limits of tolerance to factors
that affect its survival, reproductive success and ability to
continue to thrive and interact sustainably with the rest of its
environment, which in turn may have effects on these factors for
many other species or even on the whole of life. The concept of an
ecosystem is thus an important subject of study, as such study
provides information needed to make decisions about how human life
may interact in a way that allows the various ecosystems to be
sustained for future use rather than used up or otherwise rendered
ineffective. For the purpose of such study, a unit of smaller size
is called a microecosystem. For
example, an ecosystem can be a stone and all the life under it. A
macroecosystem might involve a whole ecoregion, with its drainage
basin.
The following ecosystems are examples of the
kinds currently under intensive study:
Another classification can be made by reference
to its communities, such as in the case of a human
ecosystem. Regional groupings of distinctive plant and animals
best adapted to the region's physical natural
environment, latitude, altitude, and terrain are known as
biomes. The broadest
classification, today under wide study and analysis, and also
subject to widespread arguments about its nature and validity, is
that of the entire sum of life seen as analogous to a
self-sustaining organism; a theory studied as earth system
science (less formally known as Gaia
theory).
Human interrelationship
Although humans currently comprise only about one-half of one percent of the total living biomass on Earth, the human effect on nature is disproportionately large (thus generating the appearance of such terms as man-nature continuum, humanized nature or human environment). Because of the extent of human influence, the boundaries between what we regard as nature and "made environments" is not clear cut except at the extremes. Even at the extremes, the amount of natural environment that is free of discernible human influence is presently diminishing at an increasingly rapid pace, or, according to some, has already disappeared.The development of technology by the human race
has allowed the greater exploitation of natural resources and has
helped to alleviate some of the risk from natural hazards. In spite
of this progress, however, the fate of human civilization remains
closely linked to changes in the environment. There exists a highly
complex feedback-loop between the use of advanced technology and
changes to the environment that are only slowly becoming
understood. Manmade threats to the Earth's natural environment
include pollution,
deforestation, and
disasters such as oil spills. Humans have contributed to the
extinction of many
plants and animals.
Humans employ nature for both leisure and
economic activities. The acquisition of natural resources for
industrial use remains the primary component of the world's
economic system. Some activities, such as hunting and fishing, are used for both
sustenance and leisure, often by different people. Agriculture
was first adopted around the 9th
millennium BCE. Ranging from food production to energy, nature influences
economic wealth.
Although early humans gathered uncultivated plant
materials for food and employed the medicinal properties of
vegetation for healing, most modern human use of plants is through
agriculture. The clearance of large tracts of land for crop growth
has led to a significant reduction in the amount available of
forestation and wetlands, resulting in the loss of habitat for many
plant and animal species as well as increased erosion.
Wilderness
Wilderness is generally defined as a natural environment on Earth that has not been directly modified by human activity. Ecologists consider wilderness areas to be an integral part of the planet's self-sustaining natural ecosystem (the biosphere).The word, "wilderness", derives from the notion
of wildness; in other
words that which is not controllable by humans. The word's etymology is from the Old English
wildeornes, which in turn derives from wildeor meaning wild beast
(wild + deor = beast, deer). From this point of view, it is the
wildness of a place that makes it a wilderness. The mere presence
or activity of people does not disqualify an area from being
"wilderness." Many ecosystems that are, or have been, inhabited or
influenced by activities of people may still be considered "wild."
This way of looking at wilderness includes areas within which
natural processes operate without very noticeable human
interference.
Beauty in nature
Beauty in nature has long been a common theme in life and in art, and books emphasizing beauty in nature fill large sections of libraries and bookstores. That nature has been depicted and celebrated by so much art, photography, poetry and other literature shows the strength with which many people associate nature and beauty. Why this association exists, and what the association consists of, is studied by the branch of philosophy called aesthetics. Beyond certain basic characteristics that many philosophers agree about to explain what is seen as beautiful, the opinions are virtually endless.Looked at through the lens of the visual arts,
nature and wildness have been important subjects in various epochs
of world history. An early tradition of landscape
art began in China during the
Tang
Dynasty (618-907). The tradition of representing nature as it
is became one of the aims of Chinese
painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. Artists
learned to depict mountains and rivers "from the perspective of
nature as a whole and on the basis of their understanding of the
laws of nature … as if seen through the eyes of a bird." In the
13th century, the Song Dynasty
artist Shi
Erji listed "scenes lacking any places made inaccessible by
nature," as one of the 12 things to avoid in painting.
In the Western
world the idea of wilderness having intrinsic value emerged in
the 1800s, especially in the works of the Romantic
movement. British
artists John
Constable and JMW Turner
turned their attention to capturing the beauty of the natural world
in their paintings. Before that, paintings had been primarily of
religious scenes or of human beings. William
Wordsworth’s poetry described the wonder of the natural world,
which had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly
the valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture. This
artistic movement also coincided with the Transcendentalist
movement in the Western world.
Many scientists, who study nature in more
specific and organized ways, also share the conviction that nature
is beautiful; the French mathematician, Jules
Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) said:The scientist does not study
nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in
it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.If nature were
not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were
not worth knowing, life would not be worth living. Of course I do
not here speak of that beauty which strikes the senses, the beauty
of qualities and of appearance; not that I undervalue such beauty,
far from it, but it has nothing to do with science; I mean that
profounder beauty which comes from the harmonious order of the
parts and which a pure intelligence can grasp.
A common classical idea of beautiful art involves
the word mimesis, the
imitation of nature. Also in the realm of ideas about beauty in
nature is that the perfect is implied through symmetry, equal
division, and other perfect mathematical forms and notions.
Matter and energy
Some fields of science see nature as matter in motion, obeying certain laws of nature which science seeks to understand. For this reason the most fundamental science is generally understood to be "physics"—the name for which is still recognizable as meaning that it is the study of nature.Matter is commonly defined as the substance of
which physical objects are composed. It constitutes the observable
universe. The visible components of the universe are now
believed to compose only 4 percent of the total mass. The remainder
is believed to consist of 23 percent cold dark matter
and 73 percent dark energy.
The exact nature of these components is still unknown and is
currently under intensive investigation by physicists.
The behavior of matter and energy throughout the
observable
universe appears to follow well-defined physical
laws. These laws have been employed to produce cosmological
models that successfully explain the structure and the evolution of
the universe we can observe. The mathematical expressions of the
laws of physics employ a set of twenty physical
constants that appear to be static across the observable
universe. The values of these constants have been carefully
measured, but the reason for their specific values remains a
mystery.
Nature beyond Earth
Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and terrestrial locations). There is no discrete boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space, as the atmosphere gradually attenuates with increasing altitude. Outer space within the solar system is called interplanetary space, which passes over into interstellar space at what is known as the heliopause.Outer space is certainly spacious, but it is far
from empty. Outer space is sparsely filled with several dozen types
of organic
molecules discovered to
date by microwave
spectroscopy,
blackbody radiation left over from the big bang and the
origin of the universe, and cosmic rays,
which include ionized
atomic
nuclei and various subatomic
particles. There is also some gas, plasma
and dust, and small
meteors. Additionally,
there are signs of human life in outer space today, such as
material left over from previous manned and unmanned launches which
are a potential hazard to spacecraft. Some of this debris
re-enters the atmosphere periodically.
Although the planet Earth is currently the only
known body within the solar system to support life, current
evidence suggests that in the distant past the planet Mars possessed bodies
of liquid water on the surface. For a brief period in Mars'
history, it may have also been capable of forming life. At present
though, most of the water remaining on Mars is frozen. If life
exists at all on Mars, it is most likely to be located underground
where liquid water can still exist.
Conditions on the other terrestrial planets,
Mercury
and Venus,
appears to be too harsh to support life as we know it. But it has
been conjectured that Europa, the
fourth-largest moon of Jupiter, may
possess a sub-surface ocean of liquid water and could potentially
host life.
Recently, the team of Stéphane
Udry have discovered a new planet named Gliese 581
c, which is an extrasolar planet orbiting
the red
dwarf star Gliese 581.
Gliese 581 c appears to lay in the habitable
zone of space surrounding the star, and therefore could possibly
host life as we know
it.
see also Extraterrestrial
life
See also
Science:Philosophy:
- Nature (philosophy)
- Mother Nature
- Naturalism (philosophy): any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from Materialism and Pragmatism that do not distinguish the supernatural from nature. This includes the methodological naturalism of natural science, which makes the methodological assumption that observable events in nature are explained only by natural causes, without assuming either the existence or non-existence of the supernatural.
Media:
- Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Nature, a prominent scientific journal
- Natural History, by Pliny the Elder
- Nature (TV series)
Organizations:
Notes and references
External links
sisterlinks Nature- Experience the Incredible Beauty - an online photography gallery featuring the beauty of nature.
- The Essence of Nature Magazine - An online magazine dedicated to nature, animals, and the environment.
- Historical photos of nature
- Some nature related activities for kids
- Gallery of Living Nature: Photogallery, Wildlife Videos, Voices of Living Nature, Wallpapers, Etc.
- Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon - A thorough treatment of the word φύσις.
natural in Arabic: طبيعة
natural in Asturian: Natura
natural in Bengali: প্রকৃতি
natural in Min Nan: Chū-jiân
natural in Belarusian (Tarashkevitsa):
Прырода
natural in Bosnian: Priroda
natural in Breton: Endro
natural in Bulgarian: Природа
natural in Catalan: Natura
natural in Chuvash: Çутçанталăк
natural in Czech: Příroda
natural in Welsh: Natur
natural in Danish: Natur
natural in German: Natur
natural in Estonian: Loodus
natural in Modern Greek (1453-): Φύση
natural in Spanish: Naturaleza
natural in Esperanto: Naturo
natural in Basque: Natura
natural in Persian: طبیعت
natural in French: Nature
natural in Galician: Natureza
natural in Korean: 자연
natural in Croatian: Priroda
natural in Ido: Naturo
natural in Indonesian: Alam
natural in Interlingua (International Auxiliary
Language Association): Natura
natural in Ossetian: Æрдз
natural in Italian: Natura
natural in Hebrew: טבע
natural in Kannada: ನಿಸರ್ಗ
natural in Georgian: ბუნება
natural in Latin: Natura
natural in Latvian: Daba
natural in Lithuanian: Gamta
natural in Macedonian: Природа
natural in Marathi: निसर्ग
natural in Malay (macrolanguage): Alam semula
jadi
natural in Mongolian: Байгаль
natural in Dutch: Natuur (kosmos)
natural in Japanese: 自然
natural in Norwegian: Natur
natural in Norwegian Nynorsk: Natur
natural in Polish: Natura
natural in Portuguese: Natureza
natural in Romanian: Natură
natural in Quechua: Sallqa pacha
natural in Russian: Природа
natural in Albanian: Natyra
natural in Sicilian: Natura (cumplessu
naturali)
natural in Simple English: Nature
natural in Slovak: Príroda
natural in Slovenian: Narava
natural in Serbian: Природа
natural in Sundanese: Alam
natural in Finnish: Luonto
natural in Swedish: Natur
natural in Thai: ธรรมชาติ
natural in Vietnamese: Tự nhiên
natural in Tajik: Табиат
natural in Turkish: Doğa
natural in Ukrainian: Природа
natural in Urdu: فطرت
natural in Yiddish: נאטור
natural in Chinese: 自然
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Afro,
Attic, Bohemian, Ciceronian, Spartan, accepted, accidental, actual, affable, agrarian, alien, ament, appropriate, arcadian, artist, artless, ascetic, atavistic, austere, authentic, automatic, bald, bare, baseborn, basic, bastard, bodily, bona fide, born, born fool, breathing, breve, bucolic, candid, card-carrying, case, cast, casual, character, characteristic, chaste, child prodigy, cinch, classic, clear, clot, coeval, coif, coiffure, cold wave, common, commonplace, congenital, congenital idiot,
conk, connatal, connate, connatural, consequent, consistent, consonant, constitutional, cordial, course, crackpot, crank, crap, craps, cretin, crotchet, customary, defective, degage, demisemiquaver, dinkum, direct, distinctive, distinguishing, dominant, dominant note, double
whole note, dry, dull, easy, easygoing, eccentric, eighth note,
elegant, enharmonic, enharmonic note,
everyday, exemplary, expected, faithful, familiar, fanatic, fatherless, finished, fitting, flat, folksy, following the letter,
fool, frank, free and easy, fundamental, general, genetic, genius, genuine, gifted child, gifted
person, golem, good, graceful, gracile, gracious, guileless, habitual, haircut, hairdo, hairstyle, half note,
half-wit, haymish,
headdress, health, hemidemisemiquaver,
hereditary, hermit, hobo, home permanent, homely, homespun, homey, honest, honest-to-God, idiot, ignorant, illegitimate, imbecile, impulsive, in the blood, in
the raw, inartificial, inborn, inbred, incarnate, indigenous, informal, ingenuous, ingrained, inherent, inherited, innate, innocent, instinctive, instinctual, intellectual
genius, intellectual prodigy, involuntary, irregular, juggins, kook, lawful, lean, legitimate, libidinal, lifelike, limpid, literal, living, logical, lone wolf, loner, loose, lucid, man of parts,
matter-of-fact, maverick, mental genius, mental
giant, meshuggenah,
minim, misbegotten, mongoloid
idiot, moron, musical
note, naive, native, native to, natural idiot,
natural to, natural-born fool, naturalistic, naturelike, naturistic, neat, net, nick, nonconformist, normal, note, nut, odd fellow, oddball, oddity, offhand, offhanded, open, orderly, ordinary, organic, original, outsider, pariah, pastoral, patent note, pellucid, permanent, permanent wave,
perspicuous,
physical, plain, plain-speaking,
plain-spoken, polished,
prevalent, primal, primitive, pristine, process, prodigy, proper, prosaic, prosing, prosy, provincial, pure, quarter note, quaver, queer duck, queer fish,
queer specimen, quintessential, rara
avis, real, realistic, reasonable, refined, regular, relaxed, report, responding note, restrained, rightful, roll, round, routine, rural, rustic, sample, screwball, semibreve, semiquaver, sensible, severe, shaped note, sharp, shoo-in, shot, simon-pure, simp, simple, simple-speaking, simplehearted, simpleton, sincere, sixteenth note,
sixty-fourth note, sober,
sociable, solitary, spare, speaking, spiccato, spontaneous, spurious, staccato, standard, stark, sterling, straight, straightforward,
subliminal, supposititious, sure bet,
sure success, sure thing, sure-enough, sustained note, talent, tasteful, temperamental, tercet, terse, thirty-second note,
throw, to the life,
tone, tramp, trim, triplet, true, true to form, true to life,
true to nature, true to reality, true to type, typal, type, typic, typical, unacquired, unadorned, unadulterated, unaffected, unartificial, unassumed, unassuming, unceremonious, uncolored, unconcocted, unconscious, unconstrained, unconventional, uncopied, uncounterfeited,
uncultivated,
understandable,
undesigning,
undisguised,
undisguising,
undissembling,
undissimulating,
undistorted,
undomesticated,
unembarrassed,
unembellished,
unexaggerated,
unexceptional,
unfabricated,
unfanciful, unfeigned, unfeigning, unfictitious, unflattering, unimaginative, unimagined, unimitated, uninvented, unlabored, unlearned, unofficial, unpoetical, unpremeditated, unpretended, unpretending, unpretentious, unqualified, unromantic, unschooled, unsimulated, unsophisticated,
unspecious, unspoiled, unstudied, unsullied, unsynthetic, untouched, untutored, unvarnished, unworldly, usual, verbal, verbatim, veridical, verisimilar, virgin, virginal, wave, whole note, winner, word-for-word, zany, zealot