Earth's physical environment is traditionally divided in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the solid Earth

Question

Remembering the scientific method, why do you think that scientists tend to categorize and classify various features, phenomena, and characteristics of the natural world into groups or subdivisions? Also, are there potential pitfalls or problems if we only consider the natural world as individual groups or categories rather than as a whole?

Answer 1

Categorizing and classifying is a way of cataloging the differences and similarities between things. We put items that are mostly similar into the same broad groups and separate items that are mostly different. From this system, we can begin to study why things are similar and what is the significance of the differences and that helps us to get to the basic processes that are of scientific interest. The pitfalls or problems are that we may not recognize similarities in objects that have been classified as different and vice versa. Also, we are likely to miss the interactions between different groups and the processes that cause those interactions when we focus on classifying things.