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https://zoom.us/j/95603412698?pwd=lWi9j5gEC1WV5VKIx8RbQOYKsaCJIQ.1

Meeting-ID: 956 0341 2698
Kenncode: 135860

Mary S. Morgan, London School of Economics and Political Science

Making Models: Choosing Scale?

Abstract

Why are some models bigger than the object they aim to represent and some smaller?  Is the choice of scale determined by ease of construction, or is to satisfy the users’ needs, or is the scale just the standard one used in a specific field? These seem simple questions, but that does not make their answers self-evident. 

And then we get to more complicated problems: where do questions of scale come in when the relationship between model and object being modelled is not a mimicking one, but a more open representing relation of something more abstract and conceptual like the macro-economy?  Do notions of scale become irrelevant?  Scale can be understood as a spatial characteristic, but time can equally be a scale consideration, as can material qualities. Thus fruit flies are ‘the model organism’ for investigating genetics because of their fast cycle of reproduction whereas the design of early earthquake models needed materials that were much more fluid than earth to behave at the right scale for the model. In choosing the right model for the job, we also need to choose the right scale for the model.