In the Royal Spanish Academy they define a phenomenon as "any communication that is present to the consciousness of an element and appears as an element of its perception". The phenomenon is the presence of elements before our sense, in the first contact it has with the elements and it is determined as experience (which is one of the skills obtained from observation, collaboration and the experience of an act or from things that happen in life), as an idea that is worked out collectively.
What is a phenomenon
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It is a manifestation perceived by man that can come from any source, in which his senses are involved. Normally, it is called "phenomenon" some extraordinary event, which departs from the conventional order and surprising to humans, even if such phenomenon corresponds to a natural event.
The term is broad, as it can refer to some natural or spiritual event. According to its etymology, this word comes from the Latin phaenomenom, and it refers to a real manifestation that an individual perceives through their senses.
Similarly, the term is attributed to a person who has special qualities, abilities or characteristics that distinguish him from others. Two cases that stand out for the term "phenomenon" in this sense of the term, is that of the fastest runner in the world, the Jamaican Usain Bolt, who is considered a phenomenon; In the same way, the Englishman Joseph Merrick, the elephant man, is presented, who is considered a phenomenon due to his peculiar appearance, for which he received discrimination and rejection, despite his intense humanity.
From the philosophical point of view, Inmanuel Kant (1724-1804), conceptualized the phenomenon as the result of a sensible experience, and the noumenon as that which logic and understanding must intervene in order to understand it. There is a philosophical current that studies this terminology, called "phenomenology". From the point of view of science, a phenomenon is made up of any event that can be observed or measured.
There are events that have no explanation, which are called paranormal phenomena, and that are outside what science can explain, which is why they are associated with hypothetical events.
Types of phenomenon
Within the phenomena, there are two large groups, which are anthropic (due to human intervention) and natural (due to cycles of nature, which cannot be controlled by man). Despite this, there are natural phenomena that have been the product of man's actions, and anthropic phenomena that have been the product of the use of natural ones.
Scientific phenomenon
They are those that can be studied, measured and analyzed, for which there is some magnitude that serves to define a physical phenomenon. This type includes natural phenomena, such as, for example:
- Physical phenomena: They are observable and measurable transformations in bodies, without a transformation in the components of their substance. They can be included in this category: geological phenomena, meteorological and electrical phenomena, hydrological phenomena, thermal phenomena, among others.
- Chemical phenomena: they occur when the atomic composition of substances arises to give rise to a new one, through natural phenomena, usually with irreversible effects. It is important to note that, within chemical phenomena, there are also electrical phenomena, such as electrolysis (energy accumulation) and atomic phenomena, which is the essence of chemistry.
- Biological phenomena: Related to living organisms, such as physiological, growth or reproductive changes.
On the other hand, there are scientific phenomena produced by man through the application of natural ones, such as technology, since the adaptation of these phenomena has served to develop these advances that have revolutionized the world and the activities of humanity..
Social phenomenon
This category is anthropic in nature, since it is everything that occurs by direct action and intervention of the human being, his behavior and how it affects society, its relationships and even its impact on nature. It is also understood as the forms of expression of the same to demand a social change in situations that threaten well-being; that is to say, situations that originate in the face of social imbalance as a result of disorderly conduct.
Among the main social phenomena can be highlighted:
- Psychological phenomena: What are those associated with the mind of the human being, in which physical-chemical processes intervene.
- Sociological phenomena: These refer to the interaction of human beings with their peers, of social groups with others, or phenomena that have an impact on the masses.
- Economic phenomena: They will be described later.
Examples of scientific phenomena
There are several manifestations of scientific phenomena that occur in the natural field, and that affect the daily life of man. Among them:
Meteorological phenomena
These refer to the dynamics of nature in terms of changes and events that determine the climate, which are influenced by the wind and the water cycle, these are considered natural phenomena. It also refers to unusual events in nature.
An example of them is the El Niño phenomenon. This is a climatic event with a periodicity of between three and eight years, characterized by the warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific, which causes intense rains in the regions of South America, Central America and Southeast Asia.
There are common meteorological phenomena, which manifest themselves naturally; extraordinary, which are not common throughout the world and require special conditions for their manifestation; and natural disasters, which is the intensification of some of the most common, causing violent changes in ecosystems. In addition to El Niño, among the best known, there are:
- The rains, snow and hail.
- The thunder, lightning, lightning and flash.
- The northern and southern auroras and the rainbows.
- The tides, ocean currents and tsunamis.
- Tropical storms, the monsoon, tornadoes, typhoons, and hurricanes.
- Floods and droughts.
- Waves of heat and cold.
In recent decades, the intervention of man has negatively influenced the climatic consequences on a global scale. The global warming or climate change is one of the geographical phenomena that has reached ecosystems disastrously. Countless species have disappeared, habitats have become more hostile, and pollution has thrown the modus vivendi of various species out of balance.
A report by the United Nations Organization estimates that by 2030, if the effects of this climate phenomenon are not neutralized, the damage will be irreversible and the planet will suffer the onslaught of normal meteorological phenomena, by increasing their intensity, severity and frequency..
Biological phenomena
Biological phenomenon is called to all those transformations that occur in living beings and have an influence on the environment. These changes can occur in the organism of the living being, and are also related to their rituals in nature.
Similarly, a biological phenomenon is one that, having its origin in a living being, has disastrous implications, which is also known as a biological disaster, the scope of which can affect humanity.
Among these phenomena, the following can be mentioned:
1. Regular
- Adaptations: Adjust to changes in the environment of the living being for its survival (acclimatization, camouflage, mimicry).
- Biogenesis: When a living being produces another living being; that is, it reproduces.
- Biosynthesis: It is the process by which some substrates present in living beings are transformed into more complex substances.
- Cell cycle: When cells grow and divide into two daughter cells.
- Behavior: It is the behavior that they present in their environment with respect to those of the same species and others (collective, group, reproductive, cannibalism, predation, spawning).
- Degeneration and death: The natural process of aging until death.
- Biological development: It is the natural growth of living beings (growth, embryonic and seasonal development, cell differentiation, maturation, metamorphosis).
- Diseases: Some alteration of the well-being and health of the organism.
- Evolution: The phenotypic and genotypic changes that occur in species from one generation to another, and are adaptive in nature.
- Genetic phenomena: They determine the genetic information of the living being, which will affect its appearance, transmission to its descendants and its survival.
- Physiological functions: The basic processes, such as breathing, eating, defecating or reproducing.
- Mutations: Genetic transformations that occur due to environmental factors or some other.
2. Disasters
- Red tide: When microorganisms are concentrated in the sea in a specific area, it can carry toxins that negatively impact the ecosystem in which it occurs.
- Epidemics: It is the expansion of some dangerous and contagious disease in a significant amount of space.
- Pandemics: It is when a disease spreads epidemic throughout the world.
- Pests: It is the overpopulation of certain species, which produces imbalances in the ecosystem.
Geological phenomena
These are examples of physical phenomena, since it refers to the events that are related to the solid part of the planet, its transformations, natural processes and natural disasters, and are studied by geology. These are produced by the movements of the layers that make up the Earth and the interaction of the internal components of the planet with the Earth's crust and the energy that results from them.
The main physical phenomena that geology describes are:
- Orogenesis, which is the formation of mountains or ranges, originated by the push of one tectonic plate on another and whose process lasts for millennia and even millions of years.
- The formation of minerals and other elements, such as coal, oil and gas, that come from organic matter.
- Erosion, sedimentation and transport, which are the wear and tear and deposit of rocks and other elements of the Earth, and the process between them, respectively.
- Movement of tectonic plates, which produce disproportions in the interior of the planet, which accumulates energy and is released in the form of waves towards the surface, manifested as tremors, earthquakes and tidal waves.
- Volcanic eruptions, which is the release of gases and magma from the interior of the Earth to the surface through craters.
- Landslides and avalanches: The first one is related to when an uneven terrain suddenly yields to certain conditions; and the second to the displacement of a layer of snow, which can bring with it part of the vegetation under it.
- Huaico or landslide, which are landslides and rocks due to strong and intense rainfall.
- The continental drift and expansion of the oceanic crust: the first is the displacement of the continents and the second is the movement of the oceans, complementing the first phenomenon.
Electrical phenomena
Electrical phenomena are those that involve a transformation through electrical energy and its transport. These occur in nature and are used by man for activities of daily life, which influence the well-being of humanity.
These are possible thanks to the property of electric charge (positive and negative) present in matter. For example, one of these phenomena is when two objects with the same charge repel each other and with the opposite ones, attract each other, although in general, matter has a neutral charge.
Another phenomenon is electricity, which is the transformation of an electrical current into motion, or the conversion of motion into electrical energy. Electrolysis is another electrical phenomenon, characterized by the accumulation of energy in batteries.
In nature, there are various manifestations, for example: in animals such as fireflies or electric eels; or in the atmosphere, such as polar auroras, electrical storms, goblins (vertical electrical discharges in the mesosphere) and sprites (light events in the mesosphere, such as halos).
Examples of social phenomena
These can be: strikes, violence, the rise of trends and fashion, art, interpersonal and collective relationships, revolutions, among others. But the most prominent are the following:
Immigration
It is the entry into a country of a person who comes from another place. This in turn, part of other social phenomena to give rise to it.
This process is preceded by emigration, which is the complementary social phenomenon to shape migration, in which the person had to first emigrate (leave) from their country of origin and then become an immigrant in which they are arriving. The social phenomena that these two could produce can be: personal projects, job opportunities or studies, a high rate of violence in the country of origin, lack of employment, insecurity, political persecution, poverty, war, among others.
This is followed by another series of phenomena of a social nature, such as adaptation, contribution to the country's cultural diversity, discrimination in many cases, and discomfort in the local population.
Poverty
It is a social phenomenon in which an individual does not have the minimum necessary to cover all their needs for food, clothing, transportation or housing, that is, the fundamental ones. It is a lifestyle, since it affects all areas of the person that is mired in this condition.
This phenomenon is a consequence of the lack of employment, a low income level, social exclusion, marginalization, social segregation, natural catastrophes, excessive and unconscious use of money or high necessary expenses due to illness. Poverty has different levels, ranging from extreme (indigence or misery) to relative poverty, in which the individual cannot have access to a broader basic basket to which in fact they have access and will depend on the social context where they are generate.
War
These battles, which generate massive emigrations and millions of displaced people, are characterized by their violence, which generally cause the death of a part of the population and severe damage to the territory where they take place. The types of war that exist are:
- Holy wars are those confrontations that are carried out in the name of God and that are promoted by the church or a representative of the same, in which an indoctrination is tried to be imposed on all others, and those who oppose it are considered sinners or enemies.
- Civil wars, which are those that two or more political, social or racial groups fight in the same nation to impose a model on the others.
- Guerrilla wars, in which one of the contestants is disproportionately superior to the other, so the latter begins to retreat.
- Total wars, where the parties involved use all their resources in order to win the conflict.
- Nuclear wars, which would be those in which weapons of atomic mass destruction would be detonated, which could result in the end of humanity.
Economic phenomena
They are those associated with the activities of manufacture of goods and their consumption, that is, with economic activity. They are characterized by generating the means that allow meeting the requirements of society, measuring the economic reality, and involving the basic activities of the economy, which are production, distribution, exchange and consumption.
Other phenomena in this field are inflation, scarcity, unemployment, capitalism and globalization.
