Overton’s rule

The reformulated rule is essentially identical to what a peripatetic philosopher of science named Michael Ruse testified were the defining characteristics of science during the 1981 trial to determine the constitutionality of the Arkansas Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act. Judge William Overton s opinion overturning the law relied heavily on Ruse s ideas. The opinion has been strongly criticized as inept by other philosophers of science. Many relevant trial documents are collected in Ruse, M ed. (1988) But Is It Science Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY. 

Saparov, S.M., Antonenko, Y.N. and Pohl, P. (2006) A new model of weak acid permeation through membranes revisited does Overton still rule Biophysical Journal, 90 (11), L86-L88. 

Cantor, R. S. (2001). Breaking the Meyer-Overton rule Predicted effects of varying stiffness and interfecial activity on the intrinsic potency of anesthetics. Biophysical Journal, 80 ), 2284-2297. 

The case in which all A w s vanish corresponds to a microwave spectrum. According to Eq. (23.5-la), Aw = 1 for only one normal mode at a time. Transitions obeying this selection rule produce fundamental bands. There is a fundamental band in the infrared region for each normal mode that modulates the molecule s dipole moment. The vibrational selection rules are less well obeyed than the rotational selection rules. There are overtone bands in which A w = 2 (and sometimes 3), and combination bands, in which two (or more) normal modes change their quantum numbers at once. These forbidden bands are usually less intense than the fundamental bands. 

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