The hypothesis may not be correct, but it puts the scientist’s understanding of the system being studied into a form that can be tested. Laws describe the patterns we see in large amounts of data, but do not describe why the patterns exist.Īfter deciding to learn more about an observation or a set of observations, scientists generally begin an investigation by forming a hypothesis, a tentative explanation for the observation(s). A law is a relationship that exists between variables in a group of data. If the temperature of the gas increased, the volume of the gas increased. These scientists found, after numerous tests, that certain patterns existed in their observations of gas behavior. As a comparison, theories explain why we observe what we do, and laws describe what happens.įor example, around the year 1800, Jacques Charles and other scientists were working with gases to, among other reasons, improve the design of the hot air balloon. Scientific theories are overarching explanations of how nature works, and why it exhibits certain characteristics. Usually, scientific laws refer to rules for how nature will behave under certain conditions, frequently written as an equation. Both scientific laws and scientific theories are typically well-supported by observations and/or experimental evidence. Scientific laws are similar to scientific theories in that they are principles that can be used to predict the behavior of the natural world. To be a scientific theory carries a lot of weight-it is not just one person's idea about something The phrase "just a theory" has no room in science. In order for a theory to change, there must be many observations or evidence that the theory cannot explain. Theories can change in some instances, but it is a long and difficult process. They have a lot of support and are able to explain many observations satisfactorily. They are explanations of why something is observed. They aren't predictions (although we may use theories to make predictions).
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