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What is the difference between a scientific law and theory?

Added Jun 09, 2017 •

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chat with a friend about an scientific theory and she might reply well that's just a theory but a conversation about an established scientific law rarely is with well that's just a law why is that what is the difference between a theory and a law and is one better traffic laws and theories have different jobs to do a scientific law predicts the results of certain initial conditions it might predict your unborn child's possible hair dollars or how far a baseball travels when launched at a certain angle in contrast of theory tries to provide the most logical Nation about why things happen as they do a theory might invoke dominant and recessive genes to explain how brown-haired parents ended up redheaded child or use gravity to shed light on the parabolic trajectory of a baseball in simplest terms a law predicts what app Wella theory proposes why a theory will never grow up into a law though the development of one often triggers progress on the other in the 17th century Johannes Kepler theorized Cosmic musical harmonies to explain the nature of planetary orbits heat of 3 brilliant laws of planetary motion while he was studying Decades of precise astronomical data in an effort to find support for his theory while his three laws are still in use today gravity replaced his theory of harmonics to explain the planets motions how did Kepler get heard it wrong well we weren't handed a universal instruction manual instead we continually propose challenge revised or even replace scientific ideas as a work-in-progress laws usually resist change since they wouldn't have been adopted if they didn't fit the data the Wii a revised laws in the face of new unexpected information a series acceptance however is often gladiatorial multiple Theory May compete to supply the best explanation of a new scientific discovery upon for the research scientists tend to favor the theory that can explain set the data though there may still be gaps in our understanding scientists also like when a new Theory successfully predicts previously unobserved like when Dmitri Mendeleev theory about the periodic table predicted several undiscovered elements the term scientific theory a broad swath some theories are new ideas with little experimental evidence that scientists I with suspicion or even ridicule other theories like those involving the Big Bang Evolution and climate change have endured years of experimental confirmation before earning acceptance the majority of the scientific community you would need to learn more about a specific explanation before you know how well scientists perceive it weird Siri alone doesn't tell you in full disclosure the scientific Community has bet on the wrong horse before Alchemy the go trick model spontaneous generation and the interstellar Aether are just a few of many theories discarded in favor of better ones but even correct theories had their value discredited Alchemy was the birthplace of modern chemistry and Medicine made great strides long before we understood roles of bacteria and viruses that said better theories often lead to exciting new discoveries that were unimaginable under the old way thinking nor should we assume all of our current scientific theories will stand the test of time a single unexpected result is enough to challenge the well however vulnerability to some potentially better explanation doesn't weaken a current scientific theory instead it Shield sign from becoming unchallenged Dogma a good scientific law is a finely-tuned machine accomplishing its tasks brilliantly but ignorant of why it works as well as it does a good scientific theory is a bruised but unbowed fighter who risks to feet if unable to overpower or ADD to the next Challenger though different science needs both laws and theories to understand the whole picture so next time someone comments it's just a theory challenged them to go 9 rounds with the champ and see if they can do any better

Uploaded by Michelle Martin.

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What is the difference between a scientific law and theory?

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