Scientific Law- description of something observed to occur in nature over and over again. Definition is the opposite of the way we define societal laws: people follow the laws because they are there. Scientific laws occur because that’s the way the universe works. Scientists have no control over them; they can simply observe them. Not easy for something to become a scientific law, but it is fairly easy for something to lose that status. One observation to the contrary would be all it takes. Scientific laws are not proven beyond a doubt; they are simply a statement of how things are. There are cases where scientific laws have changed based on new observations (Einstein’s relativity and Newton’s law of gravity.)
Scientific Theory- a broad working hypothesis that is based on extensive experimental evidence. Definition is the opposite of the definition used in everyday life: a guess or a hunch. A good theory has lots of evidence supporting it and it is always stated in such a way that it can be proven false. Scientific theories can never be proven true, but they should be falsifiable.
Laws and Theories- perhaps because of the difference between the scientific definition of laws and theories and those used in common everyday life, there is often a misunderstanding of how scientific laws and scientific theories are related. Oftentimes people believe there is a hierarchy of hypothesis, theory, law. This is not how theories and laws are understood by scientists. A scientific law is a statement of what does actually happen. A scientific theory is an explanation of why it occurs.
Types of things done in science- collect data (make observations, explain those observations, test the explanations for the observations.
Observation- something we can sense or make instruments that can sense. Observations are the basis of science, and might be quantitative (numerical) or qualitative (descriptive.) In physical science, most of the observations we will be making are going to be quantitative. Modern science was born out of making quantitative observations. Quantitative observations typically require an instrument to help us make them. Before reliable instruments were available, some of the order of the universe was not as apparent as it is today.
Related posts:
Top Articles