Theory,law,fact

What is the basic assumption of Science? Nature is Orderly With this assumption we can explain phenomenon using scientific theories

Speculation A speculation is a general statement about nature that is constructed without fact (or enough fact) Scientific speculation is a legitimate part of the scientific process that develops early ideas that are not yet robust enough to be a testable, falsifiable or worthy of being a more formal "hypothesis".

Questions: What makes up a theory? What is Speculation? What is the difference between a scientific law and a scientific fact? What theories/facts/laws do you know?

Scientific fact Amazing facts: Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together). The longest living cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire lifetime. The cosmos contains approximately 50,000,000,000 galaxies. There are between 100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal galaxy. Hydrofluoric acid will dissolve glass A fact is an objective,verifiable observation.It is the same everywhere. It can and has been,verified many times.

How would you define Theory? It is a statement intended to explain a phenomenon. How certain is a theory? Many people say it’s a guess or speculation, which is how standard English uses the word Theory When a scientist speaks about a theory it means something completely different:

Scientific Theory: An explanation of how and why a natural phenomenon behaves the way it does that is confirmed by all available evidence such that it could be used to predict new,as yet unobserved phenomena

scientific Theory Examples of Scientific Theory: The theory of relativity: that the laws of physics are the same for all observers The theory of evolution by natural selection: that the observed changes in species occur due to non-random selection of well adapted specimens over less well adapted specimens The Big Bang Theory:that the universe began as an infinitely small point that underwent expansion to form the universe as we know it today.

Are the following theories or facts? Some illnesses are caused by microscopic organisms. The germ theory of illness. That the planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. The heliocentric solar system. That the Earth is round, and not flat, or some other shape. The round earth theory That all matter is made up of atoms. The atomic theory of matter Why are these “facts” still considered theories?

They are indeed facts, but they still fit into the definition of theory because they intend to explain

How do you form a Theory?

TheoryFact A theory is a general statement intended to explain facts Most theories cannot ever be transformed into fact. A theory is a general statement intended to explain facts

Evolution The theory of evolution by natural selection Evolutionfact Scientists considered evolution a fact before Darwin proposed his theory of natural selection.

Scientific law A law is similar to a theory in that it can be used to make predictions, but is less general and tends to be more mathematical in nature.

Examples of Scientific Laws: Newton’s Laws of motion: statements about how large objects made of atoms behave when moving at low speeds relative to each other. The Laws of Thermodynamics: statements about entropy, temperature, and thermal equilibrium. Law of Gravity: Every particle attracts every other particle with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between them.

Laws may be proven false, so why do we keep them? Newton’s laws of motion break down when the objects are very small or moving very fast relative to other objects. Why do we keep them? Because in everyday world situations they are very good at predicting. Engineers use them for designing sky scrapers and travel through space is possible because of them even though they are not always correct. Remember also that most laws have never been proven to be false!

Summary: A theory is constructed most of all from facts. Theories contain laws, but laws mean very little without facts. Theories also contain logical inferences that talk about how we know what we know. Accumulating all of these, the scientist makes a general statement to explain all the evidence. Other scientists reaffirm the facts and use the theory to make predictions and obtain new facts.