• Question: is science just a theory i hope its not

    Asked by flossie to Samuel, Richard, Nikolai, Cristiane on 18 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Simons

      Richard Simons answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      To scientists the word theory means a collection of ideas that describe some behaviour – for example, the theory of gravity explains why objects fall to earth, or why the planets orbit the sun.
      The most important aspect of a theory is that it is predictive, it has to be able to correctly predict the outcome of an experiment before it has been conducted, if it fails, then we need to find a new theory.

      All of our scientific knowledge is based on theories, and the longer that they stand, the more confidence we have in them. However, as scientists, we will never say that any theory is a fact, because we know that we don’t know everything, and if we find some new data that doesn’t match our theory we go back to the drawing board and develop a new one.

      So yes, science is based on theories, but they work very well for us at the minute, and it’d take something pretty huge to make us change our minds 🙂

    • Photo: Nikolai Adamski

      Nikolai Adamski answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      Richard explained it very nicely.
      For something to become a theory in science, it needs some substantial evidence and will need to pass a couple of logical tests at the least.

      As scientists, we constantly try to disprove a theory (i.e. find evidence against gravity or evolution, etc.). By failing to disprove a theory, the theory becomes more and more likely. Gravity is still a scientific theory, but I don’t think anybody really believes they could suddenly float off into space 🙂

    • Photo: Samuel Ellis

      Samuel Ellis answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      I’d say that science is full of theories, but is not really one itself. Science is clearly an actual thing, if it wasn’t we would not have jobs!

      But of course most of what science discovers is theory, because it is very difficult to absolutely prove something is certain. So we come up with theories which fit all the current evidence, and then see if we can find reasons it might be something else.

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