Why are scientific theories said to be 'not just a theory'?

Answer 1

A scientific theory cannot be proven correct because there is no way to look into the future and find out if the theory is ever revised. Theories tend to change greatly as new discoveries are made.

Answer 2

Scientific theories are considered more than just ideas or guesses because they are rigorously tested through observation, experimentation, and peer review. They are supported by a large body of evidence and have successfully explained and predicted natural phenomena. The term "theory" in science signifies a well-substantiated explanation that can withstand scrutiny and has broad acceptance within the scientific community.

Answer 3

The "laws" are just rules of thumb for how thing act the way they do. All are approximations of the real world.

A theory is an attempt to explain why things work like they do.

Neither perfectly mimic the real world, but they're a lot closer than any other explanations currently available.
Scientific theories are tested. They are tested by studying and so it with dummies.

Answer 4

A scientific law is a statement that describes what scientists expect to happen every time under a particular set of conditions. Unlike a theory, a scientific law describes an observed pattern without attempting to explain it.

Answer 5

You should understand that in science, laws are just part of theories. We do not have a hierarchy by which a theory, if it is good enough, gets promoted to the status of a law. Scientists call something a law because it expresses some scientific principle in a particularly succinct manner, not because it is necessarily more reliable than other theories. For example, science used to have a law of conservation of mass. Then it turns out that mass and energy are mutually convertible into each other (as described by Einstein's famous equation, e = mc2). So it turns out that mass is not always conserved. Now we have a new law called the law of conservation of mass-energy. And there is no reason why this law could not also be revised in light of new observations or calculations, in the future. Laws, like theories, can be changed. In science, they are not written in stone.

Answer 6

Scientific theories are ideas about how the world works that are based on large amounts of accumulated data based on extensive observation and/or experiment. They attempt to explain the data by putting the particulars of observed phenomena into an intellectual framework. A scientific theory is a mental model of how the world works. Because scientific theories are based on myriad observed facts and they allow predictions about the universe to be made, (they can be tested), they are generally thought to represent human society's best underdstanding of the respective fields of study. In colloquial speech, 'theory' may mean little more than a guess, but in science, a theory is what is built after many hypotheses, (educated guesses), have been developed and tested.

Answer 7

Evolution is a theory, but theory in a scientific context. The theory of evolution is backed by mountain of facts, laws, and hypotheses from various disciplines of science. Other things that are theories include atomic theory and theory of relativity.

Answer 8

A scientific theory has a different definition from a "general" theory of everyday use.

"Regular" theory (according to dictionary.com):

contemplation or speculation.

guess or conjecture.

Scientific theory:

a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena. Wile scientific laws describe general facts, a scientific theory describes why certain phenomena occur. For example, there is a law of gravity which states that gravity occurs, and there is also a theory of gravity which explains why it occurs (based on facts and evidence, of course)

Some people think that in science, you have a theory, and once it's proven, it becomes a law. That's not how it works. In science, we collect facts, or observations, we use laws to describe them, and a theory to explain them. You don't promote a theory to a law by proving it. A theory never becomes a law.

Scientific theories must always be supported with facts and empirical evidence.

In fact, theory is used in other ways to. It can also just mean a body of facts. Example: Music Theory, art theory, etc. No one can deny that music or art exist, but in that context a "theory" is something that is taught.

Answer 9

The definition of a Scientific Law is "a general statement that explains how the natural world behaves under certain conditions and not exceptions have been found." Maybe, in testing these ideas, the scientists have found an exception or two, but the idea is correct most of the time, not making it a law, but not proving it completely wrong.

Answer 10

Theories explain physical phenomena, and are subject to test. If there is no way to test an idea, it is not a theory. If it can be tested, and passes the test, it becomes a good theory.

By convention, theories that have been extensively tested eventually become known as law. In science, theory is everything. An observation without a theoretical explanation is just some random fact. It is theory that incorporates that fact into a predictive narrative. Theory, therefore, successfully predicts outcomes of experiments. Theories that cannot produce successful predictions in the light of experimental outcomes are quickly abandoned in favor of those that can.

Added:

Theories DO NOT become laws but include law. We have Newton's law of gravity explained by Einstein's theories in gravity.