Why do scientists say that Gravity is only a theory?

Question

Obviously gravity is a fact. If I jumped off a building, I can say "It's only a theory" all I want, but it's still going to hurt when I hit bottom.

How, pray tell, can you say it's a theory?

I've posted this question in religion because I'd like the faithful to understand more about the word "theory".

Can you faithful people handle that?

suspendor - you clearly do not understand the 2nd law. The mere fact that you brought it up in the context that you did is laughable.

Answer 1

Because a theory is something that at some point in the future could be disproven with logical and repeatable science. It is not arrogant and does not assume it is impossible for it's assertion to be incorrect. I am wondering why they haven't tried to prove that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is what is holding them to the earth instead of gravity.

Answer 2

Gravity is not push or pull. although I can not tell you what gravity is and does,Because of the real state of what gravity means. I know exactly how it works! and what it can do. And how it does it. All information and all text related to gravity are wrong!!! Theory is a good thing about some things. But theory does not apply to gravity. Gravity is an exact science . And if it were a snake, It would have already bitten you! that is all I will say at this time!!! Have a nice day!!!

Answer 3

Part of the problem is that different groups of people use the word "theory" to mean different things.

And there is also the problem that it is confused with "Theorem" used in mathematics. Such as the Pythagorean Theorem.

To make thins worse, scientist themselves are among the worse offenders when they talk about "String Theory" and other exotic ideas in physics. String is not even a testable hypothesis yet. It is not a theory but it is called a theory. Religious fanatics who are anti-science jump on that and use it to say that anything is a theory then and equally valid. So scientists have opened that door to ambiguity and confusion. They need to close it as it is harming science.

In science the word theory is used to describe a well accepted and validated way of explaining some behavior or process. It compliments scientific laws which are often formulas that we can use to predict what will happen.

The Theory of Evolution is a well accepted and very well validated explaination of how evolution occurs. Those people in the world who reject it are rejecting all of modern biology since the theory of evolution is CENTRAL to modern biology.

The phrase "ONLY a theory" comes from fundamentalist use of language. It is a put down. They are defining theory to be equivalent to fantasy or idea or concept. They are deliberately ignoring that it is not properly used that way in science. In science THEORY is the highest ranking you can give an idea that seeks to explain our world.

Gravity is a theory which means it is a fact. So is the Theory of Evolution. They are both facts.

Answer 4

Actually, there is a Law of Gravity, that describes its action, and a Theory of gravity that tries to tell us HOW it works. Of course, there are multiple theories of gravity at the moment. I have several in my computer files right now.

But if you are talking about the theory of evolution, you don't understand the scientific meaning of 'theory'. An explanation can never be a law. And there is no law saying that there must be only one explanation for a phenomenon that is not completely understood. So. How exactly does DNA evolve? What mechanisms are involved? And remember, random chance cannot bring order to any system without violating the LAW of thermodynamics. Only information theory can do this, and that implies a designer.

Answer 5

There are actually many different theories trying to explain gravitation.

While it is observable that an apple will fall to the earth, it requires an explanation that is indisputable before scientists would call it a law. Currently, the cause of gravitation is still under discussion.

Here are some of the current theories:

Aristotelian theory of gravity

Le Sage's theory of gravitation (1784) also called LeSage gravity, proposed by Georges-Louis Le Sage, based on a fluid-based explanation where a light gas fills the entire universe.

Nikola Tesla announced but never published a Dynamic theory of gravity; in part because the details (if any) of the theory were never revealed, this has never been taken seriously by physicists,

Nordström's theory of gravitation (1912, 1913), an early competitor of general relativity.

Whitehead's theory of gravitation (1922), another early competitor of general relativity.

Brans-Dicke theory of gravity (1961)

Induced gravity (1967), a proposal by Andrei Sakharov according to which general relativity might arise from quantum field theories of matter.

Rosen bi-metric theory of gravity

In the modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) (1981), Mordehai Milgrom proposes a modification of Newton's Second Law of motion for small accelerations.

The new and "highly controversial" Process Physics theory attempts to address gravity

The Self creation cosmology theory of gravity (1982) by G.A. Barber in which the Brans-Dicke theory is modified to allow mass creation.

Nonsymmetric gravitational theory (NGT) (1994) by John Moffat

Tensor-vector-scalar gravity (TeVeS) (2004), a relativistic modification of MOND by Jacob Bekenstein

So which one would you consider to be the law?

A theory is not an established fact despite what some people are beginning to argue.

The theory of evolution is still a theory. Different theories of gravity are still only theories.

The fact that it is still a possible theory means that it could still be true. It does not mean it is proven fact.

Answer 6

It's because your lack of understanding of what they meant by that statement. You have to understand first--What is a Scientific Theory?
Facts are explained by a theory but not necessarily all theories are facts. There is only one theory of Gravity the predictions and experimentations and explanations of which is proved to be correct till now. It's Einstein theory of Gravity or General Relativity.
If you can give the precise statement that you quoted--I can explain more clearly. The statement is a bit unclear and hazy and don't make much sense. Probably that particular scientist was referring to
some Unified Theory of Gravity(still unproven) like String Theory.

Answer 7

It's apt that this is in the religion category, where religious people come in order to intentionally misunderstand the meaning of words and think they're proving a point. Hopefully, you can stop playing silly word games long enough to actually think clearly for a moment or two as you read this.

When you jump off of something (hopefully, for your sake, not a building), it is a fact that you fall. The fact that you fall is obvious. The reason that you fall is not obvious. (Intentionally ignoring that kind of difference seems to be a favorite method for religious sorts who think they've figured out how to "disprove" science, but it is unconvincing and dishonest to persist in this willful ignorance.)

For centuries, it was thought that some objects fell towards the ground because they were "earthy" in their elemental make-up, or some similar formulation. When Newton proposed a force of gravity present throughout the universe and somehow associated with mass, it was a radical reshaping of how people explained the fact of falling. The mathematical predictions made by his theory hold up very well under experiment, so they have gained wide acceptance. By the 20th century, gravity came to be broadly accepted as one of the fundamental forces of the universe. Our understanding of gravity was hampered somewhat by the fact that it is -- at our scale of existence -- a very, very weak force, relative to the other fundamental forces.

However, recent experiments and observations with more precise and powerful instruments have indicated to some scientists that there may be some fundamental inconsistencies in their way of thinking about the universe and its forces. (Very basically, remembering that you probably do not really want to know but thought you were proving a point, it seems that the amount of forces present in the universe is not matching up perfectly with what the equations predicted.) Because of these findings, some scientists are giving greater consideration to another way of thinking about the universe, different from the way Einstein would have imagined it 100 years ago; this "string theory" conceives of the universe's fundamental forces in a very different way and may provide some greater insight into why gravity works like it does.

The reason scientists refer to things like evolution and gravity as theories is that they have the honest humility to admit that they are constantly trying to find a better explanation for how things work or to accept evidence that challenges their existing mindset. This is another of those things that religious people, like you it would seem, can not seem to understand, because in the religious world alternative explanations are called heresy and facts that challenge beliefs are generally rejected out of hand because an over-reliance on faith has destroyed the power to reason critically. Your smug foolishness seems a perfect contrast to the humility most religions require of their followers, and your facile word-games prove nothing.

Answer 8

Gravity's effects are readily evident yes, but how we explain how and why those effects occur is not a definite thing, as there is much we have yet to learn about our universe.

For example, on earth gravity causes an acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2. I could say that gravity is a standardized force exerted onto / by any object of sufficient mass that diminishes with distance from the center of that mass. This is technically correct for earth and would explain the common occurrences of gravity, but upon further study would be proven false.

Also, scientific theories are well proven hypothesis that have hundreds of thousands of experiments to back them up. Though gravity may only be referred to as a theory it has lots of empirical research to back it up.

Answer 9

A theory is really just made up of words to describe something we observe in the universe. Exactly HOW we describe gravity can change over time, and hopefully become more accurate, however the reality of gravity will likely stay the same.
So when scientists say "it's only a theory", they're just saying, "there could be errors in this description; if someone can improve it, please do."

Answer 10

It's because there has not been proof of the different forms of enegy that exist at the sub atomic level. Einstein's theory of relativity works well for large objects, but not so well for microscopic ones. In order to explain what happens at the sub atomic level, there is not enough gravity to make the equations work out well. String theory may be the answer, but there's no way to prove it yet.