How do scientific theories/laws come into being?

Answer 1

This may seem like a contradiction to some modern scientists, but not to most well-known scientists of our modern scientific theories like Darwin, Newton, Galileo, etc. Scientific theory comes from the careful observations and spiritual discoveries of mankind, inspired by a God who uses patterns that we are to understand.

Answer 2

Scientific theories and laws are the result of a lot of time and research by multiple scientists. An unbelievable amount of effort is put into the formation of a new theory and a theory will not become official without a substantial amount of evidence to support the theory. A theory and a law are very close to the same thing. The difference is that a law offers a mathematical representation of what it is trying to explain. Most people believe that a law is a theory that has been proven, but this is NOT true. The scientific method is not used to prove things. Science, in fact, cannot prove things. It can only disprove them. The scientific method can offer more evidence that a theory is right, but science will never be able to say that a theory is absolutely and 100% true. It is important to remember this when you read about science in the newspaper or when you hear something on the news. The media sometimes portrays scientific discoveries as absolute truth and this causes many misconceptions about science to arise.

Answer 3

Historically, scientific ideas came about in the following way:

1. A natural phenomenon is observed.

2. A theory is developed to explain the phenomenon.

3. The theory is tested to see if it accurately predicts the phenomenon.

4. The test is repeated several times by various people, with the same success as the original. If the test cannot be repeated by others, then the theory cannot be accepted.

5. If the theory did not accurately predict the natural phenomenon 100% of the time, the theory is either thrown out or modified.

This is the scientific method in a nutshell. The main thing is that it used to be the case that an observation came first, then the theory to explain it.

It is now not too unusual to have things happen in reverse. A theory is devised first and then is tested by observation. A prime example of this is the theory of general relativity. Einstein devised this theory based on intuition and it was verified by observation (the bending of light due to gravity). It also predicted the precession of mercury, which had already been observed. The difference is that Einstein did not devise the theory of general relativity to explain the observation. He devised it based on intuition, and the fact that it predicted the precession of Mercury was just another verification of his theory, not the motivation for it.

String theory works the same way. This is a theory based on mathematics and is not motivated to explain any currently unexplained observations in particular. It has not been verified observationally. It has been constructed in such a way as to explain all current observation. However, it also makes new predictions about the universe that have not been observed.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Via the scientific method.

1 - study the phenomenon and evidence
2 - formulate a theory about how this happens or came into being.
3 - make up tests to see if the theory holds true.
4 - make predictions about what the tests will show if the theory is true.
5 - run the tests
6 - examine the results, and the data the tests produced.
7 - does the data match the predictions?
If yes, the theory is more likely true. Cycle through steps 3-7 with existing and new tests each time, to help verify that the theory is valid.

If no, discard or modify the theory to match the data. Go to step 2, and start again.

Answer 5

First, there's an observation, when someone notices something. Then, there's a postulate, or an idea of what might be the cause of the observation.

The person or people who put forth the idea lets others know about it as a proposal, so that everyone can have a chance to prove it to be correct or incorrect. If possible, proofs already made are presented as well, so that these proofs can be tested.

A good example of this is Ben Franklin's discovery of the nature of lightning. Until his idea that lightning associated with thunder storms was the same thing as friction sparks on a carpet, most people in the Western world accepted the faith-based concept that lightning was a sign of the wrath or voice of God. Franklin not only presented his idea, some postulates, and a few tests, he invented all the terms we still use about electrical energy and devised tools for deflecting electricity from buildings.

Of course, some political and religious leaders tried to generate hate and public scorn for Franklin since he accidentally showed their beliefs to be not based on reality, but Franklin went the popular route and communicated with people and scientists all over Europe and the Americas to popularize his postulates, tests, properties of electricity and solutions for avoiding lightning strikes.

Aren't you glad he did?

Answer 6

Something called the Scientific Method.

Answer 7

They come into being through the use of the scientific method. But don't think that theories and laws are the same things. They aren't. Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical, measurable evidence, subject to the principles of reasoning[1].

Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, there are identifiable features that distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of developing knowledge. Scientific researchers propose specific hypotheses as explanations of natural phenomena, and design experimental studies that test these predictions for accuracy. These steps are repeated in order to make increasingly dependable predictions of future results. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry serve to bind more specific hypotheses together in a coherent structure. This in turn aids in the formation of new hypotheses, as well as in placing groups of specific hypotheses into a broader context of understanding.

Among other facets shared by the various fields of inquiry is the conviction that the process must be objective so that the scientist does not bias the interpretation of the results or change the results outright. Another basic expectation is that of making complete documentation of data and methodology available for careful scrutiny by other scientists and researchers, thereby allowing other researchers the opportunity to verify results by attempted reproduction of them. This also allows statistical measures of the reliability of the results to be established. The scientific method also may involve attempts, if possible and appropriate, to achieve control over the factors involved in the area of inquiry, which may in turn be manipulated to test new hypotheses in order to gain further knowledge.

In science, a theory is a proposed description, explanation, or model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation. It follows from this that for scientists "theory" and "fact" do not necessarily stand in opposition. For example, it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theory which explains why the apple behaves so is the current theory of gravitation.

Answer 8

Theories come into being from the abstract thoughts of the human brain, laws come into being after they are proven.

Answer 9

The way I figure it one law leads to the discovery of another, for instance here is my theory.
If Murphy (Murphy's law) had not have been messing around in an orchard, Newton probably would have discovered the law of Gravity at a later date. :)