Scientific Method! HELP!!!!!!!!!! I need good grades! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!?

Question

It is an important concept in science that all theories must be disprovable or falsifiable. Why is this so important?

Answer 1

Thses sites might help you.

http://my.fit.edu/~gabrenya/IntroMethods/eBook/Philosophy_of_Science.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability

Answer 2

THis is pretty heavy stuff. You might want to have a look at a guy called Karl Popper.

Basically (apologies for the oversimplification) Popper suggested that given any problem situation a noumber of tentative theories might be proposed. Each theory would then be disproven by experimentation unitl the correct (or no) theory remained.

Another point to consider is that you can never truly prove anything in a universal sense. We can only observe a theory to be true in those circumstances in which we have tested it. Perhaps when things get hotter, faster, bigger our theory will break down.

Look at Newton's laws of motion. They hold at non-relativistic speeds but when motion becomes too fast they break down quite spectacularly. Everything in science is a model, you can never know what is really happening, you can only approximate it. Have a look for Thomas Bayes while you're looking about.

Answer 3

Those of us who work in science and engineering don't use it. A lot of what is developed is done on instinct based on experience and education. There are about 3 versions of the scientific theory which vary from 5 to 7 steps. You'd better learn the one your teacher explained to you. I don't believe they still teach this crap.