can you differentiate theory and law?

Answer 1

Theory - ideas that sound good and may be possible but not yet proven (i.e. Theory of Relativity)
Law - proven principles (i.e. Law of Conservation of Mass)

Answer 2

a law is a relatively simple algebraic or statistical description of some phenomenon. examples include newton's law of universal gravitation, the laws of thermodynamics, and the ideal gas law. theories are more complete conceptually, and often include several interlinked laws. key thing to realise is that laws are not "better" than theories as might be suggested by the names, they are just conceptually simpler, often there are numerical constants that are simply fit to data with no attempt to explain why the number is what it is, whereas a theory would (ideally) allow calculation of all numerical values from first principles.

according to this perspective, all of the above answers are wrong.

Answer 3

According to western ideas of the scientific method, a theory is an idea for understanding a principle that will eventually be subject to experimentation. A law is understood to be something (a theory) that has been tested so exhaustively that it is supposed to be the case.

cheers

Answer 4

I asked my college physics professor this very same question. He said that they mean the same thing, its just that "law" is an archaic term. Take Newton's "Laws" and Einstein's "Theory", time and time again they have been upheld in experiments. One isn't more proven than the other because it says "law". Thats what he told me.

Answer 5

Theory often applies to something that cannot be proved by the scientific method. It is something that cannot be repeated or verified. Laws can.