The discussion revolves around the distinction between scientific theories and laws, specifically questioning why theories such as general relativity and evolution are not referred to as laws. Participants explore the implications of terminology and the nature of scientific validation.
Participants express differing views on the definitions and implications of scientific theories versus laws, with no consensus reached on whether theories like relativity and evolution should be classified as laws.
Some definitions and interpretations of scientific terminology are debated, and there is an acknowledgment that laws may have limitations in their applicability based on specific conditions.
Both scientific laws and scientific theories are produced from the scientific method through the formation and testing of hypotheses, and can predict the behavior of the natural world. Both are typically well-supported by observations and/or experimental evidence.[23] However, scientific laws are descriptive accounts of how nature will behave under certain conditions.[24] Scientific theories are broader in scope, and give overarching explanations of how nature works and why it exhibits certain characteristics. Theories are supported by evidence from many different sources, and may contain one or several laws.[25]
A common misconception is that scientific theories are rudimentary ideas that will eventually graduate into scientific laws when enough data and evidence has been accumulated. A theory does not change into a scientific law with the accumulation of new or better evidence. A theory will always remain a theory; a law will always remain a law.[23][26]
Laws differ from scientific theories in that they do not posit a mechanism or explanation of phenomena: they are merely distillations of the results of repeated observation. As such, a law is limited in applicability to circumstances resembling those already observed, and may be found to be false when extrapolated. Ohm's law only applies to linear networks, Newton's law of universal gravitation only applies in weak gravitational fields, the early laws of aerodynamics such as Bernoulli's principle do not apply in case of compressible flow such as occurs in transonic and supersonic flight, Hooke's law only applies to strain below the elastic limit, etc. These laws remain useful, but only under the conditions where they apply.
lundyjb said:I was reading in my textbook the definition of a scientific law: must be found experimentally valid over a wide range of observed phenomena. So why arent things like the theory of general relativity and the theory of evolution called the laws of evolution and the laws of relativity? Will that eventually happen? I think it would clear up some of the non scientist's nomenclatural confusion...