SCIENCE AND THEORIES
Scientific theories:
First of all:
“What the heck is a scientific theory?”
The content which you are going read should have been highly scientific but for your ease, it is converted into a basic form. People of a weak heart are not recommended to read forward. Handle the content with care.
Now, fasten your seat belts,
Warning:
The content which you are going read should have been highly scientific but for your ease, it is converted into a basic form. People of a weak heart are not recommended to read forward. Handle the content with care.We humans are model makers. The bug in our brains has always been notorious. It always jumps here and there and has always been judging things, asking things, finding things. There have always been why, what, when and many other “wh” words. You got it.
We humans create mental models of the environment so that we can understand, anticipate, and prepare for upcoming dangers or opportunities. This ability of ours distinguishes us from other animals. These models are theories. These theories are efficient and effective if they make predictions that are of value and if they are validated.
The proofs in math and science are completely different.
Proofs in Math:
Once a theorem is proven true then it is applicable in each and every case. It do not need any reproving.
Let’s take the example of Euclidean geometry, the sum of the interior angles in a triangle is always 1800. This theorem was proved by Euclid in his time, and it worked the same as it is working today. This theorem works for all ideal triangles and never fails. So it does not require any reproving.
Proofs in Science:
Scientific theorems can be proved only with the help of experimentation and observation. When a theory is launched it can only be proved by matching the prediction stated by the theorem to the real world observations and experimentations.
Let’s again take the example of the sum of interior angles of a triangle is 1800 as a scientific theorem, often this is a false theorem when applied to our very own universe. This can be proved in mathematics and this theorem is only applicable for ideal triangles. But the problem is that our real universe is not at all such an idealized place to live in. In fact, the theory of general relativity proves that in the universe sum of interior angles of a triangle is not 1800 or Euclidean geometry is not always true.
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There have always been limits in our scientific models or more specifically “scientific theories” but the scientists present out there are not content with what they’ve got. They want to completely the remove the demon named “limits”. Thus, they make theories which adjust with their surroundings. This is the spirit of science. They want to remove the differences between the predictions of the theories and the real world observations. This helps in a deeper understanding of our nature. The ancient Greeks observed that the real world is different from the Euclidean world and thus found out that the earth is a ball rather than a flat surface. People become scientist because the curios bug will not let them live until they relish the differences between he predictions and the observations.
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So, do you want to wake up the scientist in you!!
So, you have already seen that seen that scientific theories are never proven forever. They are validated to a certain precision within a certain range of conditions. They ca be modified if they do not work in a certain condition.
So the question arises:
“What makes a theory good?”
There are three things that make a theory good:
The theory which makes the most of the predictions.
The theory which is the most precisely validated.
The theory which is validated over the broadest conditions.
“The basis of science is its ability to predict.”
-Richard Feynman
A proper theory should be the one which can be falsified or confirmed. For example – ‘there are dimensions through which light cannot travel’. This statement cannot be proven because it is stating a thing which cannot be proven. So, this statement do not qualify as a proper theory.
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