this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
992 points (99.3% liked)

Science Memes

11081 readers
2716 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The word theory is used differently in science to how it is in common speech. In science, a "theory" represents humanity's best possible explanation for something given everything we know. For example, the theory of gravity gives a reason for why things are attracted to each other, namely the bending of spacetime.

Theories don't become laws, either. Laws in science describe what happens, and theories describe how. To go back to gravity, the law of gravity is an equation that can tell you exactly how much two objects will be attracted to each other, but it can't explain how that happens. That's what the theory is for.

Hope this helps!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Thanks, very helpful… ;)