Editing Scientific theory (section)

==Theories and laws==
{{see also|Scientific law}}
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 also typically well-supported by observations and/or experimental evidence.<ref name=Matson>{{cite web|url=http://science.kennesaw.edu/~rmatson/3380theory.html|title=Scientific Laws and Theories |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709065046/http://science.kennesaw.edu/~rmatson/3380theory.html |archive-date=2017-07-09 |url-status=dead}}</ref> However, scientific laws are descriptive accounts of how nature will behave under certain conditions. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ncse.com/evolution/education/definitions-fact-theory-law-scientific-work|title=Definitions of Fact, Theory, and Law in Scientific Work|date=16 March 2016}}</ref>

A common misconception is that scientific theories are rudimentary ideas that will eventually graduate into scientific laws when enough data and evidence have 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.<ref name=Matson/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ww16.evolution.mbdojo.com/theory.html?sub1=20230320-0707-5636-97c3-f67c107b389c|title=mbdojo Resources and Information.|website=ww16.evolution.mbdojo.com|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031006220644/http://www.evolution.mbdojo.com/theory.html|archive-date=2003-10-06}}</ref><ref name="McComas2013">{{cite book|author=William F. McComas|title=The Language of Science Education: An Expanded Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts in Science Teaching and Learning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXzGBAAAQBAJ|date=30 December 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-94-6209-497-0|page=107}}</ref> Both theories and laws could potentially be falsified by countervailing evidence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistry101/a/lawtheory.htm|title=What's the Difference Between a Scientific Hypothesis, Theory and Law?|access-date=2014-02-19|archive-date=2013-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515185136/http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistry101/a/lawtheory.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Theories and facts ===
A scientific theory does not turn into a fact. [[Scientific fact]]s are observations that theories organize and explain.<ref name=gouldfact>"And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts." [[Stephen Jay Gould|Gould, S. J.]] (1981). [https://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/pmo/eng/Gould-Fact&Theory.pdf Evolution as fact and theory]. Discover, 2(5), 34-37.</ref> As new facts appear, a theory may be revised or new theories may emerge that encompass these additional facts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=National Center for Science Education |title=Theory and Fact  |url=https://ncse.ngo/theory-and-fact |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=ncse.ngo |language=en}}</ref> While American vernacular speech uses "theory" as similar to a "guess" in opposition to a "fact", in science the word "theory" means a model that is expected to explain a wide range of facts.<ref name=gouldfact/>