Scribd
Upload
9 views

What Is A Hypothesis

Uploaded by

Lim Yogama
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
9 views

What Is A Hypothesis

Uploaded by

Lim Yogama
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

What is a Hypothesis?

Most science starts with some type of observation. "Hey that's weird." and/or, "I wonder
why...." If research doesn't seem to provide an answer, scientists need to come up with
possible answers. A hypothesis is a possible explanation that can be tested. This simple
definition needs some further explanation. It says it must have a possible explanation. The
hypothesis should apply reasoning and analysis based on the research. It cannot be
something unrelated or previously proven to be incorrect. A hypothesis also must be able to
be tested. It should have exactly one variable that can be controlled in an experiment or
solved for using mathematical analysis of data. A hypothesis needs to be tested multiple
times by different researchers following the same method before it is proven or disproven.

A hypothesis is crucial to the scientific method.

Examples of Good Hypotheses


 My cat will jump when it sees a cucumber.
 A plant without water will die.
 A person who gets 8 hours of sleep at night will have more energy than if they don't.
 90% of illegal immigrants do not have health insurance.
Examples of Bad Hypotheses
 All cats will jump when they see a cucumber. - This would require testing all cats,
which is not possible.
 A plant without flowers will die. - Research would have proven not all plants have
flowers.
 A person who drinks 8 glasses of water a day and gets 8 hours of sleep at night will
have more energy. - This is not specific enough, more energy than what or who?
Additionally, there are two changing variables in this hypothesis.
 90% of illegal immigrants are not healthy. - This is also too vague. How do you define
healthy?

What is a Theory?
After a hypothesis is tested, each experiment can come to a conclusion. However, each
hypothesis needs to be tested multiple times by different people before there is a scientific
consensus. Once a hypothesis has been documented as correct and it is supported by the
scientific community, it can be considered a scientific theory. Note that this is very
different from the way the word theory is used outside of science. A scientific theory is not a
guess or speculation. A scientific theory has been demonstrated over and over and
consistently gives the same result. If a scientific theory is ever shown to be incorrect, even
once, then it is changed to include the new data.

Examples of Good Theories


 Plate Tectonics - Earth's landforms are created due to the movement of plates all
over the surface.
 Gravity - All things with mass or energy are attracted to one another.
 Heliocentrism - The sun is the center of the solar system.

The sun is the center of our solar system.


Examples of Disproven Theories
 Flat Earth - This is the theory that the Earth is flat. The Earth, like all planets, is a
spherical shape.
 Geocentric Universe - This is the theory that the Earth is the center of the solar
system. The solar system is centered around the sun.
 Blank Slate Theory - This is the theory that when a person is born, they have no
built-in traits. However, some traits are inherited while others are learned.

What is a Law?
In many aspects of life, the law is something passed by a group that must be obeyed or a
person might be punished. Examples might include traffic laws or property laws. However,
in science, a law is something completely different. A law explains how something is always
true. It is based on mathematics and usually a single, short statement. In science, laws are
universal and have a high level of precision. A scientific law never explains why something
happens, only how something happens mathematically. Another word for a scientific law is
a principle.

Examples of Scientific Laws


 Ohm's Law - A current through a conductor is directly proportional to the voltage.
 Biot-Savart Law - Describes the magnetic field generated by a still electric current.
 Newton's Laws of Motion - Three laws that explain mathematically how things
move or don't move.

Equations for Laws of Motion and Universal Gravity.

Examples of Non-Scientific Laws


 In British Columbia, Canada, it is against the law to kill bigfoot.
 In Malawi, it is illegal to "foul the air" with any bad smell.
 In Wyoming, United States, there is a law saying all public buildings must display
approved art worth at least 1% of the building's cost.

What is the Difference Between Hypothesis, Theory,


and Law
A hypothesis is a researched and reasonable guess about why something happens. It
needs to be tested. A scientific theory is something that answers why and it has been
tested repeatedly and has so far always been true. A law is a mathematical statement that
tells how something happens. A law is the easiest to differentiate of these three because it is
the only one that deals with how rather than why. There are also very few laws in science. A
law typically looks like a short mathematical equation.

The difference between a hypothesis and a theory is the testing. A hypothesis has not been
proven, while a theory has been proven multiple times by different groups of researchers. A
hypothesis is like one option on a multiple-choice test. A theory is like the correct answer
key.

The Scientific Timeline


How do scientists move from one step to another when trying to find a new hypothesis or
theory? Let's walk through the process with an example using the scientific method.

 First, the scientist makes an observation. In our example, a scientist notices people
look like their pets.
 This brings up a lot of questions for the scientist, which is the second step in the
process:
o Do people pick pets that look like themselves?
o Do people change themselves to look more like their pets?
o Is this true for all types of pets or only dogs and cats?
o Does it matter if the pet is purebred or a mix?
 Next, the scientist decides to do some research. They find there are few peer-
reviewed, published academic articles as well as one well documented study. All of
the prior research shows a definite correlation between the appearance of dogs and
their owners, but it hasn't been repeated enough to move past the hypothesis stage.
 The scientist can now form their own hypothesis. Remember, this must be a
statement that can be tested and determined to either be true or false. The scientist
decided on: Strangers will be able to correctly match the pictures of pets to their
owners merely based on looks.
 The scientist designs an experiment testing the hypothesis.
 After a great deal of testing, it is time for the analysis. The scientist looks at the data
to see if people were correct and if it is significant or not.
 Finally, the scientist states their conclusion.
Previous studies found people can match a dog to their owner based on appearance.

The scientist can share their results and hopefully, over time, the truth about owners and
their pets will be discovered. If there is enough scientific proof and consensus, there is a
chance this will become scientific theory. In our example, it would be almost impossible to
come up with a mathematical formula to find the answer, so it will never become a scientific
law. However, if we were testing a new mathematical equation to explain something in the
natural world, it might one day become a law.

Non-Scientific Meaning
All three of these words have completely different non-scientific meanings. The
word theory is often used to mean a guess or an idea, rather than something that has
already been proven. In philosophy, a hypothesis is a proposition without any assumption
of truth. This definition of hypothesis doesn't require any prior research or even that the
statement is testable. The word law is extremely common in daily life, yet extremely rare in
science. In a governmental sense, the law can and does change regularly. In science, a law
never changes.

Incorrect Use of "Theory"


If someone says, "I have a theory..." or "My theory is..." they are not using the scientific
meaning of the word theory. In science, a theory already has a consensus, so it cannot
belong to one person and one person did not just suddenly come up with it. It takes a long
time to develop a scientific theory and it is much more than a guess or an idea. Often, these
non-scientific theories are easy to identify because they are clearly just a conjecture, or
opinion, and not something that could be or has been tested and proven true.

Examples of Non-Scientific Theories


 I have a theory my neighbor is not cleaning up after their pet.
 My theory is that aliens are living among us.
 Abdul's theory is that the other team cheated in order to win.

You might also like