Monday, February 22, 2010

YouTube - Facts, Laws and Theories - A great Video

I was recently in discussions with cherokee_Autumn on twitter. She said that from a scientific definition Gravity is a theory. I disagreed. She ended up sending me the following video to bolster her definition of scientific theory. I think she may need to view the video again.




I agree with the definitions of fact, laws, and theories given in the video. Here is the definitions used in the video. I agree because this is what I have learned in my scientific training.

Fact = What; a verified observation
Law =  How; a statement of an observed regularity among facts
Theory = Why - an explanation for the observations supported by evidence

The video then goes on to use Gravity as an example. Gravity is called a fact. The Law of Gravity is given ( which is what I was referring to). Then the video says that there is a theory for Gravity, but does not give it. I have heard a few for trying to explain what it is and why it exists, but I think the sort answer is we don't know. It's much more correct to use Fact and Law to describe Gravity, but more words are needed to explain a theory(ies) for Gravity. Gravity is a force not a theory (if you are a physicist). This video was made because some people think that to say something a theory is to deride it as a guess. I agree that this is not true. However there are much stronger evidence and observations for Gravity than there is for Evolution. There is no law of Evolution but there are mathematical models used to study evolution. There is evidence that is used to infer macro evolution, but no mathematics to predict mutation or evolution. So evolution is a theory used to try to explain why we have a fossil record and why all living things have a common ancestry (I still wanna see better evidence for these conclusions not observations.).  This post is to serve notice that these are the definitions I will be using on Twitter and on my blog for discussing evolution.

YouTube - Facts, Laws and Theories

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