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To: edsheppa
Scientific laws are derived from observation, they are straight forward extrapolations of those observations. They are not explanatory in the way that hypotheses and theories are. So I'm not sure why you bring these two up when clearly we are talking about hypotheses and theories.

A scientific theory or law represents an hypothesis, or a group of related hypotheses, which has been confirmed through repeated experimental tests. (Next to last paragraph of section IV)

Folks at Rochester, don't bother asking which Rochester, appear to disagree with you.

110 posted on 02/17/2007 10:38:19 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem
What can I say? Thay're wrong.
A scientific law, or empirical law, is a general principle that is very well supported by evidence such as experimental results and observational data. Typically scientific laws are limited sets of rules that have a well documented history for successfully predicting the outcomes of experiments and observations. The concept of a scientific law is closely related to the concept of a scientific theory. Typically scientific laws are more limited sets of rules for making predictions about the world than scientific theories.

Contrast this with

In science, a theory is a proposed description, explanation, or model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation.

So you see the difference is fundamentally whether the phenomena are simply described (a law) or explained (a theory). Another way to view the relation is that theories use laws as their axioms.

112 posted on 02/17/2007 11:42:13 PM PST by edsheppa
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