What the comparisons on theories and laws of science?

Question

what the comparisons on theories and laws of science??

i need to know. lol

please and thank you.

Answer 1

A Law is an observation, and a Theory is an explanation.

For example - the Law of Gravity states that all matter attracts all other matter in a manner proportionate to their masses, and inversely proportionate to their distance. It just notes that this happens, but provides no reasons why or how.

The Theory part is the explanation. There are a number of different theories of gravity: perhaps all matter emits gravitons (massless particles with negative momentum), or perhaps matter somehow "curves" space/time, or perhaps all matter is actually composed of subatomic "superstrings", vibrating and interacting in higher spatial dimensions. Each of these explains some of the observations of the Law. They cannot all be true - and perhaps none of them is, but they are good working models for explaining how the universe operates.

Answer 2

A theory attempts to answer a why question, why do things fall down (theory of gravity). A law is derived from observed data, eg. the laws of motion. A theory can be disproved by a single observed flaw (this is why the big bang theory is in such trouble), a law is broken (and no longer revelavent in some circumstances)  under only very specific circumstances. Eg. certain laws become irrelavent when discussing relativity theory.  

Answer 3

Theories explain scientific data.  However, in the minds of most people, theory is equivalent to speculation.  This is incorrect.  Scientific laws are also theories that are so well established that nobody would ever question them.  However, it is really wrong to have a scientific law because it implies that it is impossible to find an error in it.