1. Law vs. Theory

2. Scientific Law:
A descriptive statement or equation that reliably predicts events under certain conditions.

3. Describes WHAT will happen.
Scientific Law:
Describes WHAT will happen.

5. Law of Gravity
Every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

6. Scientific Theory:
A well-supported and widely accepted explanation of nature, based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning.

7. Describes WHY something happens.
Scientific Theory:
Describes WHY something happens.

8. Theory of General Relativity
Explains WHY gravity occurs in the universe.
According to Einstein, the mass of an object, such as a planet or black hole, creates the conditions necessary for gravity to occur due to a curve in space-time.

9. 10°C °C °C

10. Boyle’s Law

11. Kinetic Theory

12. Is the following a theory or law?
An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

13. Is the following a theory or law?
A bottle expands in the freezer because water is the only molecule in which its solid state is more voluminous than its liquid state. All matter is made of atoms and when energy is added, the atoms move faster and spread out.

14. Is the following a theory or law?
An object floats because when it is wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, it is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.

15. Is the following a theory or law?
10 ml of water will be more voluminous than 10 ml of ice.

16. Examples of Theories in Science
Plate Tectonics
Germ Theory
General Relativity
Moon Theory
Quantum Theory
Big Bang Theory
Evolution Theory
Kinetic Theory
Climate Change Theory
Buoyancy Theory
Heliocentric Theory
Atomic Theory