04-19-2013, 11:31 AM | #61 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Meson alternatives?
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04-19-2013, 01:07 PM | #62 |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: Meson alternatives?
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04-19-2013, 01:26 PM | #63 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Meson alternatives?
Nothing ever "becomes" scientific law. There was never a theory of thermodynamics that became one of the laws of thermodynamics. There's are theories of gravitation and what is called the law of gravity, but the law of gravity was never a theory of gravity. Theories are explanations. Laws are what is allegedly always observed (and considered to be fundamentally important).
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04-19-2013, 01:56 PM | #64 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Meson alternatives?
Quote:
The difference between a law and a theory is mostly in when it was written down; 'theory' became the preferred terminology during the 19th century. |
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04-19-2013, 02:48 PM | #65 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: Meson alternatives?
Quote:
Meanwhile, a theory is a coherent body of postulates, reasoning, and deductions that gives a unified explanation to several observations. Thus the Molecular Theory of Gasses gives a unified explanation to Boyle's Law, Charles' Law, and Gay-Lussac's Law, and remains a theory even though the existence of molecules is now a proven fact. Here are a few more theories that are still called theories even though they are in no doubt whatsoever: the Heliocentric Theory of the Solar System, the Germ Theory of Disease, the Atomic Theory of Matter, the Reaction Theory of Combustion, Circuit Theory, Information Theory, Game Theory, Galois Theory…. Theories are even still called theories when they are proven false, such as The Theory of Humours and Phlogiston Theory. In science and maths an unproven proposition put forward for testing or as a provisional explanation is called an "hypothesis".
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
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04-19-2013, 03:25 PM | #66 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Meson alternatives?
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04-20-2013, 08:06 AM | #67 | |
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
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Re: Meson alternatives?
Quote:
String theory is a special case because it is actually neither theory nor law. String theory cannot (yet) predict anything that can, even in principle, be tested so it cannot ever be wrong. That is why Peter Woit named his his string theory critical book "Not even wrong" - a theory that is wrong (ie doesn't hold up to experiments) actually helps science because it tells us how stuff does not work and thus limits the possible ways it does work. An untestable 'theory' doesn't tell us anything and is simply a waste of money and effort. String theory may eventually come up with something testable in the far future but I would't bet on it as it has never in its long history (started in the 80s) been anywhere near a formulation that can be tested.
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Tags |
meson, nuclear damper, radiation |
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