Hypotheses, Theories, and Laws Answers

In the seventeenth century, Robert Hooke conducted many experiments with springs. In all the data he recorded, he found that the force needed to push down on a spring or stretch it out from its usual resting point was equal to the spring’s stiffness multiplied by the distance it is pushed or pulled from its resting point. He wrote the equation F = kX, in which F is the force, k is the spring’s stiffness, and X is the distance the end of the spring moves from its usual resting point when no push or pull is applied. The equation is still used today.

What is a difference between a law and a hypothesis?

After finding that objects of the same mass do not always float or submerge the same way in a tub of liquid, Alexis wrote a new hypothesis to test objects that have the same mass.If the surface area of an object increases, then it will float higher in the tub, because the object would need to displace more liquid in order to sink all the way down.

In the seventeenth century, astronomer Johannes Kepler observed the planets revolving around our sun and analyzed data about them. He found that as the distance from the Sun increases, the amount of time it takes for the planet to go all the way around the Sun increases. Even though Kepler did not know why his observation was true, it has been found that planets in all solar systems always revolve around suns the same way.

Which statements correctly describe theories? Check all that apply.

In a lesson about the behavior of gases, Genaris and her classmates learn that the volume of a gas is affected by its temperature. They formulated a hypothesis: If the temperature of a gas increases, the volume of the gas will increase because the increased temperature will increase the kinetic energy of the particles, which will then result in the expansion of the gas. The results of their experiment supported the hypothesis. They wanted to know if there were other factors that affect the volume of a gas.

In 1917, after developing the concept of relativity, Einstein described how his findings supported the static universe idea, which was a widespread theory that stated that the size of the universe never changes. However, over the following decades, the theory of a static universe was disproved and replaced by the theory that the universe began with a "big bang” and has been expanding ever since.

For centuries after Isaac Newton studied gravity, scientists accepted that gravity only exists between two objects that each have mass. However, new observations in the early twentieth century showed that even though light has no mass, it bends toward a planet as though it is forced by gravity. Albert Einstein used this observation, along with mathematical reasoning and many other observations, to redefine gravity and explain why both light and matter experience gravity’s effects. Einstein’s idea predicted many complex behaviors of nature that were later discovered, and because his idea consistently explains so many different observations it is now the basis for much of modern physics.