Creating Theories

One Hundred Forty Second Post: Creating Theories

We often read or hear stories through the media of new scientific theories. But what verifies such theories. In science students are taught about the importance of the experiment. The experiment has variables as well as a control group to compare results. So that when we think of a group of scientist creating a new theory, we visualize them in the lab mixing test tubes into a beaker.

But what about those theories that are just based on pure observation and reason, what makes those theories so widely accepted if there is no way to test them. Only discoveries can prove them right or wrong. And a lot of the time they are wrong like recently when Stephen Hawkins admitted his assumption that nothing leaves a black hole.

Darwin’s theory of evolution is believed by many to be true, yet it cannot be proven. So with all these people creating a theory what is to stop any one to create there own. Admittedly the average person may not have the degrees or authority of those whose theories have been accepted, but that doesn’t take the fun out of it. In fact everyone draws conclusions about the world rather they document it or not. It is just the way we think and learn.

In my humble opinion, early science class in elementary school should have young learners developing their own theories. Kids already have humorous theories of how things work why not start critical thinking at an early age.

So where does someone start when creating a theory? Start with what you know. You probably have a subject you use every day or think about sometimes. It is easy to make a basic theory because it doesn’t have to hold as true as Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. It just has to be interesting and about something you find interesting.

Here’s a little theory I have been tinkering with:

What if time did not move linear and that people just experienced the movement through time as being linear. Meaning what if a time line was compared to a sine wave such as the way electricity is. At some points time would be moving at one speed and at others it would move at a faster or slower speed. The observer wouldn’t be able to record the time difference because all of their surroundings would be moved at the same time. So the time change would be negligible to those in that time frame. The difference would come when things traveled across time from one wavelength to another. These wavelengths would be out of phase and amplitude much like the curves of trigonometry. Something else to explore is if the before and after affect occurred in nature, or in other words, if time actually moved in a straight line. If the wavelengths did not move in a straight line there would have to be a new way to explain time change. But the theories that explained time as a straight line would still apply because that is the way we experience time. So current theories of time are correct, however they wouldn’t hold true during time travel.

So you see it is easy and fun to make theories. And while your making your own... May the Creative Force be with You