1.) A scientific theory is a widely accepted and both highly tested and proven explanation based on observable phenomenon that occurs in nature. Scientific theories are supported by a large amount of evidence. On the other hand, a hypothesis is an explanation for a scientific question, but is easily testable and falsifiable.

A prediction is a guess of what will happen when conducting an experiment, but a hypothesis establishes a relationship that helps to explain how the conductor of the study came up with his/her prediction. For example, a prediction would be “salt is dissolvable in water”, and a hypothesis would be “the polar water molecules will separate the ionic NaCl compound causing the salt to dissolve.” If the predictions are accurate, the hypothesis is supported.

Hypotheses that are useful for explaining the natural world are easily testable, falsifiable, and parsimonious. When proposing an explanation for why something happens in the natural world, the explanation (hypothesis) must not be ambiguous or difficult to test/prove.

A hypothesis that would not be useful for explaining the natural world would be “dogs hate cats because cats resemble predators that walked the earth millions of years ago” because it is not falsifiable. There would be no way one could set up a study to either prove or disprove the hypothesis. A hypothesis that would be useful for explaining the natural world would be “tumors are caused by the build-up of certain radioactive molecules” because experiments can be set up to prove or disprove the hypothesis and the hypothesis is descriptive and non-ambiguous.

2.) The Cell Theory states two things: all living things are composed of cells (pattern) and all cells come from pre-existing cells (process). The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection states two things: the characteristics of populations change over time in