Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Theory and Experiment

One of the most elegant things in science is the interplay between experiment and theory.  The experimenters find some relationship in the data they collect and the theorists come up with a model or explanation that fits the data.  The model makes specific predictions and the experimenters design ways to test the predictions.  The experimental results give the theorists something new to incorporate into their theories and the whole process goes on in a lovely self-correcting way.

I found a visual that brilliantly describes the way theory and experiment go together.  I've seen it in a lot of places, but I believe it is from Reddit user KTR2.  Enjoy:






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