What is a Scientific Theory?

I'm sure a lot of you have said something like "I have a theory!" at some point or another. Colloquially, we consider a "theory" to mean a hunch or a guess, something unproven or untested. But the issue is, in science, it means something completely different.

The American Museum of Natural History says that a scientific theory is "a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses, and facts." Britannica, Live Science, the National Academy of Sciences, and many more sources have similar definitions. Essentially, a scientific theory is an explanation of something we see in the universe around us (a natural phenomenon) that's supported by evidence and is most likely true. (In case you need a refresher on what scientific laws and hypotheses are, LibreTexts has a good article about it).

What's especially important about scientific theories is that, because they describe natural phenomena, they can be used by scientists (honestly, it can be used by anyone) to predict what will happen under certain conditions. For example, Einstein's theory of special relativity explains that as an object's speed increases, it experiences time at a rate slower than objects with a lesser speed. Using this, and the mathematical equations (the scientific laws) that Einstein came up with for speed dilation (which is the technical name to describe this phenomenon), we can calculate the difference in how long something would take for someone in a fighter jet and for someone just sitting around. 

All of this is also important because we, as a community, need to properly understand the words that we use, and how their meanings can change based on the contexts they appear in. A lot of modern politics is done by abusing words that can have multiple meanings based on the context, and we need to understand how they work or else risk being manipulated by others. It's also just important because when we don't understand what these words can mean, we run the risk of refusing valid evidence. For example, so many people refuse to accept the theory of evolution or the Big Bang theory, solely because they have the word "theory" in their names. When we refuse valid science and scientific evidence just because we don't understand the terms, we set a dangerous precedent.

Anyways, thank you for reading my (first!) little blog/rant on this site! I hope to see y'all more, and have a good day or night, wherever you are!