Astudent reported that a limp stalk of celery became crisp when placed in ice water If a hypothesis is shown to answer several different natural phenomena or supported by other evidence, what can it be reconsidered to be?
1 Answer
Sep 10, 2016
It can be considered to be consistent with the given facts.
Explanation:
As you know, an hypothesis, much less a theory, is never proven. It can be shown to be consistent with given observations. As new observations are collected, the given hypothesis may have to be modified.
If the celery became crisp when it was soaked in ice water, then clearly that the water has rehydrated the celery is a reasonable hypothesis. But did it have to be ice cold water? Would room temperature water work? What about boiling water?
And thus most of the time, the success of an hypothesis leads to the design of new experiments to test and expand the original hypothesis.
