Can a hypothesis be proven?
Not if your hypothesis is formed using proper scientific method. An hypothesis is a prediction based on a “model”, which is just a way of describing how you think something might work. A good hypothesis must be readily proved false, but a properly formed hypothesis can never be completely proven true. Good Example: “All swans are white.” You can test this hypothesis by observeing the color of a number of swans. If any of the swans are not white, you have disproven the hypothesis. But you can never be sure you have observed ALL the swans in the world, so you can never prove your hypothesis. You can only provide data that support your hypothesis. The more experiments performed that support an hypothesis, the more faith can be put in the hypothesis. After enough supporting data has been collected to convince most people the hypothesis is probably right, it becomes a theory (e.g. the theory of relativity has been tested many times and is generally accepted as being true). Bad Example: “The
