what is a hypothesis?

Last Updated on June 28, 2022

A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot easily be explained by the prevailing scientific theory. When scientists make observations, they sometimes identify patterns in those observations.

As an example, if scientists observe that fruit flies are attracted to certain types of fruit, they might form a hypothesis that there is something about the fruit that attracts the flies. To test this hypothesis, they might experiment with different fruits to see if flies are attracted to them as well. If their experiments show that flies are indeed attracted to the fruit, then their hypothesis is supported and becomes more likely to be true. If their experiments do not show this, then the hypothesis is not supported and needs to be revisited.

Scientists are currently working on pandemic diseases like Covid 19.

There are many hypotheses about this deadly disease.

Some scientists believe that this disease was created in the laboratory while others believe it is a natural mutation of an existing virus.

Only further research and experimentation will reveal which of these hypotheses is correct.