Let’s experiment with some models.
"Theory"
What it means to most people: A hunch or conjecture.
What it means if you're a scientist: An entire system of well-substantiated and testable ideas that explain something about the natural world.
ThinkStock / gpointstudio
"Chemist"
What it means to most people: Where you go to buy cough medicine when you're feeling under the weather.
What it means if you're a scientist: A person who wears lab coats and blows things up (sometimes on purpose).
Jovanmandic
"Hypothesis"
What it means to most people: A guess, possibly an educated one.
What it means if you're a scientist: A proposed explanation for something that we can actually test.
BBC / Via deartrolls.tumblr.com
"Model"
What it means to most people: A person employed to display clothes by wearing them, or pose for a photographer or artist.
What it means if you're a scientist: Something that represents a phenomenon or physical process; a simplified version of reality.
Insiya Syed / Reuters
