Question

what role do hypothesis play on scientific inquiry

Answer 1

A hypothesis is a scientist's first, educated guess at the solution of some problem, e.g., why did this chemical reaction occur?, or, why does the Sun do such-and-such? A scientist tests the hypothesis in an attempt to refute it, and the hypothesis that survives all such tests becomes the reigning theory in that branch of science, e.g., relativity theory, plate tectonics, natural selection, etc.
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