This would be like jamming your compass needle so that if you turned away from north, the needle would turn with you rather than continuing to point north.

He couldn’t specify how the process got started in nature, but suggested that there could be a variety of reasons for an irregularity in the crust to respond to forces in such a way that would trigger downward sagging and folding.

Another widely held view was permanentism, the idea that the continents and oceans have always been generally the same as they are today

contractionism

geologists had a good understanding of how most rocks were formed and understood their relative ages through interpretation of fossils

Spectroscopy confirms that hydrogen makes up about 74% of all matter in the universe.

Since most stars contain plentiful amounts of hydrogen, the main phase may last billions of years, during which their size and energy output remains relatively steady.

In a supernova, the collapse of the core suddenly halts, creating a massive outward-propagating shock wave.

In casual conversation, the word theory implies guesswork or speculation. In the language of science, an explanation or conclusion made in a theory carries much more weight because it is supported by experimental verification and widely accepted by the scientific community. After a hypothesis has been repeatedly tested for falsifiability through documented and independent studies, it eventually becomes accepted as a scientific theory.

Modern science is based on the scientific method, a procedure that follows these steps: Formulate a question or observe a problem Apply objective experimentation and observation Analyze collected data and Interpret results Devise an evidence-based theory Submit findings to peer review and/or publication

Establishing truth in science is difficult because all scientific claims are falsifiable, which means any initial hypothesis may be tested and proven false