Final answer:
A scientific law is a concise and general statement that describes phenomena in nature, while a scientific theory is a more complex and dynamic explanation of observed behavior. Laws are supported by scientific evidence and often written as equations, whereas theories are less concise and cannot be expressed as laws. The main difference between a law and a theory is that a law describes a single action, while a theory explains an entire group of related phenomena.
Step-by-step explanation:
A common misconception is that scientific theories are rudimentary ideas that will eventually graduate into scientific laws when enough data and evidence has been accumulated. A theory does not change into a scientific law with the accumulation of new or better evidence. Remember, theories are explanations; laws are patterns seen in large amounts of data, frequently written as an equation. A theory will always remain a theory, a law will always remain a law.
Laws and theories are similar in that they are both scientific statements that result from a tested hypothesis and are supported by scientific evidence. However, the designation law is usually reserved for a concise and very general statement that describes phenomena in nature, such as the law that energy is conserved during any process, or Newton's second law of motion, which relates force (F), mass (m), and acceleration (a) by the simple equation F = ma. A theory, in contrast, is a less concise statement of observed behavior. For example, the theory of evolution and the theory of relativity cannot be expressed concisely enough to be considered laws. The biggest difference between a law and a theory is that a theory is much more complex and dynamic. A law describes a single action whereas a theory explains an entire group of related phenomena.