One thing that should be added, which would clear up a lot of confusion about science: A hypothesis is saying "I think there's a dot over here." Once you've performed experiments to see whether or not there were dots at the places you thought there'd be dots, a theory is an attempt to model what's behind the dots. A lot of people (including me, until a few years ago) are under the impression that Hypothesis : Theory :: Pikachu : Raichu.