A law in science, often called a scientific law, is a statement that describes an observable natural phenomenon that consistently occurs under certain conditions. It summarizes patterns seen in nature, usually based on repeated experiments or observations, and often can be expressed mathematically. Unlike scientific theories, laws do not explain why the phenomenon happens; they only describe what happens

. Key characteristics of scientific laws include:

• They are true within their specific conditions and have never been contradicted by repeatable observations.
• They are universal, applying everywhere in the universe.
• They tend to be simple and often expressed as a single mathematical equation.
• They are stable and have remained unchanged since discovery, although sometimes shown to be approximations of more accurate laws.
• They describe consistent relationships or behaviors in nature, such as Newton’s Second Law of Motion (F = ma)

Scientific laws differ from hypotheses and theories in that laws describe what happens, while theories explain why it happens. Laws are narrower in scope than theories and are based on empirical evidence, discovered rather than invented

. In summary, a scientific law is a concise, empirical description of a natural phenomenon that reliably predicts outcomes under specific conditions but does not provide an explanation for the underlying causes.