· Interestingly, a hypothesis cannot be proven true by an experiment, even when it correctly predicts the outcome.
This is because an infinite number of hypotheses can usually be generated that predict the same outcome.
The strongest hypotheses are usually accepted as true if multiple experiments fail to falsify them.
These hypotheses, and their underlying models, form scientific paradigms which may last for centuries or longer. Scientific paradigms are explanations for how the world works, they inspire future research, but also limit its direction to certain avenues.