Modern science for the most part still depends on experimentation to explain physical reality. The scientific method: observe, propose a theory to explain your observations, then perform experiments that will test the theory. If the results of the experiments match what the theory predicts, then the theory has a grounding in the truth of the nature of physical reality. If the results are not congruent with the theory, then you propose a new theory, think up and perform experiments, and see if the results are predicted by the theory.
RORATE CÆLI: Reality and the Fall of Man: Sermon for Pentecost X