Continental drift and plate tectonics are both theories but only plate tectonics is accepted as fact by the scientific community. Explain why plate tectonics is considered a scientific fact and why continental drift is not.

Wegener proposed the continental drift theory, and provided scientific evidences for such, but couldn't explain the mechanism or processes behind the movement of continents. It wasn't until the mid-twentieth century with the discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that the processes causing plate movements began to be understood and led to the science of plate tectonics.