Question

Jordan is doing a science fair project on the effects of music on the growth of tomatoes. He has two tomato plants, Plant A and Plant B, that he grows in a window and gives the same amount of water. Plant A is exposed to classical music using headphones attached to the soil. Throughout the growth period, Jordan counts the number of tomatoes produced by each plant.

Plant A = 35 Tomatoes | Plant B = 55 Tomatoes

1) What is the control group?
2) What is the independent variable?
3) What is the dependent variable?
4) What should Jordan’s conclusion be? Write this in a complete sentence!
5) Jordan needs to repeat the experiment, but his teacher says that he needs to improve his design. In his second experiment, what should he do different.

Answer 1

In this experiment there are two groups,one group is exposed to classical music and the other is not exposed.

In a study the independent variable is the difference betwen the two groups when all else are same.

The variable that is impacted by the independent variable is the dependent variable.

So In the above experiment ,

2) the independent variable is the exposure to classical music and

3) the dependent variable is the number of tomatoes produced.

In a control group, the independent variable is absent and all the other factors  are similar  to the experimental group.The control group presence is to make sure that all other factors that affect the dependent variable are taken into account and the difference in results between the experimental and control group is solely attributed to the independent variable .

1) So the plant that is not exposed to classical music (Plant B) is the control group.

and the plant that is exposed to classical music (Plant A) is the experimental group.

4) Since the number of tomatoes in the experimental group is less than the control group,the independent variable i.e exposure to classical music has a negative effect on the number of tomatoes produced (dependent variable).

5) The placing of the headphones should be changed.In the above experiment it was placed close to the soil.As the plant grew, The top most part of plant may have not got the same exposure to the bottom part of the plant owing to distance from the headphones.So the sound system or headphones has to be placed ina manner such that all parts of the plant get the same exposure.