Question

Matthew notices that if he walks barefoot on blacktop pavement, his feet get much hotter than if he walks barefoot on grass or dirt. He wants to determine if the amount of blacktop pavement in a city will affect the overall temperature of the city. His hypothesis states that because the pavement absorbs heat from the sun, a city with more pavement will have a higher temperature. Matthew uses a map to measure the number of miles of pavement within the limits of his hometown. He then records the temperature outside of his house to see how it varies each day for one week. He asks his friend in the next town to complete a similar experiment. Once the data is collected, he concludes that the hypothesis is not supported.

1. What are the major flaws in Matthew's experimental design? What are the strengths of the experimental design? Explain each in detail using terms from the lesson.

2. This experiment is not able to support Matthew's hypothesis. Suggest specific improvements that will allow the experiment to more effectively test the given hypothesis. Explain why these changes are improvements.

Answer 1

Set a specific time to check the temperature because the sun hits specific angles at certain times of the day and add the temperature of the grass and dirt because he said the pavement is hotter than the grass and dirt but he didn’t prove it

Answer 2

The flaws are that he didn’t say if the next town over also has pavement or a different type of road and he didn’t say if him and his friend went outside to measure the temperature every day at the same time. The strength is that he measures how much pavement is in his town.
Set a specific time to check the temperature because the sun hits specific angles at certain times of the day and add the temperature of the grass and dirt because he said the pavement is hotter than the grass and dirt but he didn’t prove it.
Step 1. Make it so no animal can take a drink from the pond assuming they drink from it year round Step 2. Measure the saturation of the ground Step 3. Measure the temperature Step 4. Measure the amount of rainfall Step 5. Decide how much water is lost to ground runoff from the change in saturation and allow for vegetation absorbing water Step 6. Allow for it to rain and then conclude that the rest of the water is disappearing because of the high temperatures causing evaporation