Question

You hear about a new amazing fertilizer called SuperGro. The company selling it claims that using this fertilizer will double your tomato harvest! Sounds great but as a skeptical consumer you ask for a sample so that you can conduct an experiment in your garden before you buy a big bag of this fertilizer.

Use your knowledge of the scientific method to:

state a good hypothesis for your fertilizer experiment
describe the experiment you would conduct
identify the control and experimental groups/treatments
identify the dependent and independent variables
name two control variables
make up hypothetical results
state a conclusion

Answer 1

Hypothesis: Using SuperGro fertilizer will result in a significant increase in the yield of tomato plants compared to plants that are not treated with the fertilizer.

Experiment: The experiment would involve growing two tomato plants under identical conditions, with one plant treated with SuperGro fertilizer and the other plant not treated with the fertilizer. Both plants would receive the same amount of water and sunlight, and would be grown in the same type of soil. The plants would be monitored and data collected on their growth and yield over a specified period of time.

Control group: The tomato plant that is not treated with SuperGro fertilizer.

Experimental group: The tomato plant that is treated with SuperGro fertilizer.

Dependent variable: The yield of tomatoes from each plant.

Independent variable: The use of SuperGro fertilizer.

Control variables: Amount of water and sunlight each plant receives.

Hypothetical results: The tomato plant treated with SuperGro fertilizer produces twice as many tomatoes as the plant that is not treated with the fertilizer.

Conclusion: Based on the results of the experiment, it can be concluded that SuperGro fertilizer is effective in increasing the yield of tomato plants.