Question

When Francisco heard that plants compete for space, he decided to test this idea. He bought a packet of marigold seeds and some potting soil. He set out 25 plastic drinking cups. In five of the cups, Francisco placed 200 g of potting soil and planted 2 seeds in each cup so they were buried 1 cm deep in soil. He then watered the seeds with 50 ml of distilled water and placed them on the windowsill. In another group of five cups, Francisco placed 200g of potting soil and planted 4 seeds in each cup so that they were buried 1 cm deep in the soil.. He then watered the seeds with 50 ml of distilled water and placed them on the windowsill. Keeping the same procedure, Francisco planted 8 seeds in another five cups, 16 seeds in the next group of five cups and finally, 32 seeds in each of the last five cups. Each cup was watered every other day with 50 ml of distilled water for 50 days. As the experiment progressed, Francisco recorded the color of the plants and the height of the plants every 5 days for 50 days. What are they trying to find out? What is the control group? What is(are) the experimental group(s)? What is the independent variable? What is the dependent variable? What are three experimental controls?

Answer 1

The experiment is designed to assess plant competition in constant soil conditions, with the control group having 2 seeds per cup and variable groups with increased seed counts; color and height of marigolds are monitored against the number of seeds planted.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's experiment aims to investigate how increasing the number of marigold seeds in a constant volume of soil affects plant growth. The control group is the set of cups with 2 seeds each, as it represents the baseline condition. The student is trying to find out if the number of seeds planted in a cup affects the growth of marigold plants. The control group is the group of cups where 2 seeds were planted, as this represents the baseline condition. The experimental groups are the groups where 4, 8, 16, and 32 seeds were planted per cup, as these groups are testing the effect of increasing the number of seeds.

The experimental groups are the cups containing 4, 8, 16, and 32 seeds each. The independent variable is the number of seeds planted in each cup. The dependent variables are the color and height of the marigold plants. Three experimental controls are the amount of soil, the amount of water provided, and the location of the cups (on the windowsill).