Question

Mrs. Lowe is having a bad day. She's spilled a water bottle on her desk three times today. She's using paper towels to clean up the mess, but they don't work well. Instead of soaking up the water, they just spread it around. She decides to stop by the grocery store and pick up a new brand of paper towel made out of recycled hay that a student told her could soak up an entire glass full of water with just one towel. Write a possible hypothesis for this scenario. Identify the independent variable , Identify the dependent variable .

Answer 1

The hypothesis for Mrs. Lowe's scenario is that the new paper towel will be more effective at soaking up liquids, with the independent variable being the type of paper towel and the dependent variable being the effectiveness of absorption.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this scenario, a possible hypothesis might be: "If Mrs. Lowe uses the new brand of paper towel made from recycled hay, it will be more effective at soaking up liquids, thus requiring fewer towels to clean up spills compared to the brand she currently uses." The independent variable in this hypothesis is the type of paper towel (the new brand made from recycled hay vs. the current brand). The dependent variable is the effectiveness of the paper towels at soaking up liquids, measured by the number of towels needed to clean up the spill.

The subject of this question, based on the given information, primarily involves observing and understanding the principles of capillary action, which is a property of liquids observed in porous materials. This relates to science, as it includes elements of chemistry and physics.

The take-home investigation with a sheet of paper and capillary action both demonstrate core principles of fluid dynamics - specifically how fluids move and interact with materials. This field of study is a key concept in physics and is relevant to practical applications, like paper towels absorbing liquids.