Question

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After her sunlight experiment Mary observes that the plants in her garden grow when she waters the soil.

wonders if the plants would grow with the same amount of water, but no soil. Using the steps of the scient

method explain how Mary would conduct a science experiment to test whether plants need soil to grow.

Answer 1

Please find the explanation below

Step-by-step explanation:

Scientific method involves steps which sequentially include;

a) Making an observation; This precedes every experimental procedure. Observation is the basis of every investigation. Mary observed that plants in her garden grows when she waters them. The problem in this case, asked in a question format is WILL PLANTS GROW WITH WATER BUT WITHOUT SOIL?

b) Formulating an hypothesis: Hypothesis is a testable explanation to an observed problem. It aims at providing a possible solution to given problem or answer to an asked question which must be subjected to testing. In this experiment, the hypothesis is IF plants are planted without soil and watered, THEN they will grow.

c) Testing hypothesis: The hypothesis is tested by conducting an experiment. In this experimental setup, Mary will plant some group of plants without soil and water them with the same amount of water, she plants another group with soil and waters them with same amount of water. The plants planted without soil is the EXPERIMENTAL GROUP, while the ones planted with soil is the CONTROL GROUP. The independent/manipulable variable is the SOIL while the GROWTH OF PLANTS is the dependent/measurable variable.

d) Analysis of result: The growth (height) of each group of plants is measured and recorded.

e) Conclusion: In the conclusion, the hypothesis can either be accepted or rejected. The hypothesis is rejected if the result of the experiment does not align with the hypothesis i.e if the plants do not grow without soil, while it is accepted if otherwise.