Question

Many farmers and gardeners compost their plant and animal waste. The living material naturally decays in compost bins, forming a dirt-like substance that’s rich in nutrients. The next season, farmers use this substance as a natural fertilizer for their crops.

A biology student has grown tomato plants for several years. Until now, he used an artificial fertilizer formulated for tomato plants. This fertilizer caused his plants to grow faster and taller than they grew in unfertilized soil. The student wants to know whether using natural compost will cause his tomato plants to grow faster and taller than his artificial fertilizer



Choose one of the hypotheses to make a prediction
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Answer 1

This question is asking to formulate a hypothesis for the experiment in the question. A hypothesis is:

IF natural compost is used instead of artificial fertilizer, THEN the tomato plants will grow faster and taller than when artificial fertilizer was used.

Step-by-step explanation:

In an experiment, a hypothesis is formulated to provide a possible explanation or solution to an observed problem or question. The hypothesis must be testable or falsifiable via an experimentation.

In this experiment involving a biology student who is trying to find out if using natural compost will cause his tomato plants to grow faster and taller than his previously used artificial fertilizer. A possible hypothesis for this experiment goes thus:

IF natural compost is used instead of artificial fertilizer, THEN the tomato plants will grow faster and taller than when artificial fertilizer was used.