Applying the Scientific Method to an Experimental Study--- Your friend claims th

Question

Applying the Scientific Method to an Experimental Study---

Your friend claims that sunlight affects the temperature of water

^^ I need to develop an experiment to test this claim

1. Identify the Independent variable for your experiment.

2. Identify the Dependent variable for your experiment.

3. List at least 3 variables that you would hold constant in your experiment.

Now design the experiment:

Identify and use at least five of the following lab equipment pieces to design your experiment.  

Provide a brief description of the experiment. Include a description of the Control Treatment and the Experimental Treatment

Explanation / Answer

Null Hypothesis Ho: Increased exposure to sunlight increases/decreases the temperature of water

Alternate hypothesis HA: Sunlight exposure has no effect on temperature of water

Independent variable: Independent variable is the variable that is controlled or altered in the experiment to test its effect on dependent variable. In this experiment, the independent variable is the duration of sunlight that the water is exposed.

Dependent Variable: Dependent variable is the variable that is being tested or measured. In this experiment, the dependent variable is the temperature of water and the level of evaporation.

Controlled Variable: Controlled variable is the variable that remains constant or is unaltered. Three controlled variables will be volume of water used, the thermometer used for measuring the temperature and the beaker in which the water is placed.

Experiment: Measure 40 ml of water using the 50 falcon tube (item 7) and add to 6 separate clear beakers (item 2). Excess water can be removed using disposable plastic pipette (item 9). Label three beakers filled with water as control treatments and four beakers with water as experimental treatment with the marker (item 6). Experimental beakers (3) are placed in sunlight during mid afternoon for different intervals of time 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 min and 1 hour. Control beakers (3) are placed in the dark for the same intervals of time. Temperature reading of the water at different time interval will be measured using the thermometer (item 5). UV safe protective goggles (item 1) will be used by the person (experimenter) when performing the experimental reading in sunlight. Similarly, the temperature of water in control beaker will be measured at different time intervals.

A graph of control and experimental temperatures vs time will be plotted. If the temperature of water is increased with time, then it can be said that sunlight increases the temperature of water. If it decreases the temperature with time, then we can say that sunlight decreases the temperature of water. If there is no change, then we can say that temperature does not have an effect on time (alternate hypothesis is true).

To make the experiment simpler, we can make measurement at only 1 hr duration.

Control Treatment: Exposure of water to dark for 0, 10,20,30,40,50 min and 1hr

ExperimentalTreatment: Exposure of water to sunlight for 0, 10,20,30,40,50 min and 1hr

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