Lab 4 – Assignment
In this experiment, you will be testing the question: Does light wavelength affect plant sprouting speed and height? Upon completion of this experiment, you will use your data to create a scientific poster.
Today, you will be setting up your experiment with pinto beans under two different light conditions. You will, every day for the next 14 days, count the number of seeds that have sprouted, and measure the height (cm) of all bean sprouts (not just the tallest sprout!). You will need to water your beans every four days.
Read through the experimental procedure, and then answer the following questions and turn in your answers to Sakai Assignments. Please use a different color font for your answers! A digital version of this worksheet will also be available on Sakai.
- Snap a picture of your experimental setup (either green or white, you do not have to take a picture of both), rename your photo as “LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_LAB4SETUP_BIO121”, and submit it with the answers to the rest of the questions in Sakai Assignments.
- What is the independent variable in this experiment?
- What is the dependent variable in this experiment?
- What is the control variable (different from experimental controls – see Lab 1) in this experiment?
- What are the experimental controls in this experiment? (i.e. what outside factors are you “controlling” for?) List at least four.
- What is your hypothesis for this experiment? Support your answer with your knowledge of photosynthesis and/or the electromagnetic spectrum.
- A student has a situation where they can set up their green light experimental setup with no problem, but they have no good location for the white light experimental setup. They decide to set the white light bean cups by a window that gets full sun, as the sun is also a source of white light. Other than their light source, the student treats their eight experimental bean cups identically for the duration of the experiment. Will the student be able to compare their green light data to their white light/sunlight data in their analysis? Explain, using what you know about setting up scientific experiments.
