A biology student is studying ways to grow crops in soils that are high in salts and other dissolved solids. To determine whether corn plants can tolerate salty soil conditions, she grows one corn plant in typical non-salty soil and one corn plant in the same soil plus 0.5 kilograms of salt. After 6 weeks of growth, the corn plant grown in salty soil is only about 50% of the mass and height of the corn plant grown in non-salty soil. How can this research be improved so that she will have greater confidence in her data?
A) repeat the experiment but with additional corn plants to increase the sample size
B) add more salt to the experimental condition so that the resulting data is more clear
C) test an additional variable such as amount of moisture so that the results are more valid
D) revise the original hypothesis to account for the fact that plants do not grow in salty soils
yall trolling giving me the wrong answers
The correct answer to improve the research and increase confidence in the data is A) repeat the experiment but with additional corn plants to increase the sample size.
By repeating the experiment with more corn plants, the biology student can increase the sample size and obtain more data points. This helps to ensure that the data is representative and reliable. With a larger sample size, any variations or outliers in the data are more likely to be accounted for statistically, increasing the accuracy of the results.
Additionally, it is important to note that option B) adding more salt to the experimental condition may not necessarily result in clearer data. The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether corn plants can tolerate salty soil conditions. If the plants are already exhibiting reduced growth and lower mass in the presence of 0.5 kilograms of salt, increasing the salt concentration might lead to even more stunted growth, potentially making it difficult to interpret the results.
Option C) testing an additional variable such as moisture could be beneficial in addressing other influences on plant growth, such as how different levels of moisture affect the plants' ability to tolerate salt. However, for the purpose of determining the direct impact of salt on corn plant growth, it is important to keep the experiment focused on this specific variable.
Lastly, option D) revising the original hypothesis to account for the fact that plants do not grow in salty soils is not recommended. The purpose of the experiment is to test the tolerance of corn plants to salty soil conditions, and the current results already suggest that the plants do not grow well in such conditions. Revising the hypothesis to match the observed outcome would not address the initial research question and may not add meaningful insights to the study.