Question

a scientist was asked to test the effect of a new vitamin for rats. his hypothesis was that young rats that had vitamins added to their food would gain weight faster than young rats fed a normal diet. he predicted that if young rats were fed vitamins, then they would gain more weight by the end of the experiment. he tested the effect of adding vitamins to some of the rats diet by measuring the amount of weight each rat gained after three months. he then determined the average weight gained in each group. to analyze his results, he put the data he collected into the table shown below. how did the experiment test the hypothesis? a. the experiment showed that the scientific method was used. b. the experiment provided an accurate answer to the scientific question. c. the experiment revealed sources of error that affected the results. d. the experiment provided reliable data that could be analyzed.

Explanation:

The scientist measured the weight gain of two groups of rats (one with normal diet and one with normal diet + vitamins) over three months, calculated the average weight gain for each group, and put the data in a table. This provides reliable data (weight - gain values for each rat and averages) that can be analyzed (comparing the two - group averages) to test the hypothesis about whether the vitamin - added diet leads to faster weight gain. Option A is incorrect as showing the use of the scientific method is not the way the experiment tests the hypothesis. Option B is too absolute as we don't know if it's an "accurate answer" just from the data - collection part. Option C is wrong as there's no indication of error sources in the given description.

Answer:

D. The experiment provided reliable data that could be analyzed.