Question

4 - microwave miracle
patrick believes that fish that eat food exposed to microwaves will become smarter and would be able to swim through a maze faster. he decides to perform an experiment by placing fish food in a microwave for 20 seconds. he has the fish swim through a maze and records the time it takes for each one to make it to the end. he feeds the special food to 10 fish and gives regular food to 10 others. after 1 week, he has the fish swim through the maze again and records the times for each.
what was patrick’s hypothesis?
which fish are in the control group?
what is the independent variable?
what is the dependent variable?
look at the results in the charts. what should patrick’s conclusion be?

(charts: special food group (time in minutes/seconds) with fish 1–10, before and after times; regular food group (time in minutes/seconds) with fish 1–10, before and after times)

Explanation:

1. What was Patrick’s hypothesis?

Patrick hypothesized that fish eating food exposed to microwaves (special food) would become smarter and swim through a maze faster than fish eating regular food.

In an experiment, the control group is the one not exposed to the independent variable (here, microwaved food). So the fish fed regular food (not exposed to microwaved food) are the control group.

The independent variable is the factor manipulated by the experimenter. Here, Patrick manipulated the type of food (special food with microwaved exposure vs. regular food), so the independent variable is the type of food (or whether the food was exposed to microwaves).

Answer:

Fish that eat food exposed to microwaves will become smarter and be able to swim through a maze faster.

2. Which fish are in the control group?