Chapter 4

You will need

grid paper
a ruler

GOAL
Design and perform an experiment to answer
a question.
Grace read that humans, apes, elephants, and dolphins all
have good memories. She also read that humans store
short-term memories for about 1 min and can remember
from 4 to 9 things at a time.
She wanted to see if this information was true.

What can you learn about memory by

conducting an experiment?

Graces Solution
I asked my classmates to study 20 objects for 1 min.
Then I covered the objects and asked my classmates to
write down as many objects as they could remember.
interval
A set of numbers
that consists of all
the numbers
between a pair of
given numbers;
a closed interval
includes both end
numbers.

116

I made a tally chart with intervals to display the results

of the trial.
Memory of Objects
Number of
objects remembered
0-5
6-10
11-15
16-20

Number of people

NEL

A. Use a set of objects to test the memories of the

students in your class. Record your results in
a tally chart with intervals.

C. What conclusions can

you make based on
your graph?

Memory of Objects

Number of people

B. Construct a graph
using the data from
your tally chart.

0-5

6-10 11-15 16-20

Number of objects remembered

experiment
A situation or test
that you set up so
you can observe
the results

D. Was an experiment a good way to collect the

data about your classmates ability to remember
objects? Why or why not?

Checking
1. Tara wondered if the ability to remember objects is
improved by seeing the objects more than once.
a) Repeat your experiment from Part A using the
same objects. Have your classmates record the
objects they remember on a different sheet of
paper. Extend your original tally chart, and record
the data for the second trial.
b) Construct a double-bar graph to compare the data
from the two trials.
c) Do your data suggest that the ability to remember
objects is improved by seeing the objects a second
time? Explain.

NEL

117

Practising
2. Jamie wondered whether different brands of popcorn
leave different numbers of unpopped kernels. He
popped 50 kernels of each brand for the same length
of time and recorded the results. Then he repeated
the experiment.

Number of Unpopped Kernels for Four Brands of Popcorn

Number of
Number of
unpopped kernels
unpopped kernels
Brand
Trial 1
Trial 2
Brand A
Brand B
Brand C
Brand D
a) Why do you think Jamie used an experiment to
gather data?
b) Construct a double-bar graph using Jamies data.
Why is a double-bar graph appropriate?
c) What did Jamie find out about the different
brands of popcorn?
3. A single gene in your body determines whether you
can curl your tongue. Can your classmates curl their
tongues from front to back, in from the sides, both
ways, or not at all?
a) Why is an experiment a suitable way to collect
data to answer this question?
b) Describe the steps in an experiment you would use
to answer this question.
c) Perform your experiment, and record your data in
a tally chart.
d) Display your data in an appropriate graph.
e) What conclusions can you make about your
classmates ability to curl their tongues?

118

NEL

4. Would you use an experiment to gather data to

answer each of these questions? Why or why not?
a) Which brand of breakfast cereal has the most sugar?
b) Can people taste the difference between low-fat
snacks and regular snacks?
c) What is the favourite snack food of Grade 6
students?
d) What effect does drinking an energy drink or
water before exercising have on heart rate after
exercising?
5. Jackson wondered how the temperature of water affects
the amount of time it takes sugar to dissolve. He
measured how long it took to dissolve one sugar cube in
125 mL of water in each of three glasses while stirring.
After repeating the experiment, he displayed the data.

Time (s)

The Effect of Water Temperature on Dissolving Sugar

90
80
trial 1
70
trial 2
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
cold water warm water boiling water
Temperature of water

a) What conclusions can you make from the data

Jackson collected?
b) Was an experiment an appropriate method for
gathering the data? Why or why not?
c) Why do you think Jackson did two trials for his
experiment?
d) Describe the steps of an experiment you could use
to compare the dissolving time for salt to the
dissolving time for sugar.
6. Explain how you would conduct an experiment to
compare the quality of two brands of paper towels.
NEL

119