Science Quiz

Pat has two kinds of plant food, "Quickgrow" and "Supergrow." What would be the best way for Pat to find out which plant food helps a particular type of houseplant grow the most?

• Put some Quickgrow on a plant in the living room, put some Supergrow on a plant of the same type in the bedroom, and see which one grows the most.

• Find out how much each kind of plant food costs, because the more expensive kind is probably better for growing plants.

• Put some Quickgrow on a few plants, put the same amount of Supergrow on a few other plants of the same type, put all the plants in the same place, and see which group of plants grows the most.

• Look at the advertisements for Quickgrow, look at the advertisements for Supergrow, and see which one says it helps plants grow the most

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Mandy wanted to see if a new, environmentally-friendly pesticide will prevent insect damage to tomato plants. After making her hypothesis, she conducts her experiment. She treats five tomato plants with traditional pesticide and five with the new pesticide. Mandy also leaves five plants untreated as a control. She makes careful notes of how she set up her experiment and then records her data about all of the plants.

Why is it important for Mandy to record her procedures and data accurately?

• so that the hypothesis will always be correct

• so that she can look intelligent when she presents her data

• so that society does not waste money on buying pesticides that do not work

• so that other scientists can replicate the experiment and make sure the results are correct

Alex and Jennifer conducted an experiment to test reaction times in grabbing a meter stick after it is dropped. They each tested 15 friends. Alex dropped the meter stick for his friends and Jennifer dropped the meter stick for her friends while the other one timed the reactions. Jennifer's friends reacted, on average, 0.9 seconds faster than Alex's friends. Jennifer concluded that her friends were faster. Which of the following should she do next to check her results?

• Try a different reaction time experiment

• Try the experiment again, this time using a ruler instead of a meter stick.

• Repeat the experiment as it was done the first time but using only Jennifer's friends

• Repeat the experiment and have one person drop the meter stick for all the friends tested.

Francesca creates a model that shows the movement of the tectonic plates of the Earth's surface. If she wants to use the model to understand the concept of how a mountain is formed, how does that model help her?

• It shows all of the plates in the correct layout.

• It explains in detail how mountains are formed.

• It displays details that cannot be seen in a drawing.

• It speeds up a process that takes millions of years.

In science, a theory is different from how we use the term "theory" to apply to everyday ideas. The statement, "It's only a theory" might mean something very different than "theory" when used as a scientific term. What is the best way to explain the word, "theory," when used in science?

• In science, there is no difference between a law and a theory.

• In science, there are few principles that can be considered theories.

• In science, a theory is well supported by observations and/or experimental data.

• In science, a theory is a completely accurate and reliable fact about natural events.

In what way is a scientific law different from a scientific theory?

• A law is true in all situations and all circumstances, while a theory is only true in certain instances.

• A law describes the major ideas of the universe, while theories are based on the smaller ideas of the universe.

• A law is based on testable facts and data, while a theory is just a combination of one or more hypotheses that have not been tested.

• A law expresses a relationship between two or more variables, while a theory explains the causal mechanism of how something happens.

Colleen waters the plants in her greenhouse once every day. She wants to find out if the plants will grow more leaves if they are watered more often. She counts the number of leaves on each plant before she starts. She then continues to water half of each type of plant once daily, but she waters the other half of each type twice a day.

What is the outcome variable (dependent variable) in Colleen's experiment?

• the type of plant being grown

• the number of leaves the plants grow

• the amount of light the plants receive

• the number of times the plants are watered

Christy wants to find out if the birds that visit the bird feeders in her backyard would rather build nests in birdhouses or in trees. She puts a birdhouse next to the feeder containing sunflower seeds and hangs a feeder containing cracked corn from a tree. She observes the birds' nesting activities over the next two weeks and records her observations. Which of the following would improve Christy's investigation?

• putting more food in both bird feeders

• setting the feeders up closer to each other

• putting the same kind of food in both bird feeders

• setting up a third bird feeder containing fruit near a bird bath

Susan noticed that hummingbirds in her yard visited all the flowers, but especially seemed to like the red trumpet-shaped ones. She read that they use the nectar in the flowers for food. She assumed that since the parents were eating nectar, they must feed their babies only nectar as well. To her surprise, she saw hummingbirds bringing small spiders and insects to feed the young hummingbirds. How does this new evidence affect her original assumption?

• She should stick to her assumption that the babies eat nectar since she thought that first.

• She should believe what she read in the book and disregard what she witnessed.

• She should change her original assumption that they only eat nectar babies.

• She should ask other people what they think and agree with the majority.

A paleontologist who is trying to figure out if a meteor impact killed all the dinosaurs would not be able to find an answer by setting up an experiment. Which of the following would be the best way for a paleontologist to approach this problem?

• search for dinosaur fossils in many places and note where the fossils stop appearing in the rock layers at each location

• study the evidence a meteor impact leaves in a rock layer, then look for that evidence in the layers of rock that formed after those layers with dinosaur fossils

• wait for a very large meteor to hit Earth again and see which kinds of animals are killed by it

• study similar kinds of disasters that result in large animals becoming extinct, like an oil spill