Read a biology experiment: variables, controls, repeated trials

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Yeast test of a new sweetener (example data)

   bottle	added to the yeast and water	gas in 10 minutes (mL)
   1	nothing	2
   2	new sweetener	3
   3	glucose	21

2. 1.

   Ari tests whether yeast can use a new sweetener. Which bottle is the negative control?

   • No bottle, since the three have yeast in them
   • Bottle 2: the sweetener, since it is the thing being tested
   • Bottle 1: nothing is added, so it shows the background gas
   • Bottle 3: glucose, since yeast is known to respond to it
3. 2.

   Bo reads the same results. Which bottle is the positive control, and what does it show?

   • Bottle 2: it has the sweetener that the test is about
   • Bottle 1: it shows the setup gives no gas without sugar
   • Neither control matters; the sweetener bottle answers the question by itself
   • Bottle 3: glucose feeds yeast, so it shows the setup can detect gas

4. The same test on another day (example data)

   bottle	added to the yeast and water	gas in 10 minutes (mL)
   1	nothing	2
   2	new sweetener	3
   3	glucose	2

5. 3.

   Esme gets these results on another day. What should Esme conclude about the sweetener?

   • Yeast cannot use any sugar, so the sweetener fails too
   • The sweetener works as well as glucose does
   • The sweetener does not work, since bottle 2 made little gas
   • Nothing yet: the glucose bottle made no gas, so the test itself failed

6. Bean seedlings after 14 days (example data)

   group	mean height (cm)
   without plant food	12
   with plant food	15

7. 4.

   Jun compares the two groups. By what percent are the fed seedlings taller than the unfed ones?

   • 20 percent
   • 125 percent
   • 3 percent
   • 25 percent

8. Gas from yeast (example data)

   time (min)	gas (mL)
   0	0
   4	12
   10	36

9. 5.

   Kira reads the gas table. What is the mean rate of gas production between minute 4 and minute 10?

   • 3.6 mL per minute
   • 24 mL per minute
   • 6 mL per minute
   • 4 mL per minute

10. Seeds sprouted after 7 days, 20 seeds per dish (example data)

    dish	seeds sprouted
    control	12
    treated	17

11. 6.

    In the treated dish, Luz counts how many seeds sprouted. By how many percentage points is sprouting higher than in the control?

    • 42 percentage points
    • 85 percentage points
    • 5 percentage points
    • 25 percentage points

12. Gas from three yeast batches (mL in 10 minutes) (example data)

    batch	trial 1	trial 2	trial 3
    A	14	15	16
    B	10	15	20
    C	13	15	17

13. 7.

    All three batches have a mean of 15 mL. Milo asks which batch's trials agree best.

    • Batch A, with the smallest range, 2 mL
    • Batch B, because its trials cover the most values
    • The three agree equally, because their means match
    • Batch C, because its range is the middle one

14. One seedling (example data)

    day	height (cm)
    3	2
    9	14

15. 8.

    Noah measures one seedling twice. What is its mean growth rate between day 3 and day 9?

    • 4.7 cm per day
    • 12 cm per day
    • 2 cm per day
    • 1.6 cm per day

16. Batch A, four trials (mL in 10 minutes) (example data)

    trial	gas (mL)
    1	14
    2	15
    3	16
    4	31

17. 9.

    One bottle in batch A was shaken before it was read. Pia wants a summary of a typical trial. Which summary is best?

    • The range, 17 mL, since it uses the extreme trials
    • The largest trial, 31 mL, since it shows what the yeast can do
    • The median, 15.5 mL, which the extreme trial does not pull up
    • The mean, 19 mL, since it uses each trial

18. Bean seeds sprouted of 50 per dish (example data)

    salt (g per L)	seeds sprouted
    0	46
    4	21

19. 10.

    Tala tested bean seeds only. A poster says salt lowers sprouting in all seeds. What is the best reply?

    • Not supported: 50 seeds per dish is too few for beans
    • Supported: beans are seeds, so all seeds must behave alike
    • Supported for beans only; other seeds were not tested
    • Supported: 25 fewer seeds sprouted, which is enough for each kind