Introduction to Science DATA INTERPRETATION
Soil pollution can have negative impacts on both plants and animals. For example, the presence of heavy metals, such as lead or mercury, in soil can slow plant growth or even prevent growth all together. Furthermore, lead does not degrade over time, remain ing in soil for thousands of years. As a result, the presence of lead in soil is of great concern to agricultural workers.
PROCEDURE
A team of scientists performed an experiment to understand how the concentration of lead in soil affects plant growth. They iden tified ten locations with different concentrations of lead in the soil. They then planted 50 seeds in each location. Examine the data in Table 4, which shows the amount of lead in the soil and the number of plants that grew. Then, answer the questions below.
Table 4. Plant Growth and Soil Lead Concentration
Lead Concentration(mg lead/kg soil) 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180
Number of Plants Observed 48, 45, 40, 34, 23, 13, 7, 2, 1, 0
1. What patterns do you observe based on the information?
2. What type of graph is most appropriate to present the data? Create a graph of the data in Excel
3. Is it easier to observe patterns and see the connection between lead concentration in soil and the number of plants using a graph or table?
4. Develop a detailed hypothesis for your experiment.
5. What would your experimental approach be to test this hypothesis?
6. What are the independent, dependent, and controlled variables in your experiment?
7. What type of graph would be appropriate for this data set? Why?