Scientific Method
Controls and Variables - Part 2
SpongeBob and his Bikini Bottom pals have continued doing a little research to solve some
problems. Read the description for each experiment and answer the questions.
Krusty Krabs Breath Mints
Mr. Krabs createda secretingredientfor a breathmint that he thinks will "cure" the bad breathpeople
get from eating crabbypattiesat the Krusty Krab. He asked100 customerswith a history of bad breath
to try his new breath mint.. He had fifty customers(Group A) eat a breath mint after they finished
eating a crabby patty. The other fifty (Group B) also received a breath mint after they finished the
sandwich, however, it was just a regular breath mint and did not have the secret ingredient. Both
$oups were told that they were getting the breath mint that would cure their bad breath.Two hours
after eating the crabby patties, thirty customersin Group A and ten customersin Group B reported
having betterbreaththan they normally had after eating crabbypatties.
1. Which peopleare in the control group?
2. What is the independentvariable?
3. What is the dependentvariable?
4. What shouldMr. Krabs' conclusionbe?
5. Why do you think 10 peoplein group B reportedfresherbreath?
SpongeBob Ciean Panis
SpongeBobnoticed that his favorite pants were not as clean as they used to be. His friend Sandytold
him that he should try using Clean-O detergent,a new brand of laundry soap she found at Sail-Mart.
SpongeBobmade sure to wash one pair of pants in plain water and another pair in water with the
Clean-O detergent. After washing both pairs of pants a total of three times, the pants washedin the
Clean-Odetergentdid not appearto be any cleanerthan the pantswashedin plain water.
6. What was the problem SpongeBobwantedto investigate?
7. What is the independentvariable?
8. What is the dependentvariable?
9. What shouldSpongeBob's conclusionbe?
Worlcsheetcreatedby T. Trimpe 2003 http://sciencespot.net/
Squidward's Symphony
Squidwardloves playing his clarinet and believesit attractsmore jellyfish than any other instrument
he
has played. In order to test his hypothesis,Squidward played u-*ong on his clarinet for
a total of 5
minutes and countedthe number of jellyfish he saw in his front
yard.He playedthesonga totalof 3 ti*", on hisclarinet
anJ
;L"Ty:"r'i"=!t-IiT/Il',.,i":",
$o hftrsi Cluinet
Flute
Guitar
tial
repeatedthe experiment using a flute and a guita.r. He also
recordedthe number of jellyfish he observedwhen he was not
playing an instrument. The resultsare shown in the chart.
I
l5
1l
I
,l
l0
l8
J
l
t.l
I
10. What is the independent.variable?
1 1 .What is the dependentvariable?
12. What shouldSquidward'sconclusionbe?
13. Are the resultsreliable?Whv or whv not?
Super Bubbles
patrick found some super
fatrick and spongeBoblove to blow bubbles!
Bubble Soap at Sail-Mart. The ads claim that super Bubble Soap will
producebubblesthat are twice as big as bubblesmade with regular bubble
soap. Patrick and spongeBob made up two samplesof bubble solution.
one samplewas madewith 5 oz. of super Bubble soap and 5 oz. of water,
while the other was made with the same amount of water and 5 oz. of
regular bubble soap. Patrick and SpongeBobused their favorite bubble
wands to blow 10 different bubbles and did their best to measurethe
diaineterof eacii c,iie.Tiie resuitsare siiowi:riri tiie ciiart
14. What did the SuperBubble adsclaim?
15. What is the independentvariable?
16. What is the dependentvariable?
17. Look at the resultsin the chart.
a. Calculatethe averagediameterfor eachbubble solution.
SuperBubble=
cm RegularSoap =
cm
b. What shouldtheir conclusionbe?
18. Are the resultsreliable? Why or why not?
Worl<sheetcreated by T. Trfunpe2003 http:// sciencespot.net/
Bubhls
In ocufimctrns
ocuti
fDiemctcr In
Bubble
Super
Bubble
R6gular
Soap
1
15
10
12
18
10
5
,,
a
4
,>,
tt
a
I
I
10
I J
16
18
15
t4
t6
14
12
t1
15
15
o
Name
Scientific Method
Bikini Bottom Experiments
Read the description
The Bikini Bottom gang loves science class and wanted to do a little research.
the questions.
to
answer
for each experimenfuoa nse your knowledge of the scientific method
/
(L) Flower Power
pal Sandy.He bought a
SpongeBobloves to gardenand wants to grow lots of pink flowers for his
He plants two plants of
special Flower power f'ertiliier to see if will help plants produce more flowers.
placesone plant in a sunny
th" ,u*" size in separatecontaiqerswith the sameamount of potting soil. He
plant
on a shelf in a closetand
window and watersit every day with fertilized water. He placesthe other
watersit with plain water every other day.
What did SpongeBobdo wrong in this experiment? Explain'
experiment.
What should SpongeBobdo to test the effectivenessof Flower Power fertilizer? Write an
(2) Super Snails
power by
Gary is not the smartestsnail in Bikini Bottom and believes he can improve his brain
and several snail
eating Super Snail Snacks. ln order to test this hypothesis, he recruits SpongeBob
day for three
every
frienls to help him with the experiment. The snails ate one snack with each meal
snacksas well as
weeks. SpongeBobcreateda test and gave it to the snailsbefore they startedeating the
after three weeks.
Basedon the data provided, do the Super snail snacks work? Explain
your answer.
Snf,il lBefonl
Worksheetcreated by T. Trimpe 2003 http://sciencespot'net/
After
*:\
(3) Bubble
Time
, : _-,- L--Lr-l^^ rL^- ^-..^-o arc
patrick loves bubble gum and would like to be able to blow bigger bubbles than anyoneelse in
he bought five different brands of
Bikini Bottom. ro pt"p* tJ, *," Bikini Bottom Big Bubble Contest,
the biggest bubbles. TVrite an experiment
bubble gum and n*Jo, yo* help to find the brand that creates
win the contest'
to test t[e bubble poweiof the tutUte gum brandsand help Pahick
l,llorksheetcreated by T. Trimpe 2003 hnp://sciencespot'net/