MAS 134L Ocean Sciences Lab Dr.

Amy Sprinkle

LAB #1 DATA & ANSWER SHEET

Name: ______________________________________ ____/15pts
ACTIVITY #1: THE METRIC SYSTEM

1. Convert the following:

a. 24.3 cm to _____________________ mm

b. 1245 g to ______________________ kg

c. 4.6 L to_______________________ mL

2. Which value is LARGER (circle the correct answers):

550 mm or 1.5 m 3.2 L or 4000 mL 5000 g or 1.2 kg

3. Which value is SMALLER (circle the correct answers):

12 mm or 1 cm 600 mL or 2 L .5 g or 350 mg

4. One (1) centimeter is equal to how many meters? ____________

5. One (1) centimeter =

a. 100 mm
b. 10 mm
c. 1 mm
d. 1/10mm

6. One (1) kilometer is equal to?

a. 100,000 cm
b. 0.62 miles
c. 1000 m
d. All of the above

7. Ten (10) kilograms = ______ grams

a. 100
b. 1,000
c. 10,000
d. 1,000,000

8. One (1) centimeter is equal to how many meters?

a. 0.1
b. 0.01
c. 0.001
d. 10

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MAS 134L Ocean Sciences Lab Dr. Amy Sprinkle

ACTIVITY #2: EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

1. A great deal of research on the cause of coral bleaching has focused on water temperature.
However, a team of Australian researchers hypothesized that other factors might be important
too. Specifically, they tested the hypothesis that high CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels, which make
ocean waters more acidic, might also promote bleaching. The Australian team collected many
fragments of a certain coral species (Acropora intermedia) from the Great Barrier Reef. Then,
they split the fragments into three groups, putting each group in water with a different pH
(acidity level). After eight weeks, the researchers checked each fragment to see how much it had
bleached. Some corals were grown in tanks of normal seawater, which is not very acidic (~8.2).
Other corals were grown in tanks of seawater that were more acidic than usual due to addition of
CO2. One set of tanks was medium-acidity (~7.9), while another set was high-acidity (~7.65).
The researchers used a large sample size and repeated their experiment. Each tank held 5
fragments of coral, and there were 5 identical tanks for each group. Note: None of these tanks
was "acidic" on an absolute scale. That is, the end text values were all above the neutral pH of
7.0. However, the two groups of experimental tanks were moderately and highly acidic to the
corals, that is, relative to their natural habitat of plain seawater.
a. Control Group:

b. Experimental Group(s):

c. Independent Variable:

d. Dependent Variable:

2. Two students gather information on the global effects of plastic found in ocean waters. Student
A, Channing Tatum, collected information from three peer-reviewed scientific journals on the
internet while student B, Taylor Swift, collected information from a local newspaper. Which
statement best describes the reliability of Channing and Taylor’s research?
a. Channing’s research is more reliable because it was gathered from peer-reviewed
journals.
b. Taylor's research is more reliable because newspapers can only publish current research.
c. Taylor's research is more reliable because it came from a single source.
d. Channing's research is more reliable because it came from the internet.

3. A biology student, James Franco, wanted to study the effect of fertilizer on the growth of
plants. He placed four of the same type of tomato plants into separate containers, each
containing the same amount
of soil. Each pot received a Plant group Fertilizer amount (g) Mean height of plants (cm)
different watering solution,
containing varying amounts 1 0 3.0
of fertilizer. The table below
shows the average height of 2 5 3.2
the plants by the end of one
week. 3 10 4.4

4 20 5.0

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MAS 134L Ocean Sciences Lab Dr. Amy Sprinkle

• Using the information above, which of the plant groups is the control group?

a. Plant group 1
b. Plant group 2
c. Plant group 3
d. Plant group 4

4. Sprinkle’s Marine Biology class wanted to study the effect of different materials on the melting
rate of ice. They placed pieces of ice, each with a mass of 10g, onto trays. Group 1 was covered
in plastic, group 2 was covered in paper, group 3 was covered in aluminum, and group 4
remained uncovered. Each piece of ice was allowed to melt for 15 minutes. Then final mass of
the ice, minus the melted water, was recorded at the end of the experiment. What is the
dependent variable in this experiment?
a. The type of covering material
b. The final mass of the ice
c. The amount of melting time
d. The starting mass of the ice

5. You have heard that listening to classical music while studying will help a student perform better
on exams. Your Ocean Sciences lecture class (~60 students) has agreed to participate in your
experiment. Note that you also need to consider the affect that the amount of studying will have.

a. Hypothesis:

b. Experiment (what are you going to do?):

c. What is the control group?

d. What is the experimental group?

e. The independent variable:

f. The dependent variable:

6. You want to know if feeding Bess bugs dead Oak wood is better for their growth than their
normal feed pellets that they eat. You have 50 Bess bugs on which to perform your experiment.
a. Hypothesis:

b. Experiment (what are you going to do?):

c. What is the control group?

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MAS 134L Ocean Sciences Lab Dr. Amy Sprinkle

d. What is the experimental group?

e. The independent variable:

f. The dependent variable:

ACTIVITY #3 WELCOME TO THE BESS BUG RODEO

1. How many body segments are there? ___________________________________

2. What are some interesting features that you see on the head? On the legs? What might be the
purpose of each of these adaptations?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. Beetle’s Name: ___________________________________

4. You have been given a partial set of instructions for how to set up the Bess Bug Rodeo
experiment. However, some details have been left out for you to decide and employ such as how
many trials will you perform, length of dental floss/string, distance beetle must travel before
adding another penny, etc. Read the instructions on the instructions handout pages 3 -4 then
answer the questions below. Answer the questions below BEFORE starting the actual
experiment.
a. Hypothesis:

b. Experiment (what are you going to do and how are you going to do it?):
Length of Runway:

Length of Dental Floss:

When will you add a penny (e.g. after the beetle pull’s the penny/dish a certain
length? What is that length?):

What will you do if your beetle does not perform?

Additional details of your experimental set up:

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MAS 134L Ocean Sciences Lab Dr. Amy Sprinkle

5. Record your prediction for how many pennies the Bess beetle will pull: __________

6. Weight chart: record to nearest gram or tenths of a gram if possible.

a. Petri dish _______ grams

b. Petri dish plus beetle _______ grams

c. Beetle weight _______ grams

i. *Beetle weight = 6b -6a

ii. **If you tared the petri dish before adding the beetle, you do not need to subtract
here.

d. Length of the beetle _______ cm

e. Penny weight _______ grams

7. Experimental results

a. Maximum number of pennies pulled _______

b. Number of pennies x weight of a penny = total penny weight pulled = _______ grams

c. Total penny weight + weight of Petri dish sled = total weight pulled = _______ grams

8. Calculations
a. Compute the pulling power of the beetle by dividing the total weight pulled (7c)
by the beetle’s weight (6c).

Total pulling power = _____ times the beetle’s body weight

b. If you had the strength equivalent to your beetle, how many pounds could you
pull? Find out by multiplying your weight x the calculated beetle pulling power (8a)

= ___________

9. How does your answer to 8a compare to how much you can really move (8b) (i.e. are you
stronger than a beetle)?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

10. In hindsight, how could you have better set up your experiment? Give a minimum of two (2)
changes that you would make to the experimental design.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

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MAS 134L Ocean Sciences Lab Dr. Amy Sprinkle

11. Using Microsoft Excel, graph the data. You will make two graphs; include a chart title, axis
labels and units. One graph per person; graphing is NOT a group activity.
a. Graph #1: graph the # pennies pulled for each beetle (e.g. X axis = beetle names and Y
axis = # pennies pulled.

b. Graph #2: graph the Beetle Pulling Power for each of beetle (e.g. X axis = beetle names
and Y axis = pulling power).

 Instructor’s Signature verifying Excel graphs have been completed:

_____________________________________________________________________________

12. How would you calculate average speed, and velocity, of your beetle? *Velocity is speed with
a direction.
a. Define the following terms:
i. Speed

ii. Velocity

b. Formula for Speed:

c. Describe your speed and velocity experiment in the space provided below then deploy
the beetle to determine its speed and velocity.

d. Beetle’s speed: _____________________(include units: e.g. cm per minute)

e. Beetle’s velocity: ____________________

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