Name: Quincey Jones II

Date: 1/12/14

Instructor’s Name:

Assignment: SCIE207 Phase 1 Lab Report

Title: Using Scientific Method

Instructions: You will need to write a 1-page lab report using the scientific method to answer the following questions: • Define a hypothesis that is suggested by the data collected in the lab. • Complete a lab report using the scientific method.

When your lab report is complete, post it in Submitted Assignment files.

Part 1: Using the lab animation, fill in the following data tables to help you generate your hypothesis, outcomes, and analysis:

Table 1: Maize Yield From Arable Soil

|Amount of Mineral Nitrogen Fertilization (kg per 100 |Yield of Maize (mg of dry mass per 100 acres per year) in |
|acres) |Arable Soil |
|0 |8 |
|20 |10.7 |
|40 |13 |
|60 |15.2 |
|80 |16.4 |
|100 |18.2 |
|120 |19.2 |
|140 |20.8 |
|160 |20.4 |
|180 |20.1 |

Table 2: Maize Yield From Nonarable Sandy Loam Soil

|Amount of Mineral Nitrogen Fertilization (kg per 100 |Yield of Maize (mg of dry mass per 100 acres per year) in Nonarable|
|acres) |Sandy Loam Soil |
|0 |15.6 |
|20 |17 |
|40 |18.2 |
|60 |19.3 |
|80 |20 |
|100 |20.9 |
|120 |21.2 |
|140 |21.8 |
|160 |21.1 |
|180 |20.1 |

Part 2: Write a 1-page lab report using the following scientific method sections: • Purpose o State the purpose of the lab. • Introduction o This is an investigation of what is currently known about the question being asked. Use background information from credible references to write a short summary about concepts in the lab. List and cite references in APA style. • Hypothesis/Predicted Outcome o A hypothesis is an educated guess. Based on what you have learned and written about in the Introduction, state what you expect to be the results of the lab procedures. • Methods o Summarize the procedures that you used in the lab. The Methods section should also state clearly how data (numbers) were collected during the lab; this will be reported in the Results/Outcome section. • Results/Outcome o Provide here any results or data that were generated while doing the lab procedure. • Discussion/Analysis o In this section, state clearly whether you obtained the expected results, and if the outcome was as expected. o Note: You can use the lab data to help you discuss the results and what you learned. Provide references in APA format. This includes a reference list and in-text citations for references used in the Introduction section. Give your paper a title and number, and identify each section as specified above. Although the hypothesis will be a 1-sentence answer, the other sections will need to be paragraphs to adequately explain your experiment. When your lab report is complete, post it in Submitted Assignment files.

While looking at the data at first glance you would think that the more nitrogen you put on soil that the more maize you would get. Knowing that most farmers know and want to plant and use land that is suitable for farming. Where the soil is nutrient rich and prime for growing crops. Nitrogen fertilizer is essential in modern agriculture because it increases the crop yield. Nitrogen is the essential molecule for the life of plants and other living things on the planet. Mineral nitrogen is what can be used on arable and nonarable land for high crop yields. Nonarable land is land that is usually not suitable for farming for example cold climate, land where there is an abundance of sand and salt, elevated levels of pollution, Mountains, etc. So while looking at the data you see that the Yield of Maize (mg of dry mass per 100 acres per year) in Nonarable Sandy Loam Soil than in Arable Soil. You see this all the way until the nitrogen levels reach 160 which seems to be by the looks of the data to be the threshold. After that point you see that as you add more nitrogen that the yields of maize start to tail back off. This seem to me that too much nitrogen could be harmful to Nonarable Sandy Loam Soil. So in conclusion for the best and most consistence I think that most farmers want you use Arable Soil. Though there are farmers that are located in certain parts and regions that are not suitable for farming crops in this case you could use mineral nitrogen to help aid the ground you are planting on for growing crops.

Reference:

January 12, 2014 Using the Scientific Method; https://class.aiuniv.edu/_layouts/MUSEViewer/Asset.aspx?MID=MU17171&aid=AT89777