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ACT Science 1.4 Research Summary Passage 208 Views


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ACT Science: Research Summary Passage Drill 1, Problem 4. Which of the following is the control for this experiment?

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Transcript

00:03

Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by stink lines--

00:06

Indicating smells visually for over 60 years.

00:10

 Here’s a passage about an experiment performed on the communication of honey bees.

00:15

Why don’t you “comb” over it?

00:21

And our question is: “Which of the following is the control for this experiment?”

00:25

Here are your potential answers…

00:30

The question’s asking what the scientists used as a control.

00:34

No, not like a joystick. You know, a scientific control.

00:37

Let’s go back to Science 101 for a second.

00:39

The “control group” or “control” in a scientific experiment is a test sample

00:44

that is separate from the variable being tested. For example, if we’re developing a new plant

00:50

food and we wanted to analyze its effects, we’d grow two identical plants with water

00:55

and sun, and only test the food on one of them.

00:58

The water-only plant would be our “control group” that we could use to compare the

01:02

effect of our plant food on the other. That makes perfect sense.

01:05

To find things that stand out—in this case, the scent created by certain bee dances--

01:10

the scientists needed a control:

01:11

a sample of air that was not exposed to such delightful, albeit stinky, dancing.

01:17

The passage says figure A is a sample that was taken of air near the dance floor.

01:22

That’s where they’re looking for the variable scent, so that’s not the control.

01:27

The control would be the sample in figure B, which was taken somewhere else:

01:31

where there were honey and bees present, but no dancing.

01:34

Of the four possible answers, A is our match.

01:37

That’s A as in “Absolutely Adorable Appetite-Activating Articulation”

01:42

…or, “Alliteration.”

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