The Scientific Method - Essay Example

The Scientific Method: Planter's Nuts Bag March 27, The purpose of this experiment was to determine theproportions of the nuts in a Planter's NUT.rition bag, and to determine if those proportions are regularly distributed in different bags. Study results showed that the proportions of nuts are not the same, and neither are the total numbers of the nuts between each bag. Hypothesis: There are five types of nuts in a Planter's NUT.rition bag. This experiment proposes that the proportions of the nuts in the bags will be the same in various bags.

Used materials: I required three items to complete this research: 1. A notebook in which I recorded the results 2. Five 1.5 ounce Planter's NUT.rition bags 3. Five paper towels on which to place the contents of each bag Methods: Each bag of Planter's NUT.rition was poured out onto a paper towel, and the nuts sorted by type. The total number of nuts per bag and the number of each type were recorded in a notebook. Results and Analysis: The number of nuts per bag and the type are given in Table 1: Bag Number Peanuts Hazelnuts Pistachios Almonds Pecans Total Nuts 1 30 2 16 9 9 66 2 27 1 15 10 4 57 3 33 3 14 8 6 64 4 31 5 8 5 9 58 5 29 1 12 7 7 56 These results tell us that the proportions of types of nuts in a Planter's NUT.

rition bag are not equal between bags. The proportions of each type of nut in the bag are given in Table 2: Bag Number Peanuts Hazelnuts Pistachios Almonds Pecans 1 0.45 0.03 0.24 0.14 0.14 2 0.47 0.02 0.26 0.18 0.07 3 0.51 0.05 0.23 0.13 0.09 4 0.53 0.08 0.14 0.09 0.16 5 0.52 0.02 0.21 0.13 0.13 The biggest variation was seen in the pistachios (+/- 0.12) and the smallest difference was seen in the peanuts and hazelnuts (+/- 0.06). However, none of the bags showed similar proportions in all five types of nuts, even if proportions were similar between one or two types.

Conclusion: The proportions of the types of nuts in Planter's NUT.rition bags are not the same between different bags. This result may be improved by the use of a larger sample size, ie. more bags, and the results may differ if bags of different sizes were used. It is also possible that these results are affected by the point of manufacture (if Planter's manufactures these bags at multiple factories), the time of year the bag was manufactured and therefore the differing availability of the nut types, and the manufacturing batch.

Further research may include studies into the similarity of proportions between bags that were manufactured at the same plant, at the same time of year, and in the same batch, to determine the likelihood that such differences are intentional or incidental.