ICAS Interpreting Scientific Data 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A data table records the speed of a car at 5-second intervals: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 km/h. What does this data set show about the car's motion?
- The car is decelerating
- The car is moving at constant speed
- The car is accelerating uniformly (Correct answer)
- The car stopped and restarted
Correct answer: The car is accelerating uniformly
Equal increases in speed over equal time intervals indicate uniform acceleration.
Question 2: A graph shows two overlapping bell curves. Curve A is centered at 50 and Curve B is centered at 65. What does the difference in centers indicate?
- Group A has greater variation than Group B
- Group B has a higher average value than Group A (Correct answer)
- Group A is more accurate than Group B
- Both groups have identical averages
Correct answer: Group B has a higher average value than Group A
The center of a bell curve represents the mean, so Group B's mean (65) is higher than Group A's mean (50).
Question 3: A scientist measures how long it takes for different volumes of water to boil. She tests 100 mL, 200 mL, and 300 mL. What is the controlled variable in this experiment?
- Volume of water
- Time to boil
- Temperature of the heat source (Correct answer)
- Type of container
Correct answer: Temperature of the heat source
The temperature of the heat source must remain constant (controlled) to ensure a fair test.
Question 4: A results table shows that Plant A grew 8 cm in two weeks with sunlight, while Plant B grew 2 cm with no sunlight. What conclusion is most directly supported?
- Plant A is a different species
- Sunlight promotes faster plant growth (Correct answer)
- Soil type affects plant growth
- Plant B received too much water
Correct answer: Sunlight promotes faster plant growth
The only difference between the plants was sunlight exposure, so the difference in growth is attributed to sunlight.
Question 5: A meteorologist plots daily high temperatures for July on a line graph. The graph shows a generally upward trend with a few dips. What does the overall trend suggest?
- Temperatures fluctuated randomly with no pattern
- Daily temperatures increased on average throughout July (Correct answer)
- It rained on the days when temperatures dipped
- The thermometer was inaccurate on some days
Correct answer: Daily temperatures increased on average throughout July
An overall upward trend with minor dips indicates that average temperatures increased over the month.
Question 6: A student collects data on the number of hours studied vs. test scores for 20 classmates and creates a scatter plot. Most points cluster along a rising line but a few are far off the line. These outlying points are called:
- Controls
- Variables
- Outliers (Correct answer)
- Averages
Correct answer: Outliers
Data points that fall far from the main trend line in a scatter plot are called outliers.
Question 7: An environmental study measures the concentration of a pollutant in a river at four distances from a factory: 0.5 km=85 ppm, 1 km=60 ppm, 2 km=35 ppm, 4 km=12 ppm. What pattern does the data show?
- Pollutant concentration increases with distance from the factory
- Pollutant concentration decreases with distance from the factory (Correct answer)
- Pollutant concentration remains constant throughout the river
- Pollutant concentration peaks at 2 km from the factory
Correct answer: Pollutant concentration decreases with distance from the factory
The data shows pollutant levels declining as distance from the factory increases, indicating the factory is the source.
ICAS Interpreting Scientific Data 5
A data table records the speed of a car at 5-second intervals: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 km/h.
What does this data set show about the car's motion?