A horticulturist (plant scientist) complains to the city that a nearby residence is ruining his flowers because of the detergent being used to wash their cars. The soap runs into a stream that goes near his flower beds. As an inquiring scientist, you want to find out whether soap can affect flower growth. You will need to set up your experiment (using the animation below) and publish your findings (see questions below). Write your hypothesis (should be in a complete sentence and describe what exactly is being tested)

IF flowers are exposed to detergent, THEN the flowers will grow poorly

Explanation:

Hypothesis of an experiment gives a testable explanation to a problem. It is a predictive statement that explains the possible solution to a given problem, but subject to testing via experimentation. Hypothesis usually goes in an IF (cause), THEN (effect) format. That is, it shows how an independent variable will affect the deoendent variable.

In this experiment involving the effect of soap on flower growth, a possible hypothesis will be that: IF flowers are exposed to the detergent, THEN the flowers will grow poorly. This hypothesis, which is subject to testing by conducting an experiment, gives a possible solution to the problem of how detergent is affecting plant growth.