About how long does it take the sun to rotate once about its axis? a. 10 minutes b. 25 earth days c. 25,000 earth years d. 30 seconds

the tides are influenced by both the moon and the sun, it's easy to see that when the sun lines up with the moon and the earth, as during a new moon or full moon, the tidal effect is increased. these are known as spring tides, named not for the season, but for the fact that the water "springs" higher than normal. on the other hand, if the sun and the moon are 90 degrees apart in relation to an observer on earth as during the first quarter moon or third quarter moon, then high tides are not as high as they normally would be. this is because despite its greater distance, the sun's mass allows it to exert enough gravitational force on the oceans that it can negate some of the effects of the moon's pull. this phenomenon of lower high tides is called a neap tide. if you need more information on this topic visit moonconnection.com.

1. the question asks the most appropriate, which seems to rule out "all of the above." your choice appears to be the correct one.

2. the protocol described is good for identifying correlation, but not cause and effect. for cause/effect, you need to devise a protocol that will assign the treatment (or not) to groups that have essentially the same "demographics" with respect to all the other variables. your choice regarding control group seems appropriate. random assignment of treatment (choice d) may be appropriate also. (i think you can argue that b and d are just different descriptions of the same method.)

3. d will randomize the birds, but may not guarantee there are 10 in each group. e will do both, so seems the better choice.

comment on question 2

based on the problem statement, it seems clear that confident, attentive drivers are more likely to use daytime running lights. so, the protocol might need to be devised in such a way that the lights would be turned on or off without the driver's knowledge. (an attentive driver will figure it out.) assigning a confident, attentive driver to a group required to drive without running lights might mess with his/her confidence and attentiveness. you don't want your experiment to do that. (nor do you want the experiment to subject a driver to greater risk of accident as a consequence of driving without running lights.) experiments involving human safety are always problematic.