Factos that Affect Roundup Weed killer

[heytin45]

Hi,
My topic is on determing how the dose and method of application affect the activity of glyphosate. I have already bought all the materials i need, so now im struggling with my background information. I can't find classic/current experiments based on this project.


[Moderator added: URL for project: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... p038.shtml ]

[heatherL]

Hi heytin45,

I am assuming that you have already looked at the references in the Bibliography of the project you chose: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... background. I have found that one of the best ways to find classic studies is to look in the References Cited section of journal articles I have on the topic, and to look at the bibliography of relevant Wikipedia pages. (Wikipedia on its own is not always the most reliable source, but most pages have really good references in the bibliography.)

Here is the Wikipedia page on glyphosate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate. Check out the bibliography, which should go a long way toward starting you on your background research.

I hope that helps. Please post again (in this same thread) if you have more questions!

Heather

[heytin45]

Thank you for your response, I looked at the article about glyphosate under wikipedia. There sure is a lot of references

Could you also help me determine the dependent and independent variables for this project too? Since I am experimenting two parts: 1- the concentration of glyphosate and 2- the minimum area that is treated for the plants to die, does that mean I will be needing 2 independent and dependent variables?

This is what I think. For the first part, the dependent variable is the plants that are treated with glyphosate and the independent variable is the measurement of the concentration of glyphosate. For the second part, the dependent variable is the minimum area that needs to be treated for the plants to die and the independent variable will be the measurement of the coverage of leaves that should be sprayed with 100% roundup. I could be wrong, though.

[heatherL]

Hi heytin45,

Here is some background information to help you determine your dependent and independent variables: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... bles.shtml

In any project, the independent variable is the one that you (the scientist) change. The dependent variable is the one that changes in response to the independent variable (it is dependent on the other variable). The dependent variable is usually the thing that you measure.

Now let's examine your particular project. In part 1, you change the concentration of glyphosate (independent variable), and you measure the health of the plants (dependent variable). In part 2, you change the area treated with glyphosate (independent variable), and once again you measure the health of the plants (dependent variable).

I hope that helps. Take a look at the link above and my explanation, and let me know if you have more questions.

Heather

[heytin45]

Hi Heather,

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense now!

[Jacobie09]

This is confusing...

[heytin45]

Hi,
I already started my experiment and all of the plants have been treated with roundup except my control group,which only has water. now I am in the process of observing/collecting data. At the moment they are dying...this may sound obsured but should i water the all the plants daily even though i sprayed roundup on them?

[heatherL]

Hi heytin45,

I'm glad to hear your project is under way! Yes, you will want to treat all of the plants equally (the same as the control plants), except for the different Roundup treatments. That means you should continue to water them regularly, even if they appear to be dying. You want to be sure that the plants are dying because of the Roundup and not because you stopped watering them.

Heather