Experiment+5+-+Distance+Traveled

__**Distance Traveled** __  

Do certain mealworms travel faster than others depending on their size and development stage?

**//Hypothesis://**  Small mealworms in the larval phase will travel faster than larger mealworms in the larval phase.

**//Prediction://**  We predict that the smallest mealworm will travel the most distance in a 2-minute time frame, compared to the two larger mealworms.

**//Materials//**:  Three mealworms, a piece of white paper, and a ruler.

**//Procedure://**  We placed a white piece of paper on our desk and placed the three mealworms at the edge of the paper. We gave each mealworm a decent amount of space. We then started the timer to track the two minutes, and let me meal worms go. We made ticks on the white piece of paper as the mealworms moved, and made a final tick when the two minutes were up. After putting the mealworms back in their box we used a ruler to connect the ticks, and determine how far each mealworm traveled.

**//Controlled Variables://**  Time (two minutes), start location (edge of the paper), temperature (room temperature).

**//Responding Variables://**  Final location of mealworms (how far they traveled).

**//Manipulative Variables: N/A//**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**//Observation://** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> All three mealworms had a slow start to the experiment. It took a few seconds for them to move off the edge of the paper. The mealworms traveled in jagged lines, rarely going straight for longer than a few seconds. Mealworm #2 did not stay on the white paper, and we had to make ticks on the table so that we were able to track its distance. After two minutes we made our final ticks and started to add the distances traveled. Mealworm #2 came in first place with a total distance of 34cm. Mealworm #3 finished in second place with 29cm, and mealworm #1 finished last with a distance of 12.5cm.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**//Conclusion / Comments://** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Mealworm #2 traveled the farthest distance and was also the smallest mealworm. This mealworm was the most active, and did not stop moving after leaving the starting position. Mealworm #1 and #3 were the largest mealworms, and are visibly double the size of mealworm #1. These findings are consistent with our prediction; however, since we were only able to test this experiment on three mealworms our findings are ambiguous.