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Do Boys or Girls Have a Quicker Reaction Time?
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Researched by Ashley
1999-2000 |
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this experiment was to compare the reaction
time of seventh grade boys versus seventh grade girls.
I became interested in this idea when I was watching
my brothers playing and I realized how fast they moved. Since I have
no sisters, I wondered how fast their reaction time was compared to my
brothers.
The information gained from this experiment will help
people know whether boys or girls are more qualified for certain military
or civilian jobs such as fighter pilot or test pilot.
HYPOTHESIS
My hypothesis is that seventh grade boys will have a quicker
reaction time than seventh grade girls.
I base my hypothesis on observations of my brothers and
other children. I couldnt find any information in an encyclopedia that
compares boys and girls reaction times.
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EXPERIMENT DESIGN
The constants in this study were:
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The tool used to drop the meter stick,
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The height that subjects place their hands,
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The number of trials per subject,
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The number of subjects per group.
The manipulated variable was the gender, boys vs.
girls.
The responding variable was the time it took to catch
the falling meter stick.
To measure the responding variables, determine the distance
in Centimeters the falling meter stick falls before being caught by subjects.
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MATERIALS
| QUANTITY |
ITEM DESCRIPTION |
| 2 |
PVC pipe measuring 1.75 m |
| 1 |
PVC pipe measuring 1 m |
| 13 |
boys |
| 13 |
girls |
| 2 |
chairs |
| 1 |
desk measuring .72 m |
| 1 |
meter stick |
| 2 |
PVC pipe "L" connectors |
| 8 |
PVC pipe connectors |
| 3 |
"T" connectors |
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PROCEDURES
1. Glue the two "L" connectors to the 2-meter PVC and
point them in the same direction.
2. Cut 12, 8cm pieces of pipe
3. Put one 1.75-m PVC pipe to the one end of an "L"(do
not glue)
4. Put one 1.75-meter PVC pipe to the end of the other
"L"(do not glue)
5. Take one pipe connector and connect it to one of the
8cm tubes.
6. Connect the 8-cm pipes to all sides of the 3 "T" pipes.
7. Glue pipe connectors to all 8-cm pipes but ones coming
from the top "T".
8. Glue the two non-stopped pipes to the remaining "T".
9. Do the same with the other side.
10. Pipe holders should look like large I.
11. Let it dry for the desired time on the bottle of
glue.
12. Screw on the Automatic Dropper.
13. Screw a meter stick onto the ring hanger and test
3 times or until can easily put stick back on.
14. Get 13 girl and 13-boy permission slips back before
starting trials.
15. Next you get 1 girl and 1 boy and have them relax
for about 4 minutes.
16. Place the first subject in a chair by a desk that
is .75 meters high.
17. Have them open their thumb and first finger 5cm apart
using a pre-measured paper for accuracy and consistency.
18. Remove the paper slip.
19. Put the meter stick on the device and put it in the
key.
20. At a random time pull the string to drop the meter
stick.
21. Record the amount of cm it took to catch the meter
stick.
22. Repeat steps 14-15, 15 times.
23. Repeat steps 7 -15 with remaining student.
24. Repeat steps 8-16 with remaining students.
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RESULTS
The original purpose of this experiment was to find out
whether boys or girls have a quicker reaction time.
The results of the experiment were that girls had a quicker
average reaction time than boys did.
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CONCLUSION
My hypothesis was that the reaction time of boys would
be quicker than the reaction time of girls.
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be rejected
for girls had a quicker reaction time.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if
children have a quicker reaction time than adults.
If I were to conduct this project again I would test more
subjects and build a stronger pipe frame.
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RESEARCH REPORT
INTRODUCTION
Reflex is an involuntary action that is caused
by a stimulant.
Stimulus
A stimulus is an action or object, which causes you to
react. Some stimuli cause voluntary actions and others cause involuntary
actions.
Involuntary
An involuntary action is demonstrated when you touch a
hot stove. Your action is to pull away, but this action takes no
thought. Your sensory cells take it to the spinal cord and it tells
the motor nerves, which causes it to pull the hand back. The brain
gets the message after the action.
Voluntary
Voluntary actions are when you want to do something and
you think about it first. If you pet a dog and you want to scratch the
dog your brain tells your motor nerves and your mussels do that action.
The motor nerve takes it down the spinal cord to the limb that does the
brains order. Some handicapped people take more time for their actions
to happen.
BRAIN
The brain is made of three parts. A cerebrum, cerebellum
and a brain stem. The cerebellum is the little area under the cerebrum.
It controls location, if you are lying down or sitting it tells your brain.
The cerebrum controls almost everything. It has different hemispheres.
Right and left hemispheres control the opposite parts of the body.
The final part is the brain stem. It controls your automatic functions
like heartbeat, breathing, and digestion.
SUMMARY
Reaction time is an involuntary or voluntary action. When
finger touches a hot stove your sensory nerves tell your motor nerves what
to do. After they have acted your brain is told what happened.
That is an example of an involuntary action. A voluntary action is
when your brain tells you to do something like type.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barth, Danial S. "Reflex Action" The World Book Encyclopedia,
1999.
Hackett, John T. "Reflex" Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
(Deluxe
Version, 1998.
Kanouse, David. "Reflex" Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia
Deluxe, 1999.
Lammert, John. Human Body Vero Beach, Florida Rourke Publications
Inc. 1992.
"The New Book of Popular Science", Danbury Connecticut,
Grolier Incorporated, 1996. |
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