Grass Growth

* Option A

* Observation: During the winter, you spread salt daily on your driveway to melt the snow. In the springtime, when the lawn begins to grow, you notice that there is no grass growing for about 3 inches from the driveway. Furthermore, the grass seems to be growing more slowly up to about 1 foot from the driveway.

* Question: Might grass growth be inhibited by salt?

Introduction

I live in Montana; as such we have cold winters and do get quite a bit of snow and ice during the winter months. The city, county and state work hard to clear the snow and ice with plow trucks, and lay abrasives such as sand on the ice to help vehicles traction. Rock salt is not commonly used by any Department Of Transportation plows here in Montana. As a homeowner, I am of course responsible for clearing my sidewalks and walkway of snow and ice. I use an ice melt product, like most people do. Most ice melt products work using some form of salt mixture. The purpose of this experiment is to determine if the salting of icey walkways, has a negative effect on the grass in the area.

Hypothesis

This is an educated guess or a best guess about what might be the explanation for the question that is asked. A hypothesis should be a 1-sentence statement (not a question) that can be tested in an experiment. A hypothesis can be stated as a prediction using an if/then statement. The ability to test a hypothesis implies that it has a natural, repeatable cause.

Controlled Experimental Method

The hypothesis is tested in a controlled experiment. A controlled experiment compares a control (e.g., the normal, unmodified, or unrestricted, or uninhibited set-up based on the observation) to one or several experimental set-ups. The conditions in the experimental set-ups are identical to the control in every way (e.g., temperature, composition, shape, kind, etc.), except for the one experimental variable that is being tested. The results obtained from the experimental...