The Amount of Time it Takes For a Mealworm to Find Food in the Dark
Alanna Johnson, Grace Balatbat, Michaela Lantrip, and Shannon Miyoshi
Our Goal
Our goal was to figure out if a mealworm found food faster in a dark or light environment.
Hypothesis
The mealworm exposed to a bright light will move towards the pile of food faster than the worm that will not be exposed to any light, because being exposed to light will provide warmth, which will cause the worm to be more active.
Pictures and Videos of Lab
http://bk-1-group-7.posterous.com/pictures-and-videos-of-lab#
Procedure
Materials: Flashlight, Two containers, mealworm food, and Stopwatch
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Get two containers
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Place the food at one end of the container
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Place the worm at the opposite end of the food
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Get a flashlight
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Shine the flashlight on one of the worms
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Use a stopwatch or phone to time the amount of time it takes each worm to reach the food
Conclusion
In our experiment, we tested to see if a mealworm would crawl to a pile of food faster in a light/dark environment. We hypothesized that the worm with the light would crawl to the food quicker, because it would provide warmth, which would increase its strength and activity. To test our hypothesis, we first placed both worms in seperate plastic dishes, and put a small pile of food on opposite sides (about 4 inches away from worm). Next, we picked a worm that would recieve light from a flashlight shining above it (about 1/2ft away), and one with just natural light. We then timed which worm would crawl to the pile of food faster. Our results showed that the worm without the flashlight actually crawled to the food quicker than the worm with the light. We tested our experiment about 3 different times, and the results showed that the worm without light reached the food a few seconds before the one with light did. So in conclusion, the worm that did not recieve the direct light from the flashlight crawled to the food quicker than the worm that DID recieve the flashlight.
Citations
"Mealworm Facts and Information." Mealworm Store. N.p., 2007. Web. 5 Sep 2012. <http://mealwormstore.com/mealworm_info.php>.



