In April 1986, an accident at a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl,...

Question

In April 1986, an accident at a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, scattered radioactive fallout for hundreds of miles. In assessing the biological effects of the radiation, researchers found mosses to be especially valuable as organisms for monitoring the damage. Radiation damages organisms by causing mutations. Explain why it is faster to observe the genetic effects of radiation on mosses than on plants from other groups. Imagine that you are conducting tests shortly after a nuclear accident. Using potted moss plants as your experimental organisms, design an experiment to test the hypothesis that the frequency of mutations decreases with the organism's distance from the source of radiation.

Accepted Answer

Hey everyone. Let's take a look at this question together. An experiment was carried out to test the effects of radiation on mice using three groups of mice of the same age, gender and physical features. The mice in the first two groups were exposed to radiation at two different distances. While the mice in the third group did not receive any radiation, it was observed that the frequency of mutations was higher in the mice that were close to the radiation than in the mice that were far away. Which of the statements about this experiment is true. So let's start off by making a little drawing to help us visualize this experiment. So we have three groups will call them A B. And C. And then we have radiation and we also have distance to the radiation. And so looking at A. B. And C. And the amount of radiation as well as the distance we know that groups A. And B. Both get that radiation treatment making them the experimental group. And then because group C does not get anything, they are our control group. And so because A and B. Both get radiation but different distances. We know that A. Is close and B. Is far and none for our control. And so when we're looking at this group A. With this close radiation, we know that the group that was close had higher frequencies of mutations. And then we know that the group that was far which is the other group had less than group A. So group B. Had less mutations than group A. And so looking at our answer choices, we can figure out which one is true. So we know that an answer choice A. This is an example of a controlled experiment because all of the factors are held the same and we can control all of the other factors such as the amount of radiation and the distance. So answer choice is correct. Answer choice B. The frequency of mutations decreases with the organisms distance. It's also true because we can see that when we're close and far that the close one has that higher amount, but the far has less and then answer choice C. The experimental group would be the mice exposed to the radiation which we do know and then the control group is the one that's not exposed to the radiation so that it's also true. And so answer choice is A. B. And C. Are all correct, which means answer choice D. Is the correct answer. Because all three of those following statements are true about this experiment. I hope you found this video to be helpful. Thank you and goodbye.

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