Take Home Lab #2

Take Home Lab #2: Investigating an Urban Legend

Question: Are you taller in the morning than at night?

Safety: Keep the sealed box of materials out of the reach of children. Your partner should not stand on an unstable object if he or she is shorter than you.

Materials: Pencil, ruler

Procedure: In this lab, you will investigate what may possibly be an urban legend. Some say that when you wake up in the morning, you are taller than you are later in the day. You will test this hypothesis by measuring your height as soon as you get up in the morning and then again at the end of the day. The difference, if any, will be small, so it is important that you control all possible variables and measure as accurately as possible.

1. Be sure that your shoes are off and you are standing on level ground. Have someone mark your height with a small mark on a wall or doorway, making sure that the pencil is completely level.  This is easier if the other person is taller than you. Do not make permanent marks on the wall—use a light pencil mark or tape.

2. Use your ruler to measure carefully the height of the mark from the floor.

3. Repeat this procedure again at the end of the day before you go to bed. Compare your mark in the morning to your new one at night. Measure carefully the new height. If there is an effect, it will be a small one.

4. Repeat the procedure on several days and try to find other volunteers to do the same.

Hypothesis:

1. Write a hypothesis whether you think you will get taller or shorter by the end of the day. Explain your reasoning to explain what you think will occur.

2. DATA:

Your data:                                                           Volunteer name: ________

Day one:

Height in the morning _______ cm                          morning _______cm

Height in the evening _______cm                             evening _______cm

Day two:

Height in the morning _______ cm                           morning _______cm

Height in the evening _______cm                             evening _______cm

Day three:

Height in the morning _______ cm                           morning _______cm

Height in the evening _______cm                            evening _______cm

Post-Lab Questions:

3. Is it true that you get shorter later in the day? Explain how you came to this conclusion. Use your data

4.  How would you explain this phenomenon if it is true? How could you test your hypothesis?

5. Devices to hang upside-down from your ankles used to popular for relieving pressure in your spine. Could this possibly work? Will it make you taller in the long run? Explain.