NA Intermediate High School

Possible Areas of Study:

• Amount of Oil
• Type of Oil
• Size of Container
• Amount of kernels
• Agitating/Non-agitating
• Heating the oil prior to cooking
• Number of holes in the foil
• Addition of toppings

Lab

Write-Up

 MUST BE TYPED,
DOUBLE spaced (for Peer Review) SINGLE spaced when you turn in your final copy 
with a 12 point font
(Arial or Times New Roman, preferred)

Include a cover page with the following information:

• Title
• Your CODENAME
• Class Period

The Body of the Report:

Title:

"The Popcorn Lab" is not acceptable.

Date:

This is the date(s) you performed the experiment.

Purpose:

What was to be accomplished in this experiment? Why were you doing it? What were you trying to find out? Generally we are trying to find out something or make something and test its properties. This is the immediate goal out front but behind it lies an exploration of important principles.  "The objective of this lab...."

Materials: Equipment and Chemicals

The best way to organize this information is into a 2-column table, and then hide the gridlines for the table.  Equipment should be separated from Chemicals.

Procedure:

Step-wise, written in the 3rd person. These should be the steps that you have devised that lead to the best popcorn. (Typically, the variables and constants would be apparent in this section, but not for this lab.) This part of your report should indicate that you have some knowledge of the important principles underlying the work to be done, a plan for achieving the purpose, and an understanding of how the observations or data will be used to that end. A person who understands chemistry should be able to read this section and know what you are doing.

Data:

Organized into tables. These tables should be numbered to facilitate discussion of results in the conclusion of your lab report. In general, record any pertinent observations. Non-numerical information may be written in simple comment form. Label all the data very clearly. Use correct significant digits, and always include proper units. Refer to "Designing an Experiment" for more details.

Calculations and Graphs:

You should show how calculations are carried out. Give the equation used and show how your values are substituted into it. Give the calculated values.

Graphs are simply pictorial representation(s) of the data, and should be created using Microsoft Excel.  If the graphs are not inscribed in the lab report, they should be attached at the end of the report and referenced in the body of the report. Label all axes and give each graph a title.

Conclusions: What did you discover during this lab?

Discussion of Theory:

This may be the most important section of this lab report. Here you need to discuss: "What causes the popcorn to pop, and how the scientific method was used during this lab." IN THIS SECTION, YOU WILL ACCOUNT FOR AND EXPLAIN YOUR VARIABLES, CONTROLS, AND CONSTANTS. You can also explain your thought process, if necessary. (i.e. Why you chose the values you did, etc.) DO NOT "GLOSS" OVER THIS SECTION. I would also like you to hypothesize in this section why you saw the results that you did. For example, if there was a difference in how the amount of oil affected the outcome of the experiment, why do you think this is so? A little bit of research would not be a bad idea.

Experimental Sources of Error:

This is where you account for mistakes and explain how your experimental design can/could be improved. What are some of the specific sources of error, and how do they influence the data? INSTRUMENTAL AND HUMAN ERROR EXISTS IN ALL EXPERIMENTS AND SHOULD NOT be mentioned as a source of error unless they cause a significant fault. In writing this section, it is sometimes helpful to ask yourself what you would do differently if you were to repeat the experiment and wanted to obtain better precision.