Microwave Miracle

Patrick believes that fish that eat food exposed to microwaves will become smarter and would be able to swim through a maze faster. He decides to perform an experiment by placing fish food in a microwave for 20 seconds. He has the fish swim through a maze and records the time it takes for each one to make it to the end. He feeds the special food to 10 fish and gives regular food to 10 others. After 1 week, he has the fish swim through the maze again and records the times for each.

What was Patrick's hypothesis?

Special Food Group (Time in minutes:seconds)
[tex]\[
\begin{array}{|c|c|c|}
\hline \text{Fish} & \text{Before} & \text{After} \\
\hline 1 & 1:06 & 1:00 \\
\hline 2 & 1:54 & 1:20 \\
\hline 3 & 2:04 & 1:57 \\
\hline 4 & 2:15 & 2:20 \\
\hline 5 & 1:27 & 1:20 \\
\hline 6 & 1:45 & 1:40 \\
\hline 7 & 1:00 & 1:15 \\
\hline 8 & 1:28 & 1:28 \\
\hline 9 & 1:09 & 1:20 \\
\hline 10 & 2:00 & 1:43 \\
\hline
\end{array}
\][/tex]

Regular Food Group (Time in minutes:seconds)
[tex]\[
\begin{array}{|c|c|c|}
\hline \text{Fish} & \text{Before} & \text{After} \\
\hline 1 & 1:00 & 1:38 \\
\hline 2 & 2:00 & 2:00 \\
\hline 3 & 1:30 & 1:23 \\
\hline 4 & 1:28 & 1:34 \\
\hline 5 & 2:09 & 2:09 \\
\hline 6 & 1:23 & 1:19 \\
\hline 7 & 1:00 & 1:50 \\
\hline 8 & 1:47 & 2:04 \\
\hline 9 & 1:35 & 1:30 \\
\hline 10 & 2:00 & 2:00 \\
\hline
\end{array}
\][/tex]

1. Which fish are in the control group?

2. What is the independent variable?

3. What is the dependent variable?

4. Look at the results in the charts. What should Patrick's conclusion be?