Biology

Purpose Research question  Do different banana varieties vary in water content

Hypothesis  Bananas of the Cavendish variety have a higher water content than plantain bananas.

Null hypothesis  Bananas of the Cavendish variety have the same water content as that of plantain bananas.

Variables

The independent variable of this study is the amount of water content of the banana.  This variable may not be manipulated because it will affect the conclusions of the study.

The dependent variable of this study is the weight of banana flesh that will be employed in the experiment.  This variable will be manipulated that all samples will have the weight of approximately 100 grams of banana flesh.

The fixed variable of this study is the temperature that would be employed in the experiment.  This variable will be manipulated that all experiments will use the oven temperature of 100oC.

Materials
Two banana varieties Cavendish bananas
Plantain bananas
Weighing scale
Oven
Knife
Chopping board
Aluminum foil
Markers

ProcedureMethod
Weigh out approximately 100 g of each banana variety and place each sample on a sheet of aluminum foil.  Make sure that each banana sample is properly labeled.

Incubate each banana sample in the oven, which has been pre-heated to 100oC, for 2 hours.
Weigh each banana sample every 30 minutes.  At the end of the experiment, calculate the total amount of weight lost by each banana sample.  This amount will represent the amount of water of each banana variety.

Analyze the water content by dividing the amount of water by 100 g and multiplying by 100.  The resulting value will be the percentage of water of each banana variety.

Results
The results of this experiment are shown in Table 1.
Table 1.  Weight changes in two banana varieties incubated in a 100oC oven.
Weight (grams)Time (minutes)Cavendish bananaPlantain banana010010030100956098899095801209272

Discussion

The Cavendish banana sample significantly decreased in weight, wherein the initial 100-gram sample decreased to 72 grams after incubating in the 100oC oven for 2 hours.  On the other hand, the plantain banana showed a final weight of 92 grams after incubating in the same settings.  Calculations showed that the Cavendish banana has 28 water, while the plantain banana has 8 water.  The hypothesis that bananas of the Cavendish variety have a higher water content than plantain bananas should therefore be accepted.

Conclusion
Bananas of the Cavendish variety have a higher water content than plantain bananas.