Activity Worksheet
A. Results:
Record your observations per day in this table. Attach the pictures in a separate paper.
Day Open Cup Sealed Cup
The open cup meat has started The sealed cup meat looks
to accumulate flies. Nothing almost the same as how it
much has changed with its looked like on Day 0. It also
Day 1 appearance aside from being looked a bit dried out, but
dried out. It has also there was visible moisture and
developed a weak unpleasant fog developed inside the cup.
smell.
The open cup meat has started The sealed cup became a lot
to accumulate even more flies. moister making it hard to take
Its appearance got a darker a clear photo. The meat inside
hue. Its smell also became didn’t look as dry as it did in
Day 2
worse. There also appeared Day 1. It also emitted a
groups of small, light- stronger smell similar with the
brownish, oval shaped objects open cup.
that seems to be the flies’ eggs.
Maggots started to swarm the The sealed cup became
open cup meat. Some even moister making it harder to
found their way outside the take a picture, this may be
cup. It also seems that there caused by the cold weather
Day 3
are new maggot eggs. and rain. There also appeared
unknown white spots around
the meat’s surface.
Maggots are still swarming the The sealed cup and the meat
cup and the newly laid eggs became even moister. The
haven’t hatched yet. There white spots around the meat
weren’t much change, aside also got a lot more evident.
Day 4 from the meat being darker The cup has accumulated a
and its smell being worse. small water and has created a
small puddle, partly
submerging the bottom of the
meat.
B. Guide Questions:
Answer the following questions
1. Is there a difference in the outcome between the two cups?
According to my observation, there were three differences between the two cups: one
developed life while the other didn’t, one got darker while the other got lighter, and one
got drier as the other got moister.
2. What triggered the emergence of life forms in the experiment?
What triggered the emergence of life is the flies being attracted by the smell of the rotting
meat causing them to lay their eggs on it. The eggs soon hatched on the surface of the
rotting meat causing maggots to emerge.
3. After doing the experiment, is the Spontaneous Generation Theory correct? Why or why
not?
I would say that although it doesn’t fully disprove Spontaneous Generation Theory, it is a
great challenge for people who support the SGT. The SGT’s foundation was built around
Aristotle’s experiment, and proving it wrong is a big step towards disproving the whole
theory. The open cup was accessible to flies and maggots emerged from it, the sealed cup
wasn’t accessible from flies and maggots and it showed no sign of life. Evidently, this
means that the maggots from the open cup were the flies’ offspring, and it didn’t emerge
from the inorganic material alone. After the experiment, I wouldn’t say that the SGT was
incorrect, but Aristotle’s experiment was definitely incorrect.
Conclusion:
The experiment proved Aristotle’s experiment wrong. The maggots didn’t appear out of
meat, but rather from the flies that laid their eggs. The experiment didn’t necessarily disprove the
Spontaneous Generation Theory, although it served as a huge step towards it. The discrediting of
the SGT will be by the works of Louis Pasteur, who took inspiration from this and Spallanzani’s
experiment.
C. Experiment Photos
Note: I had a hard time taking pictures of the meat inside the closed cup. I covered the opening of
the cup with a piece of plastic and rubber band making it hard to take photos from above. I also
failed to consider that the cup would get moist so the photos might be a wee bit out of focus.
Day 1- Open Day 1 - Closed
Day 2 – Open
Day 2 – Closed
Day 3 – Open
Day 3 – Closed
Day 4 – Open
Day 4 – Closed
