Sasha Long 9A

To test whether males or females have

faster reaction times
Reaction time is the ability to respond quickly to a stimulus. Reactions are automatic responses;
you react to internal and external stimuli using reflex actions. For example when you are near a
hot flame, you may react by moving a way. This is a reaction to an external stimulus. This is an
investigation about reaction times. It is important to investigate reaction times as we rely on
reactions in everyday life, for example driving a car, as you would put your foot on the brake
when you need to suddenly stop. Reaction times depend on many things, including your age,
your sex, athletic skills and many more reasons.
Aim: The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether males have faster reactions than
females between the ages of 44 and 55.
Hypothesis: In this experiment my hypothesis is that males will have faster reaction times than
females. As males generally are more athletic than females, which give them faster reactions
from training in specific fields.
Materials: In this experiment the following materials were used:
-Computer
-Internet
-http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
Method:
1. Turned on a computer or a laptop system.
2. Opened up an internet browser.
3. Personal went to the following website-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
4. Followed clear direction provided from the website
5. Personal completes the following activity on the computer.
6. Recorded data clearly in a neat table.

Results:

Gender Age 1
st
reaction
time
2
nd
reaction
time
3
rd
reaction
time
4
th
reaction
time
5
th
reaction
time
Average
time
Male 1 48 0.333 0.400 0.333 0.283 0.334 0.3366
Male 2 55 0.332 .0.217 0.283 0.384 0.215 0.2150
Male 3 50 0.333 0.384 0.331 0.269 0.215 0.3064
Female 1 49 0.339 0.283 0.389 0.333 0.333 0.3334
Female 2 44 0.216 0.284 0.219 0.217 0.217 0.2396
Female 3 51 0.383 0.451 0.434 0.333 0.335 0.3872
Sasha Long 9A



Observations:
- When doing this experiment, a majority of the personals had to restart the test as they,
clicked the tranquilizer button too early in anticipation.
- Male 1 had done the test, having two alcoholic drinks beforehand. This gave him a higher
score. Male 1 then did the test again, having no drink in the past hour before hand. His
results were lower than his first results. Proving that having no drinks in advance can give
you a better score.
Gender Drinks 1hr
Before test
1
st
reaction
time
2
nd
reaction
time
3
rd

reaction
time
4
th
reaction
time
5
th
reaction
time
Average
reaction
time
Male 1 2 alcoholic
drinks
0.401 0.434 0.283 0.334 0.435 0.3774
Male 1 Nil 0.333 0.400 0.333 0.283 0.334 0.3366

Discussion: After conducting the experiment, the results were shown that males have faster
reaction times than females. The males reaction times were much quicker than the females,
which was expected, as they are usually more athletic than females. Female 2 results were the
second fastest result out of all the genders. Proving that few females have faster reactions than
some males. Few problems occurred during this experiment, which included restarting the test as
some participants reacted too early to the sheep running, which leaded them to start again. To
improve this experiment, participants should all have an even playing field. By making sure they
do not have glasses, do it at the same time of day or use any substances that can give some
participants an advantage during the test. In this experiment all participants had not had any
drinks (besides water) in the past hour prior to the test. To improve this error, participants should
be timed exactly 60 minutes before test, making sure they do not drink any liquids. Than
guessing, that they have had no beverages in the past hour.
Conclusion: During this activity, weather males have faster reaction times than females was
investigated. It was determined that males have faster reaction times than females as they are
generally sportier than females. The hypothesis was therefore strongly approved, as the results
from this experiment were accurate to the hypothesis. Evidencing that males have faster
reactions than females.
Bibliography All websites visited on 4th and 5
th
March 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/CaSHome.nsf/home/downloadable+files.es/$FILE/Bryn+Young_Reaction+Times.pdf
http://prezi.com/bhdkf1rma4h2/male-vs-female-reaction-time/
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/CaSHome.nsf/home/downloadable+files.es/$FILE/Mika+Cull_Reaction+Times.pdf
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-reaction-time/
http://www.topendsports.com/testing/reactime.htm
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2006/reactiontime.shtml
http://content.jacplus.com.au/faces/pages/ebookviewer.xhtml?isbn=1742461425&chptr=8265&sectionNo=7&pageType=1&view
=01&cb=8650572695769
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Reaction_Time.aspx 3/3/14
Sasha Long 9A