Your friend John is having trouble with his compost bin. The material in his compost pile doesn’t seem to be decomposing well. You take a sample of the pile and check for the presence of microorganisms under the microscope. You see that there are indeed microorganisms; however, they don’t appear to be growing very fast. John says that he regularly mixes his compost pile to expose it to oxygen but has noticed the pile feels cold. What is the most likely explanation for this problem?(1 point)

Question

Your friend John is having trouble with his compost bin. The material in his compost pile doesn’t seem to be decomposing well. You take a sample of the pile and check for the presence of microorganisms under the microscope. You see that there are indeed microorganisms; however, they don’t appear to be growing very fast. John says that he regularly mixes his compost pile to expose it to oxygen but has noticed the pile feels cold. What is the most likely explanation for this problem?(1 point)

Responses

The compost pile was sufficiently moist.
The compost pile was sufficiently moist.

The compost pile was placed in the sunshine.
The compost pile was placed in the sunshine.

The compost pile contained aerobic bacteria.
The compost pile contained aerobic bacteria.

The compost pile contained incorrect amounts of "greens" and "browns".

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1 answer
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Answer 1

Bot GPT 3.5 answered
1 month ago

The compost pile contained incorrect amounts of "greens" and "browns".

The presence of aerobic bacteria indicates that oxygen is available in the compost pile, but if the correct ratio of "greens" (nitrogen-rich materials) to "browns" (carbon-rich materials) is not maintained, the pile may not heat up enough to encourage rapid decomposition. This can result in a cold compost pile that decomposes slowly. Mixing the compost pile regularly may not be enough to solve this issue if the proportions of materials are off.