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

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

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

The compost pile was placed in the sunshine.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The most likely explanation for John's compost pile not decomposing well, especially considering that he regularly mixes it for oxygen and that the pile feels cold, is:

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

For effective decomposition, a balanced carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio is necessary, which comes from the right mix of "browns" (high in carbon) and "greens" (high in nitrogen). If there are too few "greens", the microbial activity can be low, resulting in a cooler pile and slower decomposition.