Independent variable?

what would be the independent variable and dependent variable in this expierement. Melting chocolate with a light. Aluminum foil under the chocolate, the light placed 3 feet away, 10 easy points. i dont understand this whole independent thingsIndependent variable?
The independent variable is the one you can control; the dependent one whatever varies as you twiddle the independent one.



My guess is that the independent variable is the distance from the light to the chocolate, and the dependent variable thw time to melt the chocolate.



If you could vary the wattage of the bulb but not the distance, then wattage would be the independent variableIndependent variable?
I don't know what experiment you are trying to plot . For example say that you want to plot how long it takes chocolate to melt when you place the heat source, in your case a light, at various distances from the chocolate. The melting time DEPENDS on the distance of the heat away from the chocolate. Short distance = short melting time. You would then call the distance the independant variable (plotted on the X axis) and the melting time the dependant variable (plotted on the Y axis).

Another example: You want to graph how far it takes a car to stop from various speeds. So you drive a car at 5m/s. 10m/s, 15m/s......... 40m/s. You measure how far the stopping distance was when youi apply the brakes. Again, the stopping distance DEPENDS on how fast the car was travelling. The stopping distance is the dependant variable (plotted on Y axis) and the speed is the independant variable , which is plotted on the X axis.

To sum up: The independant variable is that which you measure as your base at some regular frequency. The dependant variable is what result you get from measuring the change at the frequency intervals.

bourjois