Wednesday, February 1, 2012

What is the dependent and independent variable?

Ok, I need a little help with my science project, but I always have trouble finding the independent and dependent variables (my teacher did not make it real clear).



My project is this:

I will make 5 or 6 or so plants, each one is the same plant but, each plant gets a different type of drink. Water, Orange juice, soda etc. with the same amount of each.



Please help me find the dependent and independent variables?What is the dependent and independent variable?
Independent variable is the one you vary = type of drink.

Dependent variable is the one you measure = growth.What is the dependent and independent variable?
Every experiment has an independent variable and a dependent variable.



An independent variable is controlled by an experimenter. You change this variable to see if doing so affects your results.



If you are interested in growing plants, you might want to measure how well a plant grows with different types of liquids. To do this you would change the type of liquid, water, orange juice, soda etc. given to some of your plants and then compare the growth rate of the plants.

*in this case, type of liquid is your independent variable.



The dependent variable is the characteristic that changes when the independent variable changes. Sometimes, scientists describe the dependent variable as the outcome you are measuring in your experiment.



For example:



Using the same plant experiment as before, if you change the type of liquid given to plants, you would measure the growth of the plants in the different liquid situations.



* The growth of the plants would be the dependent variable.What is the dependent and independent variable?
Independent- changed by the scientist

Dependent- depends on the independent

Controlled- what the scientist wants to stay constant

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