Question

A student decides to conduct an experiment to determine the effect that the amount of time spent in the sunlight has on the overall growth of a plant. The student will conduct the experiment using two identical plants that will only spend different amounts of time in the sunlight. All other aspects needed for growth will remain identical for each. In the experiment described, what would the amount of water given to each plant be considered?
a.an observation
b.a dependent variable
c.an independent
d.a control

Answer 1

A control I guess, since you want to keep the amount of water constant to make sure that this is not affecting the plant growth (only the sunlight).

Answer 2

@Rushwr , I disagree completely! A variable, by definition, is something that can change. An independent variable is something that is changed that you have control over. In the case of this experiment, the independent variable is the sunlight, because it is changing from plant to plant and you are in control of the change. The dependent variable is what changes as a result (the growth of the plant). Controls, or constants, are the things in an experiment that do NOT change. For this experiment the controls are the things kept the same between each plant...the water would fall into this category.

Answer 3

@shreehari499 what's ur opinion ?

Answer 4

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_variables.shtml

This might help!

Answer 5

Yes...as @alphabeta and @stacy.reed08 had mentioned, the amount of water is to kept constant during the experiment while the independent variable is Sunlight. Hence the amount of water given to each plant would be control.

Answer 6

D. You could always change it but for your experiment it must be the same at all times therefore it is held constant.