Help with what is the control in the solar cell output project

[deleted-317951]

In the experiment " How Does Solar Cell Output Vary with Incident Light Intensity?" at https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p014.shtml what would/could be the control?

For my son's project he has to have a independent variable, a dependent variable, a control, and a constant. We can figure out all of them for the experiment except what the control would be.

Thank you

[324B21]

Good Evening!

You two embarked on such an ambitious project! Kudos to you both on this. After reviewing this experiment I believe your control is: an initial reading with no light bulb for both open-circuit and short-circuit on the surface you are doing your experiment on.

Think of control as "how things are before you start changing it up/altering it with light bulbs"

I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Elizabeth