Page 1 of 1

Need help with variables

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:28 pm
by rgorman
My niece is doing an experiment for her science class and I'm a little confused on the variables. She has 3 plants, all of the same kind. She wanted to see what feeding vinegar to a plant would do to it, her hypothesis was it would kill the plant. She was correct. The plants also had the same amount of sunlight, all 3 were put in the same window, and left there. She fed Plant A 1 cup of water every other day. She fed plant B 1 cup of vinegar every other day, and plant C had nothing fed to it. I think the plant, and what happend to it, is the dependent variable. What is the controlled variable, and what is the independent variable?

Re: Need help with variables

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:35 pm
by deleted-71827
Hi!
Great question, ScienceBuddies has put together a wonderful guide explaining variables-
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... test.shtml
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... bles.shtml
I like to think of variables using the simple phrase, "The Effect of (Independent Variable) on (Dependent Variable)", so it seems like in this project it would be the effect of feeding vinegar on plant growth/survival. Hope this helps!