Suppose you are performing an experiment that is studying how different amounts of water given to 3 separate plants impacts how tall each plant can grow. The amount of water given to the plants can be described as:

Question

Question 6 options:

a controlled variable

the dependent variable

the independent variable

Answer 1

The amount of water given to the plants is best described as the independent variable. This is because it is the factor that you are manipulating in the experiment to observe how it affects the growth of the plants, which is the dependent variable (the height of the plants).

So, the correct answer is the independent variable.