I would say your answer to this question would be D
<span>The answer is C. temperature, light level, species of bacteria. All three variables are considerations regarding the reproduction rate of the bacteria. The other three answer choices can be eliminated easily because they each contain at least one irrelevant variable. In particular, all three contain a variable that makes reference to Jack's personal characteristics. These do not have any impact on the experiment and readily stand out to disqualify the entire answer choice.</span>
Answers:
a) 
b) 
c) 
Explanation:
<h3>a) Impulse delivered to the ball</h3>
According to the Impulse-Momentum theorem we have the following:
(1)
Where:
is the impulse
is the change in momentum
is the final momentum of the ball with mass
and final velocity (to the right) 
is the initial momentum of the ball with initial velocity (to the left) 
So:
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
<h3>b) Time </h3>
This time can be calculated by the following equations, taking into account the ball undergoes a maximum compression of approximately
:
(6)
(7)
Where:
is the acceleration
is the length the ball was compressed
is the time
Finding
from (7):
(8)
(9)
(10)
Substituting (10) in (6):
(11)
Finding
:
(12)
<h3>c) Force applied to the ball by the bat </h3>
According to Newton's second law of motion, the force
is proportional to the variation of momentum
in time
:
(13)
(14)
Finally:

Answer:
b) The downward force of gravity
Explanation:
The gravity force has the biggest influence on the deceleration of the ball because no matter how much force you applied on the ball, it will eventually go down again, according to newton's second law:
right after you throw the ball, only the force exerted by the gravity will affect the ball (neglecting air resistance):
so the object will eventually be going down again.
Think about it like this, the more mass there is, the faster its going to go. If you took a golf ball and a ping pong ball and you held them each separately, you would notice that the golf ball is heavier. If they move with the same kinetic energy, but the golf ball WEIGHS more, then the golf ball will have the greater speed. If you think about it, the ping pong ball may be taking its time to get to wherever its going.