Microwave Miracle: Patrick believes that if fish eat microwaved food then they be able to swim through a maze faster. He decides
to perform an experiment by placing fish food in a microwave for 20 seconds. He has the fish swim through a maze and records the time it takes for each one to make it to the end. He feeds the microwaved food to 10 fish (group A) and gives regular food to 10 others (group B). After 1 week, he has the fish swim through the maze again and records the times for each. Which fish are in the control group? * Group A Group B Microwaved Food Non-microwaved Food
<u>The fish in group B are those in the control group.</u>
<em>A control group during an experiment represents a group of the subject that is subjected to all experimental variables except the independent variable - the manipulate-able variable that is supplied by the experimenter which directly affects the dependent variable. </em>
In this case, the independent variable is the type of food given to the two groups of fishes - microwaved or regular food while the dependent variable is the time it takes for the fishes to swim through the maze. Since the focus of the experiment is to see if microwaved food enhances the swimming speed of fishes, the group of fish that receives microwaved food would represent the treatment group while those that received regular food would be the control group.
