Sam enjoys fishing off a local pier at night. He uses a light to help attract the fish. Sam wants to find out if fish are attrac
ted to different colors of light. He sets up 2 different colored lights and 1 regular white light. Sam hypothesizes that fish will be more
attracted to yellow light. Each night for a week at 8pm, he will count the number of fish he can see around the different lights. What
is the independent variable in Sam's experiment?
the types of fish
the number of fish
o the different colors of light
the time of day he counted the fish
In an experiment, the independent variable is the variable that the experimenter manipulates or changes in order to effect a response in the dependent variable.
In this experiment where Sam is trying to find out if fish are attracted to different colors of light, the independent variable is the DIFFERENT COLORS OF LIGHT because it is what the experimenter changes in order to bring about a response in the dependent variable (number of fishes attracted to the light).
