Well, one could use a magnet to see if it's ferrous. One could melt it to check which type it is, use a metal detector, or just use their senses: If it dings or clinks like metal, and feels like it’s texture. If it polishes with metal polish, is reflective, can be shaped or shape when heated… It usually is a metal. If it rusts, or oxidizes, it is or contains metal. If it “smells" like metal, most likely, it is metal. Finally, if it walks like metal, and quacks like metal, most likely we have a metal
The dependent variable would be anything that is not consistent. So outside factors such as how much sun and the environment that the plant is contained in.
