Final answer:
In the Cartesian diver experiment, the independent variable could be the pressure applied to the system, and the dependent variable is the depth at which the diver sinks or floats. Pressure is plotted on the x-axis and diver depth on the y-axis in a graph. The y-intercept is the depth at which the diver is when no pressure is applied, while the slope shows how depth varies with pressure.
Step-by-step explanation:
In a Cartesian diver experiment, the independent variable is the variable that you control or manipulate. This could be the amount of pressure applied to the closed system in which the diver is located. The dependent variable is the result of that manipulation, which in this case could be the depth at which the diver sinks or floats.
For example, if you squeeze the bottle containing the Cartesian diver, you are increasing the pressure; this is your independent variable. The response to this, the depth at which the diver moves, is the dependent variable because it depends on the pressure applied. In a graph depicting this relationship, the applied pressure would be plotted on the x-axis (horizontal), and the diver's depth would be plotted on the y-axis (vertical).
The y-intercept in a graph represents the value of the dependent variable when the independent variable is zero. If we consider a straight-line graph formula y = mx + b, where m is the slope, and b is the y-intercept, the slope indicates how much the dependent variable changes for a unit change in the independent variable.