Question

Bill wants to do an investigation to compare the inertia of different balls. He plans to use a fan to exert a force on the balls. He will roll a ball past a fan to see how much the ball’s movement changes. Bill will use several balls with different masses and use the same fan settings for each test.

The dependent variable would be:
A) The change in the ball's movement.
B) The type of ball used.
C) The force exerted by the fan.
D) The distance the ball travels.

Answer 1

The independent variable in the experiment is the force exerted by the fan, while the dependent variable is the change in the ball's movement. To ensure constant mass, Bill will use different balls with different masses but the same fan settings.

In the given experiment, the independent variable would be the force exerted by the fan, as that is the variable that is intentionally changed and manipulated by Bill. The dependent variable would be the change in the ball's movement because that is what Bill is observing and measuring in order to compare the inertia of different balls. To ensure that the mass is constant, Bill will use different balls with different masses, but will use the same fan settings for each test.