Wednesday, July 27, 2016

electricity - Dependent and Independent Variables in an Electrical Experiment




So, for my science fair I had to test the gauge of a copper wire vs electrical resistance. What I did was I set up a series circuit involving a 6v battery, a light bulb, a multimeter, and a voltmeter. I would change out three different wires with three different gauges.



  • For the 4-gauge wire, I got 0.004V and 0.04A.

  • For the 8-gauge wire, I got 0.003V and 0.04A

  • For the 12-gauge wire, I got 0.001V and 0.04A.


In this experiment, what would the independent and dependent variables?


We also have to fill out a table like this:


We also have to fill out a table like this:



Answer




A dependent variable is one that changes as a result of another change in your experiment. It is a variable you measure in order to find out what happened when something in your experiment changed. The measured value depends on other parts of the experiment.


An independent variable is one that you are free to modify. It is set before the experiment begins and doesn't change until the next experiment. This value is chosen before the experiment and so is independent of other parts of the experiment.


In your experiment, you chose the gauge of the wire before the experiment began and measured the current and voltage after turning on the circuit. The gauge of the wire does not change during a measurement, so it is the independent variable. The current and voltage you measure depends on the wire gauge, so these are the dependent variables.


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