Question

a paper clip floating on water. as tom used detergent to wash olive oil off his hands, he remembered his chemistry teacher explaining that detergents work by disrupting surface tension. tom knew that small objects such as paper clips can float on water because of surface tension. how would a detergent affect that ability? tom predicted that as more detergent was added to a liquid, the liquids surface tension would get weaker, making it more difficult for small objects to float on the surface. to test his idea, he filled four cups with water. he added nothing else to the first cup, one drop of detergent to the second cup, two drops of detergent to the third cup, and three drops of detergent to the fourth cup. then, he counted how many paper clips could float on the surface of the liquid in each cup. identify the independent and dependent variable in this experiment. the number of paper clips that floated the number of drops of detergent added to the water independent variable dependent variable

Explanation:

In an experiment, the independent variable is what the experimenter changes or manipulates. Here, Tom changes the number of drops of detergent added to water. The dependent variable is what is affected by the independent variable and is being measured. Tom measures the number of paper - clips that can float, which is affected by the amount of detergent.

Answer:

independent variable: the number of drops of detergent added to the water
dependent variable: the number of paper clips that floated