Name: _________________________ ( ) Class: __________ Date: _______________

CHAPTER 1: VARAIBLES PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1 Paul observed his mother baking loaves of bread. He noticed that the
bread dough rises as it bakes in the oven. His mother tells him that the
yeast will feed on the sugar and release a gas which makes the bread
dough rise. Paul wanted to investigate how the mass of sugar affects
the rise of the bread.

He conducted an experiment by using a few amounts of sugar and the

results are shown in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1

average
mass of sugar
height of bread / mm height of
/g
bread / mm
30 34 37 35
40 53 54 56 54.3
50 88 86 86.0
60 79 82 78
70 57 61 60.0

a Fill in the blanks in Table 3.1. [2]

b State what is the

(i) independent variable [1]

_________________________________________________________

(ii) dependent variable [1]

_________________________________________________________

c Suggest a conclusion of this experiment. [1]

_________________________________________________________

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2 Bad breath is caused by certain bacteria in the mouth.

During a science lesson, a student shared a personal experience about

bad breath. In the past, he used brand A of toothpaste to brush his
teeth two times a day and did not have bad breath. However, when he
changed to brand B of toothpaste, he began to have bad breath. The
class suggested that he carry out an investigation on the cause of his
bad breath.

a Identify the independent variable. [1]

_________________________________________________________

b Identify the dependent variable. [1]

_________________________________________________________

c Identify two variables which should remain constant in the student’s [2]
investigation.

3 The table below shows the results obtained from an experiment.

test volume of number of temperature time taken for

water similar ice of water (°C) the ice cubes to
(cm3) cubes melt completely
(s)

A 20 4 30 40

B 20 4 40 30

C 20 4 50 20

D 20 5 60 25

a Identify the following variables in this experiment. [2]

Independent variable (s): ____________________________________

Dependent variable (s): _____________________________________

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b Explain why the results of Test D should not be included. [1]

4 A student conducted an experiment. Fig.4.1 shows that the plants in

set-up Y grew better than the plants in set-up X.

Fig. 4.1

a What is the dependent (measured) variable in the experiment? [1]

_________________________________________________________

b What could be the likely reason why plants in set-up Y grew better? [1]
_________________________________________________________

5 The table below shows the results from an experiment.

Volume Time taken Temperature Rate of Mass

of water to dissolve of water (°C) stirring of salt
(cm3) the salt (s) (revolutions/s (g)
)
50 10 30 2 5
50 15 30 1 5
50 18 30 0.5 5

a State the variable that is changed in this experiment. [1]

_________________________________________________________

b Name one other variable that has to be kept constant besides what is [1]
shown in the table.
_________________________________________________________

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