When you are performing an experiment, you need to compare different results this is where the control comes in. For example if you want to determine if plants grow better in distilled water or Gatorade, you will set up a plant in which you feed only distilled water, one in which you fed only Gatorade and then the control, regular water as this is the norm and what your other experiments will be looked at against.What exactly is a controlled variable in an experiment?
Controlled variables are external elements that can effect the results in an unwanted way, which have been removed throughout the research process. For example, extraneous noise could affect the performance or concentration of research participants, and therefore must be removed in order for the results to be valid. Unfortunately OMartinez, you are thinking of control and experimental groups.
the control variable is exactly that: controlled.
That is the variable that is in its natural environment, and it is compared to the other varibles...
like in that other guys example, he was correct: the ';control'; is the plant growing in regular water. if you want to test the effects of different substances fueling the growth of a plant, you would use other liquids....he used gatorade and distilled water... you dont know what would happen to the uncontrolled variables, you need something to compare their results to. that is where the control is useful. you know the control is normal and how the plant shuold grow normally, the gatorade might accellerate the growth, and the distilled water might deteriorate the growth, but you know what is normal. you control the environments of the testing subjects... plants in this case.
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