Experimental Hypothesis: 

• If the temperature of the water decreases past room temperature, then the respiration rate will decrease.

Null Hypothesis: 

• If the temperature of the water decreases past room temperature, then the respiration rate will not decrease. 

Independent Variable: 

• The independent variable is the temperature of the water. This is the manipulated variable because  originally the temperature will be at standard room temperature and eventually will decrease. 

Dependent Variable: 

• The dependent variable will be the respiration rate of the fish. This acts as the responding variable because when the temperature changes the respiration rate should change as well. If all goes as planned, the respiration rate should lower as the temperature decreases. 

Control:

• The importance of the control is to use as a basis of comparison. In my experiment, the control group will be when the fish are in standard room temperature water. This serves as the normal environment. This control group will eventually be compared to the data collected when the water temperature is lowered. 

Constants:

• The constants in my experiment were the amount of water in the bowls, the size of the bowls, the areas the bowls were in, amount of food they were given, and amount of ice cubes that were put in the bowl. Constants are just other variables. In a controlled experiement, the variable that is different is the variable that is being tested in the hypothesis. If more than one variable were to be different, then the experiment would not have been as accurate. Constants also are used as comparing factors.