Graphing practice worksheet showing time in seconds vs. distance in centimeters for a science experiment.

Let’s solve this step by step.

We are told that Marie and Seth are measuring how far leaves travel in a rain runoff channel over time. They record data every 2 seconds, up to 20 seconds.

The table shows:

- Time in Seconds (this is what they control — they choose when to measure)
- Distance in cm (this changes based on how much time has passed)

In science experiments:
- The independent variable is the one you change or control on purpose.
- The dependent variable is the one that responds — it depends on the independent variable.

Here, they decide to measure at 2s, 4s, 6s, etc. So Time is the independent variable.

The distance the leaf travels *depends* on how long it’s been floating. So Distance is the dependent variable.

That means for question “b. What is the dependent variable?” — the answer is Distance in cm.

Now, for creating the line graph:

You need to plot:
- X-axis (horizontal): Independent Variable → Time in Seconds
- Y-axis (vertical): Dependent Variable → Distance in cm

Label both axes clearly.

Choose a scale that fits all the data:
- Time goes from 2 to 20 → so x-axis can go from 0 to 20, maybe mark every 2 units.
- Distance goes from 5.5 to 54.3 → so y-axis should go from 0 to at least 55, maybe mark every 5 or 10 units.

Plot each point from the table:
(2, 5.5), (4, 11.8), (6, 16.4), (8, 22.2), (10, 27.5), (12, 33.3), (14, 38.6), (15, 44.0), (18, 49.1), (20, 54.3)

Then connect the points with straight lines (since it’s a line graph).

Add a title like: “Distance Traveled by Leaf Over Time”

Make sure your graph has:
✔ Title
✔ Labeled x-axis (“Time in Seconds”)
✔ Labeled y-axis (“Distance in cm”)
✔ Points plotted correctly
✔ Lines connecting the points

Final Answer:
b. The dependent variable is Distance in cm.

For the graph: Create a line graph with Time (seconds) on the x-axis and Distance (cm) on the y-axis, plotting all given points and connecting them with lines. Include axis labels and a title.