Need help with science homework: What is the control group for the following scenario:?

Which paper towel is more absorbent?





what is the control group for this experiment?





please only answer if you truly know the answer.|||the control group will be the towel that ur focused on. like u have towels a,b,c,d, and e. a is the CG and u want to see how well b,c,d, and e absorb compared to a...|||In order to measure the relative absorbancy of different paper towels you need to make each type of paper towel it's own control.





For each type of paper towel:-


*Weigh it dry.


*Then place it on a wet surface and allow it to absorb as much water as it can, say 2 minutes (the time must be the same for each towel and the same amount of water must be used to wet the same area of the surface in each case).


*Allow excess water to drain off by holding the towel up by one corner for, say 30 seconds (again the time and the way you hold the towel must be the same each time)


*Re-weigh the towel.


*The Percentage increase in weight between wet and dry will give you the amount of water absorbed relative to the original dry weight of the towel.


*The towel with the greatest percentage increase in weight is the most absorbant in terms of the amount of water that it can absorb for any given mass of paper towel.





In this experiment the control group consists of the dry paper towels before absorbing water.|||The question cannot accurately be answered with the information you have provided.





I completely disagree with the answer that the control is the towel you "focus on."





The question asked is which is the MOST absorbent, not which is more absorbent than any particular one. This experiment needs NO control. You simply measure how much a towel absorbs, or how fast it absorbs. Your results will be ABSOLUTE measurements, and the towes are simply ranked from "most absorbent" to "least absorbent."





In this case, this is not really an experiment, it is a test for performance. Imagine the question, "Which car is faster, Mustang or Camero?" The answer is "Depends." How fast does it get from zero to sixty mph? How quick can it reach a distance of 1/4 mile? How soon can each car go around a three mile road course? How quickly can each car reach the top of Pike's Peak?





The answer to each of these questions may result in a different car being named the "fastest." To make this test a proper experiment, YOU have to pick a condition which will be the control. For instance, how fast do the vehicles go from zero to sixty. You run several races, different times of day, road conditions, using multiple stop watches, different drivers,etc.





You log the results. The only thing constant is that the time logged is at the point the cars reach sixty mph. THIS is the control.





For your towel experiment, you may choose a time factor, as well. How much water does each towel absorb in twenty seconds. You run several trials for each brand of towel and log the results. The consistant, twenty second time is the control.





Or, you may change the experiment to ask, how long does the towel take to absorb 1/4 cup of water. The carefully measured, 1/4 cup is the control.





In other words, YOU have to name the control as part of the question.