what is the dependent variable in science

In science, a dependent variable is the variable that changes as a result of the independent variable manipulation. It is the outcome that is being tested in a scientific experiment and what is affected during the experiment. In other words, it is the variable that depends on the independent variable. Dependent variables are also called response variables, outcome variables, or left-hand-side variables. For example, if you are interested in how stress affects heart rate in humans, your independent variable would be the stress, and the dependent variable would be the heart rate.