Raya is a gardening enthusiast who is looking to buy a new house. She wonders whether her house plants will grow well if she buys an apartment on a higher floor. She remembers that her friend Jenn also has a small garden on her balcony, and her plants seem healthy. Raya conducts an experiment to study the effect of altitude on the growth of plants. She gathers plant samples and places them on five different floors of a 20-story building. Identify the basic components of Raya's experiment, including the confounding variable.

1. Independent variable - the altitude

2. Dependent variable - the growth of plants

3. Constant variable - the amount of water and nutrients

4. Confounding variable: the storeys of the building.

Explanation:

The basic components of a scientific experiment are the types of variables included in the experiment which are dependent (to be studied), independent (can be changed) and the constant variables (remain same).

The experiment is also influenced by another variable called confounding variable which directly influence these basic variables and can cause or produce the useless results in an experiment.

In the given question,

1. Independent variable - the altitude

2. Dependent variable - the growth of plants

3. Constant variable - the amount of water and nutrients

4. Confounding variable: the storeys of the building.

The basic components (depedent and indepedent variables) are the plants and altitude while the confounding variable is the 20 story building. Confounding variables affect the experiement variable and are mainly outside of the researcher's control in the experiment. Ray cannot change the building but this variable can affect the depedent and indepedent variables and cause distorted or spurious results.