Question

the passage below describes an experiment.

image of a tomato plant labeled a tomato plant

winston worked in a restaurant that had a vegetable garden. part of his job was to care for the tomato plants. he had heard that pruning, or trimming, tomato plants can help tomatoes grow. he wondered if pruning would affect how well his tomato plants grew. winston chose twenty - four tomato plants that were similar in size. he pruned two branches from each of the first eight plants and four branches from each of the next eight plants. he left the other eight plants unpruned. then, each week, winston weighed the tomatoes that he picked from each group of plants.

in this experiment, which were part of an experimental group?

the unpruned tomato plants

the tomato plants with two pruned branches

Explanation:

In an experiment, the experimental group is the one exposed to the independent variable (pruning here). The unpruned plants are the control group. The plants with two pruned branches (and also those with four) are experimental as they receive the pruning treatment. So the tomato plants with two pruned branches are part of the experimental group.

Answer:

the tomato plants with two pruned branches