A scientist conducted an experiment to test the hypothesis that maple seeds exposed to acid rain will take longer to germinate than seeds exposed to normal rain, which has a pH of 5.6. The scientist setup four groups, each containing 200 maple seeds. The water used for each group had a different pH value: 5.6, 4.0, 3.0, and 2.0. All other conditions were kept the same. After ten days, the number of seeds that had germinated in each group was counted. - Identify the dependent variable in this experiment. *