The independent variable or the one that is intentionally manipulated is

Answer

temperature, acidity, mineral composition, and surface area.

for the dependent variable, the one you measure the response in: percentage of mass remaining.

when jerome paddle in flowing river towards east the net speed of jerome will increase

so the net speed of jerome will be given as

now the speed of paul will be same as it is given as he is running on the ground

so

so here we can say since the speed of jerome is more so he will win the race

now as we know the distance so the time difference is given as

so jerome will reach first and the time difference will be 203.55 s or 3.4 min