Spillover (experiment)

Imagine you are at a birthday party and you have a big bowl of candy that you are sharing with your friends.

Now, let's say that you accidentally drop some candy outside of the bowl onto the floor. This candy has "spilled over" from the bowl onto the floor.

In a scientific experiment, "spillover" can refer to something that wasn't part of the original plan or experiment, but it still affects or influences the results.

For example, let's say scientists wanted to study the impact of fertilizer on plant growth in a garden. They would put fertilizer on some plants and water on others to see how they grew differently. But, there might be other factors that "spill over" into the experiment, like the amount of sunlight or the type of soil. These factors are not part of the original experiment but can still affect the results.

Scientists have to be careful to control all the possible factors that could "spill over" and influence their experiment. This helps them make sure that they can trust their results and that they're really learning what they want to learn.