Plant+Experiments!



Basic Plan--**What are you planning to do?** Get about 20 small plants of the same kind (kale?). Put them in 4 differently lighted environments and monitor how (if) differently they grow over time. Put 5 plants in each room- in the science lab with full sunlight, in the back room in the shade, in a fully black room, in the grow lights room. :) "**Grand Idea**"--What is an important/interesting problem that relates to your investigation? The idea of this experiment is to see how differently the same kind of plants can grow in different lights. Do they grow better? Worse? Are they shorter? Greener? This is interesting because later I could see how this works for different plants, and challenge the basic idea that plants grow best with natural sun. Dependent Variable Name: Growth What instrument will you use to make your measurements? A ruler, and a scale. I will measure the growth of a one marked stem, and I will weigh it. What units will your measurements be in? cm for the stem, grams for the weight. What do you expect the uncertainty in these measurements to be? +/- 0.1 for the cm because the ruler goes 1.1 1.2 1.3, etc. and +/- 0.01 for the weight because the scale goes 111.11, it goes to 2 decimal points. Independent Variable Name: Amount of sun/Intensity of light. What instrument will you use to make measurements of this variable? Light sensors. What units will your measurements be in? What do you expect the uncertainty in these measurements to be? -Sun light -Shaded area -Dark cupboard/box/room -Grow room lights -20 pots -Seeds for 20 pots -Ruler -Scale -Beaker -Water SET UP: Set up 5 plants in the dark room, 5 plants in the sunlight, 5 plants in the grow room, 5 plants in the shade.(plant 5 seeds in each container). Light sensor each area for the appropriate amount of time to measure the amount/intensity of light. 1. Use the light sensor to measure the light intensity in the dark room, the grow room. Monitor with the light sensor all day in the shade and full sunlight to monitor changes throughout the day. Record results. 2. Set up 5 plants in the dark room, 5 plants in the sunlight, 5 plants in the grow room, 5 plants in the shade.(plant 5 seeds in each container) 3. Water each of them with the appropriate amount of water. Record that amount of water. 4. Weigh each of them after water and record each weight. 5. WAIT FOR THEM TO GROW. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until stems grow, then measure them. I am expecting that each plant will grow differently with their light source. I believe the plant in the dark will not grow very much, and each time it does grow it will die very quickly. I think the one in the shade also won't grow very well, but it will grow if I water it enough. I believe the one in natural sunlight will grow quite well compared to the others, and the on in the grow lights will grow the best. However, the one in grow lights may not survive that well because it will dry out very easily and I can't really add more water. However, the one in sunlight won't dry out as easy and the amount of water will be sufficient.**
 * Dependent variable**
 * Independent variable**
 * Variables to Control** Amount of water given to each plant. I will always measure the amount of water in a beaker and put the same amount so it won't effect the weight of the plant more than another.
 * Materials and Setup** For my materials I need:
 * Procedure**
 * Background Understanding and Expectations


 * Data Table** EXAMPLE:
 * DAY 1 || Height (cm) || Weight (g) ||
 * sun ||  ||   ||
 * dark ||  ||   ||
 * shade ||  ||   ||
 * lights ||  ||   ||
 * DAY 2 ||  ||   ||
 * sun ||  ||   ||
 * dark ||  ||   ||
 * shade ||  ||   ||
 * lights ||  ||   ||
 * DAY 3 ||  ||   ||
 * sun ||  ||   ||
 * dark ||  ||   ||
 * shade ||  ||   ||
 * lights ||  ||   ||
 * DAY 4 ||  ||   ||
 * sun ||  ||   ||
 * dark ||  ||   ||
 * shade ||  ||   ||
 * lights ||  ||   ||