| Explore | What do we know about plants from our experiences outside of school? What have we discovered in class and background research? What questions about plants interest us? From outside of school, I know plants from typically gardening and that they can grow asexually. Each plant has its own needs with some requiring more sun or more water while some need less (hence the difference of house plants and outdoor plants). When crops become a monoculture, diseases that affect the credibility of the reproduction of the plants can ravage entire food supplies, as happened with bananas in the fifties and more famously with the Irish Potato Famine. Diseases can also occur like parasites, like in the case of Broomrape, where energy and nutrients are siphoned. In class, I know that plants can get sick too by becoming infected with diseases; this can cause the plant to grow and act differently by means of turning a different color (brown usually) and dying. Questions about plants that interest us: Do plant diseases tend to go on the cellular level and reproduce like animal diseases or are they generally attacking one part of the plant? Are the diseases hereditary or, in the cases of plant sexual reproduction, transferable through pollination? How do genders with plants work? Do all plants have genders? If not, why not? |
|---|---|
| Research Question | What do we want to test or study? How did we come up with the question(s). How does the question fit what we know about the topic? Test/Study: -Bacteria affecting potato --Color/size/smell change Questions? -How does the bacteria affect the potato size/smell/color/weight etc.? -Does the pH of a potato change when introduced to bacteria? * * * * -How does the bacteria affect the weight of the potato? -How does this question fit what we know about the topic? -We know from collective observation that the bacteria makes the potato smaller -We know from the class that most potatoes act similarly under the same conditions -The pH of the potato must of changed because its scent changed (which correlates to acidity or alkaline) Final Question: How (if so) does pH of a potato change when introduced to bacteria at different depths? |
| Predictions | The pH of the infected potato will decrease causing it to be more basic than acidic. This is because if there is a microorganism from the bacteria leeching on the potato, it would need nutrients and energy from the potato to survive which causes the amount of starch to decrease. Starch is a weak acid, so if the amount of starch decreases, then it would become more basic. |
| Experimental Design | All of this is included in the file section titled "Experimental Design - Planting Science" |
| Conclusion | The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the infection of a potato will affect its pH (since the pH of the potato can affect the soil it’s growing in). The pH of the potato does not change when it is infected. Since it does not change, it therefore does not support our hypothesis. The pH of the controlled potato and the pH of the infected potato remained at a pH of 5.5 throughout the 2 week experiment. The size of the potato did not change throughout the experiment (remained the same length and width). Signs of bacterial infection were shown as the color, and scent changed, and the areas of injection started to grow bacteria. An infection is when an effect (a person, organism, cell, etc.) is formed within a disease-causing organism. Typical symptoms with infections of potatoes include tissues appearing brown and collapsed, often with a white, pinkish, or yellow fungal growth, which may extend into the center of the tuber. Along with that, the color of the potatoes appeared to turn green which lines up with a type of potato infection called soft rot: soft rot is when the oxygen in the tuber is rapidly replaced by high levels of carbon dioxide, causing stress on the tuber which will lead to an infection causing the potato to possibly become softer and change color. All signs show that our infected potatoes did experience some kind of infection. However, throughout the two week period, our pH remained the same pH of 5.5 and the length and width of both infected potatoes, 6 ½ cm by 4 ½ cm and 9 cm by 6 ½ cm, respectively. Therefore, since the potato did not change in size and in pH, and showed all signs of a soft rot potato infection, the pH of a potato does not change when it is infected. |
| Investigation Theme | PGST |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| School Name | California Academy of Mathematics and Science |
| Session | Fall 2020 |