Thank you for guiding us throughout this experiment. Happy holidays!

- Bridget

Thank you for helping us with this project! You're input was invaluable, have a wonderful thanksgiving and break!

-Summer

Thank you for guiding us and giving us advice throughout this whole experiment. We've learned so much from all of this! Have a happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season!

-Camille

Thank you to everyone for being such great teammates! This project went so smoothly that I have nothing to better to compare it to. I feel lucky with how this all came together. Thank you, Julie for helping us with everything and making suggestions to either make our project better or when we were stuck. I hope everyone enjoys their break, Happy Thanksgiving!

Saying one last goodbye from me <3

-Jemimah :)

Thank you all so much for being a part of our experiment and helping us with everything! We really enjoyed this project and this time together, and we're all so sad that it's coming to an end. Best wishes for you and your families! Happy Thanksgiving and have a great holiday season!

-Ava <3

Hi all!

Thank you for your hard work this session! It was a pleasure to work with you all and please let me know if you have any questions about science generally or future college/career questions if this topic has made you more interested in science moving forward.

Congratulations and have a lovely holiday season!

Julie

I was able to upload the graph as a file, thank you for telling me how to lol. We got some peer reviews on our lab writeup and the only thing we decided to add is our data table, which lists the number of soft spots, dark or green spots, and the smell for every potato, every day. I'll see if I can upload that as a file when we finish that too. 

Farewell and Best Wishes

As this research project is now in the final stages of wrapping-up, we wish to thank everyone who participated in this inquiry; the students, mentors, teachers and others behind the scenes. We appreciate all of your efforts and contributions to this online learning community.

Scientific exploration is a process of discovery that can be fun! There are many unanswered questions about plants just waiting for new scientists to consider, investigate, and share.

After the end of the session, we will be updating the platform and archiving groups and projects, after which time new updates/posts will not be able to be added to projects or groups. You have until Tuesday, November 24, 2020, to post ALL of your updates, comments, and goodbyes. Please come back and visit the PlantingScience Project Gallery anytime to view this project in the future. You can search the Gallery by keyword, team name, topic, or school name.

Good bye for now.

Warm regards,

The PlantingScience Team

Hi Julie! We just finished our first draft of the lab report, so here it is! We have a graph but I can't put it on here but it's ok because we already summarized our data pretty thoroughly.

The Effects of Different Types of Water on the Bacteria Growth on Potatoes

We did background research on potatoes and potato rot, and after having tried making bacteria on potatoes as suggested and guided by our instructor, we listed all the variables we could test individually; we decided on experimenting on types of water because it was the most convenient and had the most promising results. From our experiment, we found that potatoes surrounded by sugar water grow bacteria the fastest and the most gross, potatoes surrounded by tap water grow bacteria almost as bad but not as quickly as those with sugar water, and potatoes covered in salt water do not grow bacteria nearly as quickly or as much as those with sugar or tap water.

The purpose of this experiment is to study the correlation between bacteria growth on potatoes and the type of water that those potatoes are surrounded by. This experiment can be useful in the real world because it can help potato-owners prevent bacteria from growing on their potatoes.

Salt water generally heals wounds and helps skin close, because of this, it can be assumed that the saline water will keep its potatoes the least affected by the bacteria. In addition, salt absorbs moisture, which could also help prevent the growth of bacteria because bacteria needs to have damp surroundings to flourish. On the other hand, sugar tends to be something that promotes bacterial growth (ex. yeast), so it can be assumed that the sugar water will make its potatoes’ bacteria flourish the most. Therefore, the sugar water potatoes will also have the most changes in data. Lastly, the tap water for the tap water potatoes theoretically won’t do much to promote or minimize the bacteria growth for them because tap water is generally filtered pretty well.

The materials required for this experiment include, but are not limited to the following: eleven potatoes, preferably of the same type (one potato for harvesting inoculum, one to act as a control, three potatoes for the sugar water variable, three potatoes for the saline water variable, and three other potatoes for the tap water variable). Ziploc bags are used to contain the potato: one big bag for the inoculum potato, and ten smaller bags to contain the other ten potatoes. It is expected that the inoculum potato will smell bad, so a smell-proof container can be used to contain the smell until the inoculum is used. Toothpicks are used to poke each experiment potato with the inoculum. The various waters are the independent variables needed to run the experiment while the paper towels are dampened with each respective type of water. Finally, face masks and plastic gloves are necessary to prevent contamination-bacteria-from getting on the potatoes and making the results inaccurate.

To collect the bacteria, or inoculum, cut one potato in half and place it in a ziploc bag with 50 milliliters of tap water for 3 to 4 days so that the water becomes potato-rot-water (we recommend also placing the bag in a smell-proof container). After the bacteria (inoculum) has been collected, begin to inoculate the rest of the potatoes. There should be 3 potatoes for each water variation, and one for the control as well. Wash the potatoes with tap water (as one normally would) and dip the toothpick in the inoculum and inoculate the potatoes with the bacteria using a toothpick to poke 4 holes in each of the potatoes (one on each end and each side). Make sure to dip the toothpick everytime you poke another hole in the same potato. When poking another potato, use a different toothpick (to avoid any possible contamination). Wrap each potato in a paper towel that is damp with its respective water selection and place each in a ziploc bag. The salt water can be regular store-bought saline water or you can make 0.9% solution following any online instructions. The sugar water solution can be made with one half cup of water as the solvent and one half cup of sugar as the solute (the sugar will weigh approximately 100g); dissolve the sugar in the water over a stove. Collect data (dependent variable) every day. On the final day, cut open the potatoes to observe if the dark spots look different on the inside.

After finishing the 7-Day routine, the saline water potatoes smelled the least rancid when compared to the other groups of potatoes. The sugar potatoes had the nastiest however, and tap water potatoes were smack in-between. Aside from the graph (see below), with the data gathered in the chart, where the potatoes were recorded daily, the sugar potatoes obtained the bad smell the most quickly and were also the first group of potatoes to develop green spots, which were factors that we did not anticipate when we started this experiment. The saline potatoes changed the slowest and also were the only group of potatoes that stayed on the same number on the Smell-O-Meter for 2 consecutive days. Overall, our data supports our original hypothesis.

The sugar water made the bacteria of its three potatoes flourish the most compared to the bacteria growth of the other two water types tested. According to the observations, one of the sugar water potatoes had the strongest smell. The same one also had the darkest discoloured water around it and was very mushy. This evidence is also presented on the graph that’s titled, “The Effects of Different Types of Water on the  Bacteria Growth on Potatoes”. The bacteria in the sugar water potatoes developed faster because they reached a level 11 smell by day 6, so they reached the maximum level of the Smell-O-Meter first. On day two, they made the largest jump from 1 to 4 on the smell scale, while the saline water potatoes only went from a 1 to a 3 and the tap water potatoes only went from a 1 to a 2. One of the sugar water potatoes was the only potato to have dark discolored water; all the other potatoes had yellowish water if it was discolored.

We have also updated our conclusion above, which is basically exactly what we wrote in the report.

Thank you! Have a nice day and fabulous weekend!

Looks like you are in the final stages of your projects.

It’s great to see that teams from your school are wrapping up and posting conclusions. Enjoy the final stages of your project, and feel free to post any final comments or questions you have for your mentors.

Unfortunately, this session, we have a hard deadline of November 20, 2020, for final posts to be added, so please be sure to thank your fellow teammates soon!

Hello, 

We have updated our conclusion.

Thank you!

Hello!

We are currently working on our lab writeup, we will give it to you once we've finalized it. We will also give you our data and the pictures that our data collector has of the potatoes throughout the entire week of data collecting. We are very close to being done!

Thank you :)

Hi Julie!

    So we finished collecting data today, meaning we have an entire week’s worth of data, as we inoculated the potatoes last Friday. Here is a little summary of the results!

    The control potato, over the course of 7 days of observation, only reached a level 2 smell (which is really not that bad) and only acquired one tiny little soft spot.

    On Day 1, one of the tap water potatoes had one soft spot on the area it was poked, but other than that, no soft or dark spots on any of them, and the smell was level 1. A large green spot appeared on one of the potatoes and a large soft spot on another on Day 3, giving them all a level 6 smell. Finally, on Day 7 (today), the paper towels obtained a “highlighter yellow” color and all of the potatoes are extremely soft and squishy, drowning in yellow fluid. Samanta described one of the potatoes as “basically decomposed.” As of today, the tap water potatoes have acquired a level 11 smell, the highest on our Smell-O-Meter, which represents “worse than you thought anything could ever smell. ever.”

    Moving on to the saline water potatoes! On Day 1, these potatoes all had soft spots where they were poked, with a level 1 smell, and only one potato had an extra soft spot. On Day 2, the first potato acquired one dark spot and another acquired three dark spots, both giving off a level 3 smell. Today, Day 7, the saline potatoes have a level 8 smell, all have a lot of squishy spots (but not enough that the potatoes are falling apart), and they have yellowish-brown fluid pooling in the bags; apparently a bug was attracted to one of the potatoes!

    Lastly, the sugar water potatoes! On Day 1, two of the potatoes had softish spots where they were poked, but still had a level 1 smell. The first green spots developed on Day 2, on all three potatoes. The third potato smelled about 2 or 3 levels worse than the others for Days 3 - 6. And on the final day, Day 7, the first sugar potato is the only one that isn’t covered in gross fluids and has no soft spots, the second potato had the same one soft spot and wasn’t too squishy, but the third potatoes was “the worst” according to Samanta, was completely squishy, looked like it might have shrunk, and was covered in dark brown fluid; all the sugar potatoes have reached a level 11 smell today.

    We gave Samanta permission to ditch the potatoes today because they really stunk up the place. Now we just have to work on our lab report, filling in the details about the data and such. Let us know if you want us to give you some more data or if there’s something we should elaborate on!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Hello!

According to what we currently have on our data, the sugar water potatoes seem to be the ones changing the most, while the saline water potatoes seem to be changing the least. For example, according to our data collector, the sugar water potatoes have the worst smell (7 out of 11 on our "Smell-O-Meter" ) so far. While the saline water potatoes have the least horrible smell (4 out of 11 on our "Smell-O-Meter") as of right now. For the tap water, it has a 6 out of 11 last we checked.

Thank you!

Hello,

We have updated the predictions and experimental design.

Thank you, Happy Friday!

Hello,

We have updated the predictions and experimental design.

Thank you, Happy Friday!

Hello,

For our team, some previous assignments we had were: we were tasked to get inoculum from one potato (never washed) by cutting the potato in half and putting it in a ziploc bag with some tap water (no measurement, but it wasn't enough to completely surround the potato). The water was left to collect bacteria from that cut potato for a week. Then we got a second potato and inoculated it with inoculum from the first potato. The second potato was first washed with tap water, put in 10% bleach solution for 30 mins, left to dry, then was inoculated with the inoculum from the first potato. I dipped a toothpick in the inoculum and poked the second potato. I did those 4 times. Then I wrapped it with a paper towel that was soaked in tap water. The second potato was left to let the bacteria grow for 3 days.

Now, our research question is basically, “Would a different type of water affect the growth of bacteria on the potato?” We were thinking of running the part for potato one we told you about above with different types of water (such as deionized, tap, saline, etc.). We were wondering if you had any ideas on how we would be able to measure the growth of the bacteria (besides just how strong the smell is) given our situation with online school.

Thank you.

Hello, 

I think there was a communication error, can you please guide us to which of these research questions we came up with is the most realistic to do at home due to our current situation caused by the pandemic. We are trying to decide which is best to center our experiment on and we would simply like your input. Once we have our research question, we will be asking more helpful questions for our experiment rather than straightforward ones that would invalidate making an experiment in the first place. Thank you and sorry for the confusion. Have a nice day.

Hello, Ms. Julie

Are you able to answer our research questions? Preferably all of them. We are trying to pick which of them are best to use to decide what our overall experiment is going to be. We would appreciate your input.

Thank you.

We have updated the Explore and Research Question sections, so you are welcome to look at them now.

For observations on the potato today (the last day), the potato smelled like bad tap water and the places that were poked with the toothpick that had the inoculum were brown. But the rest of the potato seemed pretty normal. There was one part (that was poked with the inoculum) that was mushy.

Hello,

Update: I have inoculated the 2nd potato yesterday at around 7:15 pm. Making sure to poke it 4 times on 4 different sides. I have still have some inoculum left from the from the first potato and I put in more water in the original bag of the first potato just in case we need more.

Hi, I'm Summer, I'm in 10th grade, I help organize the team and make sure there are materials to let everyone know where we are in the project and who needs to do what. My favorite plants (well, it's more of a love-hate relationship) are the capsicum family because I did a two year project with them at the end of middle school looking at the capsaicin synthase gene and it's promoter region. I like to knit and I love Halloween (seriously, decoration and costume fabrication start in June), 2000's pop punk, and Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Hello, I am Jemimah. An 11th grader that likes to draw. I have started the inoculum for the potato. You're welcome for the update :)

Hello my name is Bridget, I'm in my junior year of high school. I am the team manager for this project. Some of my hobbies are drawing and listening to music.

Hello! My name is Camille and I am an 11th grader. I am the recorder for this project. I like to play basketball, video games, and I also like to go hiking. 

Howdy, I'm Ava, and I'm a junior. I like to read fantasy and dystopian books, create bullet journal spreads, and watch movies (I'm very artistic and I like aesthetic things, if you can't tell). I am a huge fan of this band called Why Don't We, you should definitely check them out. I really like plants, ironically, especially plumeria and bird-a-paradise. I travel a lot and I'm a pretty well-rounded person. I am the Project Manager, so basically, I'm in charge of productivity.

Hello, I am Jemimah, I'm an 11th grader that likes to draw and play video games in my free time. I am a Reflector, so I am in charge of making sure that the details we put in the project are going fine. I also make sure that the team is working well overall, especially with each other.

Hi! My name is Samanta and I'm an 11th grader! I really like drawing and watching anime, and my favorite music band right now is The Honeysticks, with Mother Mother being a close second. Aside from that I'm also going to start taking electronic guitar lessons so I can start making my own music! That's about it for me, I'm also the group speaker/presenter! :D

Hi all!

My name is Julie and I will be your mentor this session! Thank you so much for your introductions; it is great to learn you all have such diverse and interesting interests outside of school, but that a lot of y'all have hobbies that definitely overlap with science and botany. I am a graduate student in Nebraska and I study the effects of an invasive tree species in the grasslands of the Great Plains and the effects it may have on the soil. This tree changes the ecosystem services of the region (have you all learned about ecosystem services?) and can be really harmful to the native species, but my work looks at seeing if legacies of the tree remain even after removing this tree to try to help these grasslands. Has the tree fundamentally changed the soil chemistry and microbiology? If so, does this make it easier for this tree species to re-invade these grasslands? These are the questions I am attempting to answer.

How was setting up your plants? Do you know what experiment you will be pursuing?

Have a great week!

Julie

Hi everybody!

I am the liason for this group. I will be keeping track of the progress of projects and providing help when needed along the way. I am a masters student working with stone fruit trees. Those are the fruit trees that have pits in the fruit (e.g. peaches, plums, cherries). I am working with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Brock University to do my research. My research deals with identifying viruses that are killing and harming stone fruit trees in the Niagara region of Canada. I also look at the genetics of these viruses. I have seen a lot of sick plants in my work and it has really opened my eyes. This is a really great topic and I hope I can help everybody learn how important it is. 

A little bit about me outside of science, my favourite plant is Lamprocapnos spectabilis also known as bleeding heart. I enjoy hiking in my free time but in Canada that season is very short. The rest of the year, I like to read with a candle burning in my free time. 

I am looking forward to working with all of you this session!

Welcome to your PlantingScience project page!

Welcome to this community of plant researchers. As your team plans and conducts your own research project, you will be mentored by a scientist. The mentor's role is to encourage and guide you through the process of scientific discovery. The more you share your ideas and research information online, the more your mentor can help. You can also find out more about your mentor. What is their research about? Why did they go into science? What do they like to do when they are not working?

You may also hear from this classroom’s assigned scientist liaison. Liaisons work with several mentors and help make sure the conversations are going strong. They may also offer some extra advice or encouragement.

Two resources can help you get started:

• Student Roadmap
• Plant Investigation Toolkit

Best wishes as you start this scientific journey. We are all pleased to share this experience with you. Have fun!

To set up your project page:

• Choose your project team name. Need inspiration? Visit the project gallery to see other student teams.
• Upload a photo or avatar for your team.
• Introduce yourselves to your scientist mentor and get the conversation started!
• PLEASE ONLY CLICK "Share with team" ONCE. Sometimes the page takes a little while to refresh, so please be patient!
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