| Explore | All seeds contain a diploid embryo and a food supply. The diploid embryo contains the root, the stem, and the leaf, which are called cotyledons. Most of the seeds have a shell that is called a seed coat. Dicots (plants with two cotyledons) store their energy reserves in their leaves. Monocots (plants with only one cotyledon) store their energy reserves in a separate endosperm (food supply). The germination process begins with imbibition, which is when a dry seed absorbs water. The water seeps in and activates the enzymes in the embryo allowing it to use its food supply to fuel early growth. The roots begin to grow downwards, and the stem and cotyledons sprout, growing towards the sun and shedding the seed coat. Primary growth happens when the cells differentiate and divide, allowing the stem to elongate and the roots to deepen. The requirements for germination to occur are the correct temperature, enough water, the correct environment, and sunlight. The necessities for germination differentiate depending on the genetic makeup of the plant. |
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| Research Question | How does the type of liquid affect the germination of the seed? |
| Predictions | If we change the liquid, then water will do the best while the alcohol in the hand sanitizer will kill the seed. This is because the water is the thing that a plant needs to grow and the alcohol in the hand sanitizer will kill the seed. |
| Experimental Design | Control: Amount of light, water, and temperature of water and area Independent Variable: Type of liquid Dependent Variable: Growth of plant at the end of a week. 1. Collect materials. Materials: 50 buckwheat seeds, 5 paper towels, 5 plastic bags, beef broth, carbonated water, water, hand sanitizer, and apple juice. We will also use a grow light. 2. Place 5 paper towels into five plastic bags. 3. Place 10 seeds in each bag. 4. Soak each paper towel in a different liquid. One for water, one for carbonated water, one for hand sanitizer, one for apple juice, and the last one for beef broth. 5. water each bag with 5 ml of the designated liquid each day. 6. Check the growth and progress of each group of seeds every day for 7 days (one week) 7. At the end of the week, measure the growth of the seeds. |
| Conclusion | Claim: Watering seeds with Carbonated water makes them grow better. Evidence: Carbonated water had a average measurement of 6.9 centimeters. Hand Sanitizer grew the worst, heck it didn’t even grow at all. Apple juice was second worse with beef broth being second best. Water didn’t have a proper measurement, but I estimate that it would’ve been second best. Anyway, the comparison of lengths between the 2nd worst (Apple Juice) and the best (Carbonated Water) was 6.3 centimeters! All of this data is telling me that my claim is correct! Reasoning: The carbon molecules in carbon dioxide (the thing that makes water fizzy) are what helps the seed watered with Carbonated Water grow so much more than the other seeds, because carbon is one of the nutrients that plants need to grow. Also the reason the beef broth watered seed grew more than the apple juice is because the roots of the seeds can filter out most of the salt in the liquid they take in! Fascinating! Though sugar is another nutrient plants need to grow, there is way to much processed sugar in the juice, plants need a refined, simple sugar called Glucose, instead. Hand Sanitizer did not grow at all. This is expected because the liquid is to thick, and even if it did manage to soak into the seed, the alcohol in the Sanitizer would kill off the plant, and as a matter of fact, it did. So our claim and our prediction are correct based on our reasoning and findings. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Teacher Name | Kristen Stiem |
| School Name | DeWitt Middle School |
| Session | Spring 2021 |
| About this Project | They're quite structured in collecting and presenting data and can also be creative by showing their data under different perspectives. |