| Explore | We are The Curious Cannonball Flowers. Over the years, our group has learned a variety of things about plants and the germination of those plants. In fact, many of us have plants and flowers growing at our homes. Our group knows has learned a lot about plants from learning about them in school to discovering them around our houses. In class, we have discovered many things about plant germination and reproduction. In sixth grade, we became familiar with the process and creation of irrigation. We also learned about physical geography and where most plants can and cannot be found. One of our group's questions is that do some plants grow better with other plants, same or different type, surrounding them? We know that sunflowers and daisies like to grow in patches when they are with more flowers of the same kind. Our group wonders if that is the same for other plants and flowers. |
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| Research Question | What will happen and the difference between the growth of plants watered with different amounts of salt water? This question may help show if salt helps or damages the growth of food plants. |
| Predictions | The plants will be majorly affected by the different types of watering strategies. The amount of salt water will affect the growth period the plants take to grow. Using corn and soybeans will show what food plant will grow quickest in an environment with salt water. The complete prediction is that the corn will grow best in the salt water following with the soybeans which will be second. |
| Experimental Design | First, the pots that you will use will be filled with one cup of soil each. Four of the pots will have corn seeds and four will have soybean seeds. To start, the corn seed pots are going to have 2 corn seeds each. The soybean seed pots are going to have 3 soybean seeds each. The first thing to do is to plant the seeds. After planting the seeds, you have to water them regularly. For the soybeans, plant them 1.5 inches below the surface of the soil. Also, plant the seeds about 2 inches apart. For the soybeans, they need 35 mL of water. One of the pots will have 17.5 grams of salt mixed with 50 mL of water. The second pot will have 8.75 grams of salt mixed with 50 mL of water. The third pot will have 4.4 grams of salt with 50 mL of water. The last pot will just have 50 mL of water. This watering process will continue and the plants will be watered like this continuously. For the corn, the seeds need to be 1.5 inches deep and 4 inches apart from each other. They will need 50 mL of water every day. You will continue watering these plants with the same method for a long period of time. One of the pots will have 17.5 grams of salt mixed with 50 mL of water. The second pot will have 8.75 grams of salt mixed with 50 mL of water. The third pot will have 4.4 grams of salt with 35 mL of water. The last pot will just have 50 mL of water. Keeping track of the growth of the plants will help to see how the plants react to growing with salt water. You can put the container lids under the pots to drain the water. |
| Conclusion | I did a project about plant salinity with corn and soybeans. My hypothesis is that the plants will be majorly affected by the different types of watering strategies. The amount of salt water will affect the growth period the plants take to grow. Using corn and soybeans will show what food plant will grow quickest in an environment with salt water. The complete prediction is that the corn will grow best in the salt water following with the soybeans which will be second. My prediction was supported because more corn plants grew than soybean plants. All the corn plants grew and for the soybeans, ¼ of the pots had sprouted. The only soybean that grew was the control pot which had no salt in it, just water. The corn plant control also grew taller than the soybean plant control. That is what I discovered, and therefore, my prediction was correct. To continue, my data showed that two of the corn plants that were not the controls were the first ones to sprout. Then both of the controls sprouted on the same day. The data showed that only ½ of my plants grew. Out of the two controlling plants, the corn plant grew taller by almost 100 mm. With our graphs, we measured in millimeters and we measured every single day except for weekends for 17 days straight. To continue, for the corn plants, we discovered that the corn plant with 4.4 grams of salt grew almost as tall as the control. Lastly, on our graph, 3 of our plants grew 0 mm for all the 17 days which was the other 3 soybean plants that were not the control. We found these results by watering corn and soybean plants with different amounts of water being 0 grams of salt, 4.4 grams of salt, 8.75 grams of salt, and 17.5 grams of salt. I think that the soybean plants did not grow because they did not like the salt water and had way too much salt to be able to grow. Next, at the beginning of our project, our plants were left in a sink which was used before we could move them so some of them may have died from that. I think that if we had not left them in a sink then they would have been fine. I think we should have also used not as much salt which would have meant that the soybean plants might have had a chance to grow. To conclude, I would like to investigate more about why the soybean plants did not grow in the salt water. Knowing this will tell me why the soybeans did not grow and maybe I can try them again to see if they grow. We should repeat the experiment to see if the soybeans grow with less salt. Our planting science project was a fun experiment to do. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Grade Level | Middle School Students (grades 6,7,8) |
| School Name | Nottingham School |
| Session | Spring 2019 |