| Explore | Hello, I’m Luke, I’m not very fond of planting. Some plants are tasty and some make me breathe so I'm ok with plants. Hello, I’m Jazzlyn, I have a good amount of experience with planting. My family and I don’t exactly have a farm but you could consider it. We have multiple vegetable patches at the edge of our front lawn and magnolia trees separating them. The vegetable patches include cucumbers, bittermelon, peas, long beans, garden beans, eggplant, kale, zucchini, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, corn, radishes, and beets. On the side of the patches, we have raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and zinnias. On the inner edge of the patches we have sunflowers, the outer edge has more sunflowers and zinnias. We have multiple fruit trees in the middle of the lawn and practically anywhere you can think of. We have peaches, apples, pears, and cherries. On the other side of our driveway, there is a patch of garlic. On the outer edge of that patch, there are flowers. We have many herb beds on the right side of our property, lavender beds, and more fruit trees. In our backyard, we have more fruit trees, inedible bananas, and more herb pots in the ground. In addition, we have many hydrangeas surrounding our house. To finish off, we have many beautiful flowers scattered throughout the property. Inside we have many plants such as snake plants and pothos. Thus my family and I have a big green thumb. I don’t have any questions about plants but I’m sure I will think of something, eventually. Hi, I’m Quinn, I have a garden, and some of the vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and other plants were transplanted to our yard by my family and me. I also have lots of houseplants, because there is a greenhouse to which we often go. We also have a quince bush, a variety of trees, acres, because they are in conservation land, pachysandra, and hay in a field. Hello, I’m Mackenzie, I have a garden with some flowers, vegetables, and many other unique plants. I plant with my parents sometimes and we have many tasty fruits. We have a few apple trees and a peach tree in our yard. I have many houseplants and we grow some medicinal herbs. Notes about Plants -Some plants are dangerous -Plants give us oxygen -Plants receive nutrients through photosynthesis -Seeds are dormant, not alive nor dead-kind of like hibernation -Some plants have seeds in vegetation Questions: -How does the pH of the soil affect the color of a plant? -How do leaves form? -How does the mass of different plants vary? -Why do leaves have different shapes? -Why do plants have different shapes? -Are seeds alive? Yes, What do living things need? -Growth, development, respiration, nutrients, metabolism, homeostasis, movement, -What do seeds need to grow? Sunlight, water, soil sometimes -How much water do plants need? Depends on the plant and the environment it is in -How does moss grow? Does it grow the same way as other plants? |
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| Research Question | Can corn grow if watered with water that has salt dissolved in it? We are interested to help agriculture in areas with less rainwater and more brackish water. We hope to figure out a solution for this problem by asking this question and testing it. |
| Predictions | We think that the roots will shrivel up and rot in the 0.8g salt concentration, it will not grow as big or as fast as it would in the 0.4g salt concentration, and it will grow pretty well in the .1g salt concentration. We think that the control with no salt will grow the best. These concentrations are what we are watering each time. |
| Experimental Design | Materials: Salt: .8 times three=2.4 .4 times three=1.2 .1times three=.3 12 pots ¾ cup of soil per pot (times twelve)=nine cups sixty corn seeds-five per pot 39 grams of salt Steps: Step 1: Put 3/4 of a cup of soil into a pot and plant 5 corn seeds 2 inches down, spread 2 centimeters apart. Repeat twelve times, as there are going to be three pots for each salt concentration. The first time watered, water with 50 ml of water. Water regularly with 25 ml of water with various salt concentrations of .1, .4, .8 grams of salt and no salt, one for each set of plants, in a Monday-Wednesday-Friday cycle for all other times. At the end of the project, measure the dry weight of all of the plants measured with a specific salt concentration. Our salt to water ratios are 0 grams to 25 ml, .1 grams to 25 ml, .4 grams to 25 ml, and .8 grams to 25 ml. Step 2: Measure and document plant growth and also make charts/graphs. Step 3: End with a conclusion |
| Conclusion | The data we collected partially supports our prediction. We thought that the roots would shrivel up and rot in the 0.8 g salt concentration, it would not grow as big or as fast as it would in the 0.4 g salt concentration, and it will grow pretty well in the .1 g salt concentration. We think that the control with no salt will grow the best. As shown in our graph, by the end of the experiment the control plants average height was 24 cm, the .1 g concentration plants average was not far behind at a height of 21.5 cm, the .4 g concentration plants average height was 19.3 cm, and the .8 g concentration plants average height was 12.7 cm. Due to overwatering and lack of sunlight, the plants shriveled up. The tips were dry because of the presence of mold. The .8 g concentration plants looked the healthiest out of the salt concentration plants, the .1 g concentration plants looked the worst, and the .4 g concentration plants were not doing well, but were slightly better than the .1s, although not by much. The control plants did the best. The mold on the .8 g plants was killed off by the salt. The control plants were not moldy. The .8 g and .4 g concentrations had thick stems, whereas the .1 g concentration and the controls had thinner stems. All of the plants' stems were red and had bulges in them. The rest of the plants, except for the stems, were green and healthy until the overwatering caught up with them on October 26, 2021. The .8 g plants were healthy up until the overwatering but were growing slower than the rest of the plants. The salt concentrations we used are close to that of brackish water. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Teacher Name | Rebecca Buzzell |
| School Name | Nottingham School |
| Session | Fall 2021 |
| About this Project | The students was passionate about their experiment. The students and mentor discussed about their experiment everyday. The students asked questions and updated their progress daily to their mentor.
This team made great communication with the mentor by updating their work process and data. They created graphs which clearly show the results. The mentor gave a lot of supports and encouragement to the team. He also inspired the team to think outside the box, which helped students to improve their experiment and data analysis. Therefore, the team and the mentor interacted with great engagement and discussion on the experiment and science. |