| Explore | Outside of class we learned that plants start in seeds and produce O2 and take in CO2. In class we learned that they need O2 to germinate and CO2 to grow. In background research we learned that carbon helps plants grow. The question that most interested us about plants is figuring out what makes them germinate the fastest. |
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| Research Question | We would like to test different conditions on seed to see which one germinates the fastest. We came up with the idea from learning about the conditions plants need to germinate. The question is made to add or take away conditions to see what helps in germination. |
| Predictions | We believe that the seeds with the charcoal put on them will grow faster because our background research says that some farmers put charcoal on their plants. |
| Experimental Design | We put radish and pea seeds in separated dishes where each seed has seeds in two dishes. Two dishes have charcoal added but the other ones do not. They both get water every day. We also have 2 plastic bags with a flask of water in each. Two dishes are placed in each one with radish seeds in one and peas seeds in the other and the dishes have no tops on. We put two Alka-Seltzer tablets in only one of the flasks every time it is opened to make a CO2 rich environment. For all the plants we open the bags or take of the lids of the dishes every day to see if any seed germinated. We then wet the seeds finally for the CO2 rich environment and the other seeds in a bag we swap the water then put two tablets of Alka-Seltzer in the CO2 rich environments' flask of water. |
| Conclusion | From our experiment we found that charcoal helps plants germinate healthy. For both the radishes and the peas that were put in charcoal became very healthy and the peas that were in charcoal germinated faster than all the other peas. A possible explanation for these results could be that charcoal has a chemical composition including oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. From our science class we know that plants need oxygen to germinate and since charcoal has oxygen in it it could cause this to happen. Future experiments could include having them in charcoal and in soil to see what happens when they fully grow and we could also see what happens if other plants are put in charcoal. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Teacher Name | Debra Landis |
| School Name | St. Sebastian Parish School |
| Session | Spring 2024 |
| About this Project | Team 3 did extensive research on various topics before focusing on investigations on the possible effects of carbon on seed germination. The team added ground carbon to petri dishes containing seeds to compare with untreated control seeds. They decided to investigate this because they read that sometimes farmers add carbon to their fields as fertilizer. They also investigated the germination rate of the same seeds if kept in an atmosphere of high CO2 (alka seltzer tablet dissolved daily in a beaker in the baggie containing moistened seeds in open petri dishes). This investigation was interesting as a model of possible future growing conditions. Recorded data was presented in an organized fashion including photos over the days of the experiment. -- Betty Indriolo, School STEM Mentor |