| Explore | When researching we found that plants function by a process called photosynthesis.They receive energy by absorbing sunlight and use that energy from the sunlight to make glucose from carbon dioxide and water during the process of photosynthesis. We learned that microbes are pathogens because different diseases are caused by various microorganisms types. Microbes that cause disease are called pathogens, and water, food, air, and other environmental media may be polluted by microbial pathogens. This impacts plant diseases because depending on the plant if it has good detection it is able to find the virus faster and with response it is able to get rid of the pathogen faster before it causes damage to the plant. We wonder would we ever be able to revive a plant that is already affected poorly. |
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| Research Question | Will the outcomes be different between an infected potato and vegetable? |
| Predictions | We think that the inside of the potatoe will have a brown/ black color change and the outside of the potatoe will remain the same color. |
| Experimental Design | Collect all needed materials such as: -Damp paper towels -Sealable plastic bags -Toothpicks -Small beakers of bacterial inoculum -A 10% bleach solution containing two drops of dish soap -A large container for disinfecting the potatoes in 10% bleach -Microscopy equipment (microscopes with 400X magnification, slides, coverslips, metal probes) -Latex or nitrile gloves (soft rot bacteria are not infectious to humans, but do express a strong odor during infection) 2: Collect the disinfected potatoes and vegetables 3: Use the toothpick to dip into the bacteria solution and insert the toothpick into the potatoes and veggies (distribute evenly) 4: Then wrap the potatoes & veggies in damp paper towel 5: Record results (observe the outside and inside of potato ) |
| Conclusion | We claim that the cucumber had a weaker defense against the soft rot, the cucumber routes got rotted very easily than the other vegetables. Some possible explanations for our results we can have is that some plants are more tolerant than other plants, It seems to all depend on their detection and responses to the virus. The data we got from the experiment shows that the cucumber had a weak defense and the sweet potato had a stronger defense and by seeing those two results we can see that the sweet potato was able to detect and respond quickly enough to not be as infected as the cucumber. Some future experiments that could be done to expand on the results of this experiment are that we could test more fruits and vegetables to see how tolerant they are from the virus. |
| Investigation Theme | PGST |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| School Name | Watsonville High School |
| Session | Fall 2020 |