"The Story of the Seed" Lab Report: Phaseolus Vulgaris

Which Solutions Would Make Phaseolus Vulgaris Grow the Tallest?

Introduction:

For our lab, we tested various solutions to find out which solution would make Phaseolus Vulgaris (The Common Bean) grow the tallest in a given amount of time. The solutions would be watered every other day with Gatorade, Club Soda, Kool-Aid, Orange Juice, Salt Water, and the control (water)  (starting on Thursday September 5, 2013). They would be placed under the continuously lighted fume hood for a week.

Phaseolus Vulgaris 

Bean Plants

Purpose:

The purpose of the lab was to figure out which of our tested solutions would make our bean plants grow the tallest. 

Hypothesis:

If the type of solution used to water a plant affects its growth and germination rates, then Club Soda will make the all of the plants grow and become the tallest.

Materials: 

Our materials are Gatorade, Club Soda, Kool-Aid, orange juice, a salt water solution, water, soil, beans, clear plastic cups, ruler and graduated cylinders.

Procedure:

1) Acquire materials and mix salt water solution and Kool-Aid in separate containers.

2)Prepare( Make holes) and fill 18 of the cups with 1.5 inches (3.81 cm) of soil in each cup.

3) Plant 3 seeds in each cup, each one about 0.5 inches (1.27 cm) deep.

4) Label each cup so that it corresponds with the liquid that the seeds in that specific cup are going to be "watered" with. There should be three cups for each solution, as there will be three tests.

5) Water each cup with 25 mL of the liquids according to the labels every other day.

6) Measure growth of the tallest plant in each cup daily and record the data.

7) Check the amount of seeds that have germinated per test per liquid.

8) Analyze data and record data every day as the experiment goes on.


Observations and Data:

Day 1: There was pretty much no change observed, as we just planted and fed them with 25 mL of the various solutions.

Day 2:  There are a total of three plants that have sprouted, the Gatorade solution being the tallest, standing at the height of 2 cm. The Club Soda was the shortest of the sprouted plants, standing at 0.5 cm . The orange juice fed cups had started to had started molding and releasing an unpleasant odor.

Day 3: All of the plants have grown besides the smelly orange juice and the salt water plants. The Gatorade is still the tallest (9 cm), followed closely behind by the water(7.5 cm) and Club Soda (7 cm) . 

               

        


Day 4: Impressively,  the top four plants have either doubled or tripled in size from the day previous. However, the orange juice and salt water plants have yet to sprout.

       









Day 5: This is the last day of gathering results. Gatorade, Club Soda, Kool - Aid, and the water plants have grown between 2-10 cm. As you could guess, orange juice and the salt water have not grown. We believe the salt has killed the saltwater plants and the mold was preventing the orange juice plants that did germinate from sprouting. We noticed that the Kool-Aid plants, which had all grown and sprouted, had a slight reddish tinge and had the red color of the Kool-Aid in their tissues.

Test 1:	9/5/13	9/9/13	9/10/13	9/11/13	9/12/13
Club Soda	0 cm, none germinated	0.5 cm	7 cm	22 cm	30 cm 3/3 germinated
Gatorade	0 cm, none germinated	2 cm	9 cm	17 cm	19.5 cm 3/3 germinated
Kool-Aid	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	1.5 cm	4 cm	11 cm 3/3 germinated
Orange Juice	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 1/3 germinated(under the mold
Salt Water	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 0/3 germinated
Water (Control)	0 cm, none germinated	1.5 cm	7.5 cm	21.5 cm	30 cm 3/3 germinated

Test 2:	9/5/13	9/9/13	9/10/13	9/11/13	9/12/13
Club Soda	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	1.5 cm	10.5 cm	24 cm 3/3 germinated
Gatorade	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 3/3 germinated
Kool-Aid	0 cm, none germinated	0.5 cm	1 cm	7.5 cm	22 cm 3/3 germinated
Orange Juice	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 0/3 germinated
Salt Water	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 0/3 germinated
Water (Control)	0 cm, none germinated	1.1 cm	6.5 cm	15 cm	20.5 cm 3/3 germinated

Test 3:	9/5/13	9/9/13	9/10/13	9/11/13	9/12/13
Club Soda	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	1.5 cm	10.5 cm	24 cm 3/3 germinated
Gatorade	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 3/3 germinated
Kool-Aid	0 cm, none germinated	0.5 cm	1 cm	7.5 cm	22 cm 3/3 germinated
Orange Juice	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 1/3 germinated
Salt Water	0 cm, none germinated	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm	0 cm 0/3 germinated
Water (Control)	0 cm, none germinated	1.1 cm	6.5 cm	15 cm	20.5 cm 3/3 germinated

Data Analysis: 

While the Club Soda, Kool-Aid, and control plants all grew at a regular rate, the Gatorade plant had only one test in which only one plant grew.  The orange juice and salt solution plants did not grow at all, although a couple of the orange juice seeds germinated. By observing our plants and data, we concluded that, just as we predicted, that Club Soda was the best solution out of all the solutions we tested to help the plants grow the tallest and germinate the most.

Discussion:

 In conclusion, our hypothesis that stated “Club Soda would make the plants grow more than the other solutions” was ambiguously correct. We believe the macro nutrients in the club soda; carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, and sodium had beneficially affected the overall growth of the club soda fed plants. 
     The Club Soda watered plants had not only all germinated, but had the tallest plants over all. However, the control (water) plants did come fairly close the height of the the aforementioned plants. During our experiment, the tallest control plant did manage to equal the height of the tallest plant watered with Club Soda. In the other two tests, the Club Soda plants were victorious, but only by a small margin. Therefore, we could not make as accurate of a conclusion as we wished.

     There were several variables that we did not change to make sure we could compare our final results.  We kept water as the control group, and we also kept a constant amount of solution for each plant. We kept the amount of seeds, soil, how often we water the plants, exposure to light, etc. constant. Our independent variable was the type of solution (Club Soda, Gatorade, Kool-Aid, salt water, orange juice, and water). The dependent variable was how tall the plants grew.

     There also may have been factors that could have changed our final results. The soil in each of the cups could have been differently fertilized, which would cause the soil to be richer or poorer, affecting the plant’s growth.  Another factor that may have affected the outcome of the experiment was incorrect measurements. There could have been measurement errors when measuring the soil, the solutions, and the height.  Some other extraneous variables that would have changed are results include the placement of the plants in the fume hood, the exposure to oxygen and carbon dioxide in and outside of the fume hood, and the compaction of the soil.

     As said above, we could only make the vague conclusion of, ”the club soda will help the Phaseolus Vulgaris grow taller.”  More tests would be necessary to accurately determine the results, and it is necessary to retry the experiment with more precise equipment and tests, and to correct the extraneous variables.