Will the change in pH level, temperature, and amount of sunlight effect plant growth?

Chemistry G/T- Science Fair Project Biological (Plant)

Ashley Kim Jae Kim Joon Kim

Introduction

Purpose- To simulating global warming to see what will happen if global warming continues. There will be extreme heat wave and extreme cold. Also, there will be effects of acidic rain and base .AFGADFSADSF Hypothesis- If we change the pH level of the water, the temperature, and amount of sunlight a plant receives, then it will affect the plant s growth. Problem- There is many problems relating to global warming, such as rise in temperature during summers and decrease in temperature during the winter. With these extreme temperature changes, the environment is having difficulty with adapting to the weather. SAGDSGADS

Materials and Methods Materials-54 sunflower seeds Nine pots Soil Milk of Magnesia Vinegar Water (tap) Lamp Box

Procedure1. Label three of the pots as Acid 1, Acid 2, and Acid 3, other three pots as Neutral 1, Neutral 2, and Neutral 3, and the rest as Base 1, Base 2, and Base 3. 2. Put a generous amount of soil in each of the nine pots. 3. Plant six seeds in each pot. They should be separated and .5 inch deep. 4. According to the pot labels, water them. Acid should get watered with 30 mL of vinegar, neutral with 30 mL of tap water, and base with 30 mL of milk of magnesia. 5. Divide the nine pots in groups of three containing acid, neutral, and base. 6. Place each groups under the lamp (80F-95F), room temperature (60F-70F), and outside with the temperature (40F-50F) 7. With the group that is placed outside, place a box on top of the pots to cover them from any sunlight. 8. Water the plants according to the labels every two to three days. 9. Take pictures every day, and collect data.

Results Through this project, it is evident that the temperature, pH level, and amount of sunlight affects the plants growth.

Discussion Many people may think that you can only use water to grow plants and have them in specific environment, but through this experiment that statement is proven false. From the data collected, the plants labeled as Base was given 30mL of milk of magnesia every 2-3 days, and had them in various environments (different Temperature and Amount of Sun light in each environment). After a period of 3 weeks, the plants labeled as Base sprouted and grew. Some possible errors that may have occurred during this experiment would be that the members of the group may have given the wrong amount of Water, Vinegar, and Milk of magnesia to each plant. Also, the plants may have received the wrong liquid. For example the plants labeled Neutral may have received Vinegar instead of Water. Another possible error that may have occurred during this experiment would be that the members of this group may have not given the plants their 30mL of liquid every 2-3 days. Another possible error could be that the members of the group may have read the measurements wrong for when they were collecting data (Height and amount of liquid). The data from this experiment did not really vary between repeated observations. All the plants from each member were practically the same. The only difference from the repeated observations was the height of each plant. It is a possibility that some uncontrolled events have had an effect on the results of this experiment. Some uncontrolled events such as a long period of rain which blocked the sun so that the plants couldnt receive any sun light would have an effect on the results of this experiment because sun light was something the plants needed to have. Also the weather during the time of this experiment was very cold, and that could have had an effect of the result in some way. If this experiment were to be repeated, we would have started this experiment in the summer instead of the winter for one, and we would spend more time collecting data instead of having a month to collect data.

Conclusion Through this experiment, one might learn that the temperature, the amount of sunlight, and the pH of the water given is important to sustain the plants. At first, we put all the base plants in the cold with no sunlight. The neutral plants were in room temperature with normal sunlight. The acid plants were in the high temperature in strong sunlight. We realized that this caused mistakes, and distributed the plants equally in the different places. In the experiment, it is evident that the plants that were in extreme conditions did not survive. For example, the plant that was fed vinegar with no sunlight did not grow at all. On the first seven days, the neutral grew .8 cm and grew to 1 cm in eight days. The base did not grow until the fifteenth day. In the middle of the experiment, as mentioned before, there were mistakes, so we tried to change the environment settings. The neutral plants began to die after it went to different temperatures and amount of sunlight. By the mistakes we have made, we were more sure that the environment that the plants are in have a big part in plant growth. These small simulations imitated what the Earth

is going through today. With the extreme weather conditions, the plants are having difficulty trying to survive, adapt, and even grow.

Reference/Bibliography

http://www.sunflowerguide.com/facts-about-sunflowers.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100503161435.htm http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects/ http://www.jeffersoninstitute.org/pubs/sunflower.shtml