Factors that Affect Plant Growth lab
Tegan Misuraca
Purpose:
This experiment was completed to show how light and nutrients affect plant growth.
Theory:
Plants require sunlight because they have the ability to convert heat energy from
sunlight into a usable energy, using photosynthesis. Without sunlight this process would not be
able to occur and after a certain point the plant wouldn’t release oxygen and would die.Plant
need sufficient amount of light in order to make food, plants also need sufficient nutrients in their
soil, such as, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium in order to grow. The nitrogen
helps the plants leaf grow and stay green, phosphorus is used to form new roots and make
seeds, fruit and flowers and potassium helps make the plants stem strong and grow well. Other
than having the ability for their root systems to obtain these nutrients from the soil, the soil also
allows the plant to stabilize and prevent it from falling over.
Materials:
- Control Soil
- Water
- 12 Beans
- Balance
- Light Source or cabinet for 0 hours of light group
- 4 Cell Plant Tray
- Syringe
- Scoopula
- Beaker
- Ruler
Procedure (0 Hours of Light):
1. The 4 beans were weighed and recorded.
2. The containers were filled with the control soil.
3. The beans were placed into the soil approximately 4cm down using the scoopula.
4. The plants were watered with 5ml each plant.
5. Steps 1-5 were repeated for each plant.
6. Boats were made out of tin foil for the plants to sit in and take in water (60ml) over the
weekend.
7. The 0 hours of light group was placed in a cabinet.
8. Everyday the plants were brought out and watered
9. Steps 6-8 were repeated for about 2 weeks, that was a sufficient amount of time for the
plants to grow.
10. After the plants grew, the height and weight were recorded.
Observations:
Light Group: When investigating the 0 hours of light, it was clear to see that the plant was
extremely pale (yellow) and was much taller than the 8 hours and 24 hours of light. The 8 and
24 hours of light were very similar in height, however the 24 hours of light had a much darker
green colour and the 8 hours of light had a light green colour that was in between pale (0 hours)
and dark (24 hours).
Nutrient Group: When investigating the nutrient group, it was hard to see major differences
between the control group and the fertilizer group, other than the fertilizer group having a darker
green colour. However it was very clear to see that in the sand group not many of the beans
sprouted above the sand.
The data sheet (included on next page) reinforces my observations. It shows that the 0 hours of
light was by far the tallest and largest group, the control and fertilizer were very similar in height
and it shows that the sand group had by far the lowest final mass and lowest height.
Graph Descriptions:
Comparing Amounts of Light:
When a plant is not getting enough sunlight, most plants will grow higher to find the light, this is
what happened to the 0 hours...
