Plants and Food

Question:  Where do plants get there food?

Equipment:  Black plant cap, planter, grass seeds, and two seed planters.

Procedure:  Plant equal amounts of grass seeds (            ) in two planters.  Put ½ of the plants in the dark and cover with the plant cap (more than 20 mins. A day of light could change your results).  Put the other plants in the light.  Measure the height of the plants everyday for two weeks and record the data.

Results:

Based on your data and the class graph state your conclusions.  Vocabulary to use in your conclusion:  photosynthesis, water, nutrients and minerals.

Conclusions:

The hypothesis for the experiment on the preceding page would be.  Plants make their food from light.

Therefore if you put a plant in the dark it would not be able to make its own ………… and then………….. .  The plant in the light would be the control and would show that plants will grow according to the way you treated it except for the plant in the dark would……………………………………………..

What would happen if you switched the places of your plants?

What is photosynthesis?

What do plants get from the soil?

Question:  How do cotyledons effect the growth of plants?

Equipment

Procedure:  Grow some bean seeds in the dark for 5-7 days.  Then move ½ to the light.  Remove the cotyledons from ½ of the plants in both the light and dark.

Predict what you think will happen.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Graph your results and the class average.

Which plants did the best?

Which plants did the worst?

Results:

What do cotyledons do for plants?

When do plants need light to grow?

Can plants store food?

Where do they?

Conclusions:

 

Prove with dandelion root, cloves, geranium stem

Using what you have learned plan an investigation.

Listed are some ideas below:

Plant some bean seeds and keep a weekly diary of them for 9 weeks.

Germinate different types of seeds and draw and label them after a week.

Get 100 seeds all the same and put them in a germination chamber and find what % (percent) will germinate?  Corn, beans, oats, wheat and milo.

Plan an experiment to determine what happens when leaves are removed from plants.

Make up your own.

 

Dr. Robert Sweetland's Notes ©