An Investigation of how different types of water affects the growth of a green bean seed
By: G K Netraa (02)
P K Priyadarshika (06)
Koh Zhen Haw (17)
Class: S2-05
ISS Group C
School of Science and Technology
1. Introduction (Zhen Haw)
The purpose of our project is to find out the elements found in the solution for the water containing the different solubles, such as salt, sugar and also detergent.
This will help benefit people as there will more growing of crops as the crops will be affected by the different solubles contained in the water, which will help in the feeding of people, as the world’s population is steadily climbing higher and higher, resulting in the solution of the hunger crisis, the elements found in the project will help in growing other plants, therefore making the earth “greener” as the plants will produce more oxygen and take away more carbon dioxide, resulting in an eco-friendly way of growing crops.
Also the increasing growth of crops will result in taking up less space and will result in more land for us to build other buildings, instead of clearing land for the growth of various crops, so that we, as a species can engage more methods of developing our technological side, so that we can learn more about technology and also will help benefit people bearing terminal illnesses as there will be more time and space for the research of the cures for terminal diseases such as cancer, AIDS, etc.
The benefits of more crops will also let more animals to graze on the plants, making them grow bigger or more numerous, the disadvantages of growing more crops is that it will require more extensive research to even begin to notice the slightest change in the growth behaviour/pattern of the crops, which will have to be carefully administered with the exact dosages and even then, the crops might harm human life if they are not treated with the correct procedures.
Such as cleanliness and also there might be human errors, the human errors will result in either risking the life of a human to test it, or to stop production of the crops, like a large-scale shutdown. There will also be a chance of the plant growth to be higher than expected, causing more manpower to harvest the crops before they wilt, and also will require more manpower to plant the seeds as there will be less downtime before the crops grow to adult stage
So that there will be optimal time to harvest the crops and also sow the seeds into the ground for the plants to grow in an optimum condition and minimise the time needed to grow more fresh produce. A faster growing plant will produce whatever it's being grown for more quickly so supply can be increased and since production cost (which includes land cost, water, light if it's indoors, and wages to laborers) would go down if the plant grew faster the cost of the product would also go down for the consumer. The result of this methods will result in the offset of growing crops
There is overall increase in yield of crops mainly due to maintaining physical- chemical properties of soil. Soil fertility is restored by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, encouraging microbial activity (more organic matter) and protecting soil from erosion, salinity and acidity. It helps in controlling insects, pests and soil borne diseases. It also controls weeds. E.g. repeated wheat culture (growing) increases wild oats and phalaris infestation. Similarly growing berseem continuously encourages chicory (kasani) infestation, but an alternate cropping of berseem and wheat helps in controlling kasani as well as oats and phalaris. (Food and Agriculture Organization(2012))
Prevent or limit periods of peak requirements of irrigation water. Crops requiring high irrigation if followed by light irrigation, this will not affect or deteriorate the soil physical condition. It facilitates even distribution of labour. Following crop make proper utilization of all resources and inputs. Family and farm labour, power, equipment and machines are well employed thought the year. Farmers get a better price for his produce due to higher demand in local market. So there is regular flow of income over year. Inclusion of crops of different feeding zones (root system) and nutrient requirement could maintain the better balance of nutrient in soil. Growing crops of different root depths avoids continuous depletion of nutrients form same depth. E.g. deep rooted crops take nutrients from deeper zone and during that period upper zone get enriched. Similarly, surface feeding roots take nutrients from upper zone when lower zone get enriched. So growing same crop without rotation results in loss of soil productivity utilized the nutrients from entire soil mass and cost of cultivation is reduced.(Nuffield Council of Bioethics(2008))
Advantages of raising short duration crops (catch crop/ vegetables) when long season crops cannot be raised due to some reasons, such as having an infestation of pests intruding into their
crop fields and also if there might be a disease that causes all the plants to die.
Factors to be considered while planning a crop rotation: growing different crop is very beneficial, but sometimes the desired crops cannot be grown because of certain governing factors (soil and climate), irrigation, availability bullock and other powers, market facilities and type of farming. Many U.S. farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) crops are realizing substantial economic and environmental benefits -- such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields -- compared with conventional crops, says a new report from the National Research Council.(My agricultural information bank(2011).)
More informed customers, because they need to make more informed decisions in regard to nutrition, agriculture and science. Less pesticide is needed to be used due to insect pest resistant plants. More economically friendly as pesticides do not go into the air, soil, and water (especially freshwater supplies). Their production hazards to the environment also decreases. Decrease in costs of growing and farming, due to the reduced use of pesticides. Higher crop yields will equal to higher chances of earning and also the will result in benefits. (TutorVista(2009)
Farmers have more income, which they could spend on such things as, for example, the education of their children. Less deforestation needed to feed the worlds growing population (UN projections say that the world population will reach 8.15 billion compared to 6.18 billion in year 2000). This decreases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which in turn slows global warming. Decrease in food prices due to lower costs and higher yield. As people in poor countries spend over half of their income on food alone, lower food prices mean an automatic reduction of poverty. Less starvation in the world due to decreased food prices. More nutritious. This has been proven and tested many times. Rigorous testing of ALL GMO crops and products. This makes GMOs much safer than organic (the traditional) crops. ALL GMOs that are sold in the market, due to the strict tests. If the slightest chance of health hazard, a GMO is NOT allowed to enter the markets.(HubPages(2013))( by Csanad)
Risk Assessment:
We might spill the detergent water onto our hands,Someone might accidentally drink the detergent water,Someone might drop the materials needed in the experiment,We might drop the beaker and break it,We might drop the test tube and break it,We might accidentally cut ourselves with broken pieces of glass, We might accidentally spill the water and someone might slip on it.
1.1 Background Research
The reason why we wanted to find out if adding Sugar, Salt and Detergent would affect the growth of plants is because in poorer countries, farmers who are not able to afford fertilizers are having a lesser harvest and thus lesser money to support their families. This eventually leads to starvation and they might eventually die. Thus, thus by finding out if everyday uses such as Sugar, Salt and Detergent were good fertilizers for plants then through our research we would be able to find out which is the best of them all. However, our research had shown that using Sugar, Salt or Detergent does not help the growth of plants and in fact instead kills the plants. We had to do some additional research to find out which type of plants grow fast. This is due to the fact that the duration of our project is rather less. So we need to find out if there were any plants which we could grow and be able to come up with a reliable result.
1.2 Research Question
The research question is what type of water is suitable for the growth of the plant.
1.3 Hypothesis
The plant grows the best in tap water than in salt, sugar and detergent.
1.3.1 Independent variable(s)
The independent variable is the type of water.
e.g. Tap water, Detergent Water, Sugar Water, Salt water
1.3.2 Dependent variable
The dependent variable is the height of the plant.
1.3.3 Constants
The constants are:
a) Amount of sunlight
b) Amount of water
c) Type of plant
d) Type of plastic cup
e) Weather conditions
2. Methods
2.1 Equipment
Apparatus
- Centimeter Ruler
- 15 Plastic Cups
- 10 ml measuring cylinders
- 50 ml beakers (5)
- 3 Glass Stirrers
- Labels
- Notebook and pen (to record data)
- Gloves
Materials
- Salt water (30 ml)
- Sugar water (30 ml)
- Tap water (30 ml)
- Detergent water (30 ml)
- Salt (1 teaspoon)
- Sugar (1 teaspoon)
- Detergent (1 teaspoon)
- Mung bean seeds
- Soil
2.2 Diagram
2.2 Diagram
2.3 Procedures
Step 1: Put the soil into the plastic cups. The soil provides nutrients for the plants
Step 2: Plant 3 mung bean seeds on each of the plastic cups.
Step 3: Stick the labels onto the plastic cups.
Step 4: Label one set as control and the rest from A to D.
Step 5: Make 3 setups for each alphabet and control. There should be a total of 15 plastic cups containing soil and green beans.
Step 6: Water each of the plant with 10 millilitres(ml) of tap water for the first few days.
Step 7: Let the plants germinate and grow to a certain height of 3cm. Until that, water the plants with tap water.
Step 8: After the plants have grown to a height of 3cm, water them with different types of water which are tap water, salt water, sugar water and detergent water.
Step 9: Since each plant is being watered with 10 ml of water, one setup would need 30 ml of the respective water.
Step 10: Take 5 small beakers of a capacity of 50 ml. Label all the 5 beakers respectively by labelling one beaker as control and the rest from A-D.
Step 11: Fill each of the beaker with 30 ml of water.
Step 12: The beaker labelled as control and A will be tap water.
Step 13: Beaker B,C and D will be salt water, sugar water and detergent water respectively.
Step 14: Add 1 teaspoon of Salt into beaker B which is filled with 30 ml of water.
Step 15: Stir beaker B with a glass stirrer well until the salt is fully dissolved into the water.
Step 16: Add 1 teaspoon of sugar into beaker C which is filled with 30 ml of water.
Step 17: Stir beaker C with a glass stirrer well until the sugar is fully dissolved into the water.
Step 18: Add 1 teaspoon of detergent into beaker D which is filled with 30 ml of water.
Step 19: Stir beaker D with a glass stirrer well until the detergent is fully dissolved into the water.
Step 20: Take a 10 ml measuring cylinder.
Step 21: Take the beaker labelled as control which has tap water.
Step 22: Pour 10 ml of tap water into the measuring cylinder and then pour it into Control (1). Repeat this step and pour 10 ml of tap water into each of Control (2) and Control (3).
Step 23: Take the beaker labelled as A which has tap water.
Step 23: Pour 10 ml of tap water into the measuring cylinder and then pour it into A(1) Tap water. Repeat this step and pour 10 ml of tap water into each of A(2) Tap water and A(3) Tap water.
Step 24: Take the beaker labelled as B which has salt water.
Step 25: Pour 10 ml of salt water into the measuring cylinder and then pour it into B(1) Salt water. Repeat this step and pour 10 ml of salt water into each of B(2) Salt water and B(3) Salt water.
Step 26: Take the beaker labelled as C which has sugar water.
Step 27: Pour 10 ml of sugar water into the measuring cylinder and then pour it into C(1) Sugar water. Repeat this step and pour 10 ml of sugar water into each of C(2) Sugar water and C(3) Sugar water.
Step 28: Take the beaker labelled as D which has detergent water.
Step 29: Pour 10 ml of detergent water into the measuring cylinder and then pour it into D(1) Detergent water. Repeat this step and pour 10 ml of detergent water into each of D(2) Detergent water and D(3) Detergent water.
Step 30: After watering all the plants, place them in a corner where they can get sunlight.
Step 31: Water all the plants once a day with the respective water types until conclusion of experiment.
Step 32: Record data of the height change in the notebook everyday.
Step 33: Conclusion. Take final measurement change and identify final growth change. Now, we can see which plant grew the tallest. We will be able to find out which type of water is the best for the plant growth.
Step 34: After the end of the experiment, repeat the whole experiment again to test reliability.
2.4 Risk Assessment and Management (Zhen Haw)
Assessment
1. We might break the beakers
2. We might break the test tube
3. We might accidentally ingest the detergent water
4. We might drops the plants
5. We might accidentally fall and hit our head
6. We might accidentally cut ourselves
7. We might accidentally break the plastic cups
Management:
1. We can be more careful not to break the beakers
2. We can be more careful not to break the test tubes
3. We can be more careful with what we are ingesting
4. We can be more careful to hold the plants properly
5. We can be more careful to look where there is water
6. We can be more careful to handle glass
7. We can be more careful with the handling of the plastic cups
2.5 Data Analysis
Data for the 1st experiment (Using cotton buds) (Table)
Fig. 1, Table 1
Fig. 1, Table 1
Average Data for the 1st experiment (Using cotton buds) (Table)
Fig. 1, Table 2
Fig. 1, Table 2
Data for the 2nd experiment (Changed to soil) (Table)
Fig. 2, Table 1
Average Data for the 2nd experiment (Changed to soil) (Table)
Fig. 2, Table 2
Data for the 3rd experiment (Soil) (Table)
Fig. 3, Table 1
Fig. 3, Table 1
Average Data for the 3rd experiment (Soil) (Table)
Fig. 3, Table 2
Fig. 3, Table 2
3. Results
3.1 Sampling sites
1. At the lab during school
2. At home during the weekend
3.2 Experiment 1 results
Data for the 1st experiment (Using cotton buds) (Table)
Fig.1, Table 1
Fig.1, Table 1
Average Data for the 1st experiment (Using cotton buds) (Table)
Fig.1, Table 2
3.3 Experiment 2 results
Data for the 2nd experiment (Changed to soil) (Table)
Fig.2, Table 1
Fig.2, Table 1
Average data for the 2nd experiment (Changed to soil) (Table)
Fig.2, Table 2
Fig.2, Table 2
Average Data for the 2nd experiment (Changed to soil) (Graph)
Fig.2, Graph 1
Fig.2, Graph 1
3.4 Experiment 3 results
Data for the 3rd experiment (Soil) (Table)
Fig.3, Table 1
Fig.3, Table 1
Average Data for the 3rd experiment (Soil) (Table)
Fig.3, Table 2
Fig.3, Table 2
Average Data for the 3rd experiment (Soil) (Graph)
Fig.3, Graph 1
Fig.3, Graph 1
3.5 Special observations
1. The green bean seeds were not able to grow properly in cotton buds. This can be seen in the table of results for experiment one which was using cotton buds. Whereas, the green bean seeds were able to grow properly in soil. This can be seen in the table of results for experiment two and three which was using soil. This shows that soil is a better choice to grow seeds.
2. In experiment 2, the plants that were watered with sugar water started to rot after two days of watering with sugar water. All the three sets that were watered with sugar water rotted and died on the last day. This shows that sugar water is not a good choice to water plants.
4. Discussion
4.1 Key findings
1. The seeds did not grow properly in cotton buds which can be seen from the results in experiment 1. Only the seeds in tap water and sugar water germinated on day 2. The rest did not germinate. We did not water the seeds with the different types of water yet since it was decided that the plants will be only watered with the respective kind of water after they have germinated and grown to at least a height of 3 cm.
2. For the 2nd experiment, soil was used since the plants did not grow properly in cotton buds. The seeds germinated on the 2nd day and the roots grew on the 3rd day. On the 4th day, all the plants grew to a height of 5 cm to 7 cm. After watering the plants with the respective type of water, the plants that were watered with salt and detergent water died the next day. The plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 13 cm to 14 cm. The plants that were watered with sugar water remained the same height. On Day 6, the plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 16 cm. While the plants that were watered with sugar water remained the same height. But the plants that were watered with sugar water were rotting. On Day 7, the plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 18 cm. While the plants that were watered with sugar water remained the same height and was rotting. On Day 8 which was the last day of the experiment, the plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 19 cm to 20 cm. The plants that were watered with sugar water rotted and died.
3. For the 3rd experiment, the plants germinated on the 2nd day and the roots grew on the 3rd day. On the 4th day, all the plants grew to a height of 6 cm to 7 cm. After watering the plants with the respective type of water, the plants that were watered with salt and detergent water died the next day. The plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 13 cm to 14 cm. The plants that were watered with sugar water remained the same height. On Day 6, the plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 16 cm. While the plants that were watered with sugar water remained the same height. On Day 7, the plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 17 cm to 18 cm. While the plants that were watered with sugar water died.
On Day 8 which was the last day of the experiment, the plants that were watered with tap water grew to a height of 20 cm.
4.2 Explanation of key findings
The explanation for the plants growing better in tap water than the others is because
tap water does not have additional minerals, while the salt water has Sodium (Na) and
Chlorine (Cl) in it combined with water, the detergent water has 17.2-60.1, 11.1-40.1,
2.5-32.3, 8.1-10.5, 7.2-21.6, 9.8-17.9, 1.7-3.8, 12.5-22.5, and 2.0-5.8 μg/g for iron,
manganese, zinc, copper, lead, cobalt, cadmium, nickel, and chromium, respectively,
combined with the tap water and the sugar water contains 12 carbon atoms, 22
hydrogen atoms, and 11 oxygen atoms.
4.3 Evaluation of hypothesis
From the three experiments and according to the results as shown above tap water was the best type of water for plants to be watered with.
This has proved that the hypothesis that was made is correct.
4.4 Areas for improvement (Zhen Haw)
The possible area of improvement is that the group could have used more samples of other plants to further test the effectiveness of the other samples of water to specific types of plants, the group also could have used a more wider variety of water , to further test the effectiveness of those waters to help the green beans grow better.
5. Conclusions
5.1 Summary of findings
Overall we found out that mung beans grow best in tap water. They do not grow well in Sugar, Salt and Detergent. This is because the carbon in Sugar is not suitable for growth. The sodium and the chlorine in the Salt is also not suitable for growth. As for Detergent, it is highly toxic. Thus mung beans grow best in tap water.
5.2 Practical Applications (Zhen Haw)
The practical application for our experiment would be that if we could grow a type of plant faster, this will help benefit people as there will more growing of crops as the crops will be affected by the different solubles contained in the water, which will help in the feeding of people, as the world’s population is steadily climbing higher and higher, resulting in the solution of the hunger crisis, the elements found in the project will help in growing other plants, therefore making the earth “greener” as the plants will produce more oxygen and take away more carbon dioxide, resulting in an eco-friendly way of growing crops.
Another practical application of our experiment will be for farmers to grow crops more efficiently, the government will not have to spend as much cash resources trying to focus more on the production of crops, can push some of their funding into researching health care, getting cures for diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Asthma etc.
A third practical application for our experiment will be that farmers will require less space to grow the same amount of crops that they do now, so that the government will have a greater amount of land space to work with, so that the government will be able to allocate more resources in order to build more homes for the homeless people, build more buildings of different sorts, such as Shopping Centres, Rehabilitation Centres, HDB Flats etc.
5.3 Areas for further study (Zhen Haw)
- If we were given more time, we would have used different kinds of plants in order to test the effectiveness of the water on different types of plants, rather than a single type of plant because the plants would give us a more thorough explanation of how the different types of water affect the different types of plants used in our experiment.
-If we were given more time, we would have taken more experiments to prove that our final results are correct and we also might have changed some of our values that we adde to the solubles in the plant water.
- We also might have used more types of water in our experiment if we were given more time, such as rain water, drain water etc.
- We also would have been able to obtain more samples of plants, such as crops like corn, carrots, wheat etc. to have a more reliable aspect as to what types of water affect plant growth and also the credibility of the results would be proven as it would have been tested multiple times along with the results being the same.
-We also would have been able to obtain more samples of the sugar, salt and detergent to find out the atomic elements in those solubles, along with finding out the elements contained in other water, such as drain water, rain water, etc.
-We also would have been able to run more experiments, we would also might have found some new results, leading to the conclusion that a certain type of water is better than other types of water at growing this particular plant.
6. Acknowledgements
Our group would like to thank Mr Charles Low for the guidance, the Lab Manager for providing us with the equipment and for assisting us, Lim Ming Hui, Lim Jia Yi, Yadi Nay Myo for giving us the soil and Ms Koh, Zhen Haw’s mother for helping us to assist Zhen Haw. We would also like to thank the school for giving us 10 weeks to do this project.
7. Bibliography (Zhen Haw)
1. Food and Agriculture Organization(2012). Crops and cropping systems. Retrieved August 19 2013
2. HubPages(2013). Advantages and Disadvantages of Genetically Modified Crops (GMOS) Retrieved August 19 2013 http://csanad.hubpages.com/hub/GMO-advantages-and-disadvantages
3.My agricultural information bank(2011).Advantages of an ideal crop production. Retrieved August 19 2013
4. Nuffield Council of Bioethics(2008). Possible benefits of GM Crops in developing countries. Retrieved August 19 2013 http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/gm-crops-developing-countries/gm-crops-developing-countries-possible-benefits-gm-crops-developing-co
5. TutorVista(2009). Salient Features of Mixed Cropping. Retrieved August 19 2013 http://www.tutorvista.com/content/science/science-i/improvement-food-resources/mixed-cropping.php
6. University of Michigan(2010). GM Crops: Costs and Benefits. Retrieved August 19 2013
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/sec006group5/introduction
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