Plant Experiment

Gorgeous Grade 6’s

Here are a few tips for your plant experiment.

I suggest you use the following headings when recording your experiement:

1. Question
2. Research Summary
3. Hypothesis
4. Variables

• Independent Variables (what the experimenter changes – can only be 1 thing)
• Dependent Variables (what the experimenter measures – usually 1 thing)
• Controlled Variables (can be many)

5.What we need

6.What to do (method)

7. What we noticed (observations)

8. What this proves (conclusion) – you MUST link the this to the hypothesis.

Tips

Use 2 plants of the same size and type

Place one plant into a well lit area and one plant in a dark place.

Give each plant the same water, ensure the plants are in the same sized containers and that they have the same type of soil, etc.

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is the process where plants use sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to make food and oxygen for us to breathe.

During photosynthesis plants use chlorophyll (a green colouring) t0 absorb light energy from the Sun, water from the soil and carbon dioxide from the air and move all these items to the leaves.

The light energy is used to break up the 6 water (H₂O) and 6 Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) into their constituent atoms.

Thus in the leaves are 12 Hydrogen and 6 Oxygen atoms from the water, and 6 carbon and 12 oxygen atoms from the carbon dioxide.

Plants then rearrange the atoms to group 6 carbon atoms with 12 hydrogen atoms and 6 oxygen atoms making C₆H₁₂O₆, which is better known as glucose, a simple sugar.

The remaining 6 pairs of oxygen atoms (6O₂) are discarded into the atmosphere.

As glucose dissolves in water, plants either store the glucose in places water cannot get into, or more commonly connect the glucoses together in long chains making a substance we call starch.