Hypothesis
If plants get more sunlight, then they will grow taller, because sunlight helps them make food through a process called photosynthesis, which is super important for their growth.
Procedure to Gather Data
- Materials Needed:
- 5 pots (they should be the same)
- Soil (the same kind for each pot)
- 5 sunflower seedlings (they should be the same type)
- Ruler (to measure plant height)
- Watering can (to give them the same amount of water)
- Setup:
- Put one seedling in each pot with the same amount of soil.
- Place the pots in different spots to see how much sunlight they get:
- Pot 1: Full Sun (6-8 hours of sunlight)
- Pot 2: Partial Sun (3-5 hours of sunlight)
- Pot 3: Indirect Sun (1-2 hours of sunlight)
- Pot 4: Shade (less than 1 hour of sunlight)
- Pot 5: Indoor (no sunlight at all)
- Data Collection:
- Water each plant the same amount every day.
- Measure how tall each plant is once a week for four weeks.
- Write down what you find in a table.
Data Table
| Week | Pot 1 (Full Sun) | Pot 2 (Partial Sun) | Pot 3 (Indirect Sun) | Pot 4 (Shade) | Pot 5 (Indoor) | |------|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|----------------|-----------------| | 1 | 5 cm | 4 cm | 3 cm | 2 cm | 1 cm | | 2 | 10 cm | 8 cm | 5 cm | 3 cm | 1.5 cm | | 3 | 15 cm | 12 cm | 7 cm | 4 cm | 2 cm | | 4 | 20 cm | 15 cm | 9 cm | 5 cm | 2.5 cm |
Create a Graph
You can use a graphing tool or even draw one on paper! On the X-axis (the bottom), put the weeks, and on the Y-axis (the side), put the height of the plants. Make a line for each pot based on how tall the plants grew.
Conclusion Questions
- What did you observe in your data?
- The plants in full sun grew the tallest! The plants that got no sunlight (the indoor ones) grew the least. It looked like the more sunlight they got, the taller they grew.
- How did your results compare to your hypothesis?
- My results matched my hypothesis! Plants that got more sunlight grew taller than the ones that didn’t get much sun.
- What might you change if you were to repeat this experiment?
- If I did this again, I would test more plants in each sunlight spot to make sure my results are more reliable. I’d also want to keep everything else (like soil type and how much water they get) the same.
- What are potential sources of error in your experiment?
- I could have made mistakes with the soil or water. If one plant got too much or too little water, it might not grow as well. Also, if any plants were damaged, that could change the results.
- What conclusions can you draw about the relationship between sunlight exposure and plant growth?
- More sunlight helps plants grow taller! This shows how important sunlight is for plants because it helps them make food and stay healthy.
This way of doing the experiment helps us understand how to make a good hypothesis, set up an experiment, collect data, and come to conclusions based on what we find out!