Factors Affecting Seed Germination Lab - the effect of light

Authors Avatar by aq123456hotmailcom (student)

Factors Affecting Seed Germination

Research Question

What is the effect of dark and light on the germination of radish seeds?

Hypothesis

I predict the seeds grown in the light will germinate twice as much as the ones grown in the dark.

Materials/Setup

Paper towels

2 petri dishes

10 radish seeds

Water

Plastic container

A weight

A folded piece of paper

Procedure

  1. Take a paper towel and cut out two circles that are the same size as the base of the petri dishes.
  2. Wet each paper towel circle with 5mL of water.
  3. Put one wet circle into each petri dish and create raised ridges in the paper towel, creating a valley for each of the five seeds.
  4. Put one seed in each valley. In the end, there should be 5 seeds in each petri dish.  
  5. Put the lids on the petri dishes and put into the plastic container.
  6. Put the container near a window.
  7. Cover one petri dish with a thickly folded piece of paper that covers the entire dish, and place a weight on top to secure the paper in place.
  8. Note which petri dish is experimental, and which is control. (In this case, the one covered with the paper is experimental, while the regular dish is control.)
  9. Leave experiment and observe changes daily.
Join now!

Data

       Control                                                    Experimental                

Observations

  • The seeds in the light grew approximately twice as much as the seeds in the dark.
  • Some of the seeds grew fuzzy root-like things, which kind of looked like little white leaves, to help it collect more water.
  • After we put in 5mL the first day, we had to add about 2.5mL everyday afterwards to make our plants grow.
  • The seeds near the centre of the paper towel would grow more than the ones in the outer parts of the paper towel because more water collected in the center.
  • ...

This is a preview of the whole essay