4th Grader Demonstrates Water's Effect on Plants

A ex-student from one of my past meteorology classes approached me less than a month ago and asked if I could help with her daughter, Alyssa with her science project. She wanted to mimic the growth of plants during a very dry, a very wet and a typical April. I came up with the needed information and here is how she started. 

Her mom, Ann-Jolene submitted reports about the project to me.


Alyssa planted four Cosmos seeds in each pot on March 30th. The pots are marked April 2005 (driest), April 2000 (moderate), and April 2011 (wettest). The question is: How does the amount of rain affect plant growth? The hypothesis is: If seeds receive a moderate amount of rainfall, then they will grow to be healthy plants. The pictures attached are from the day they were planted and first day of watering, April 1st

Here is a  report from April 8th

Alyssa started to measure the plants every Sunday and Wednesday and made note of the first sprouts in each pot and measure those, but I didn't have her measure each individual sprout after that. 001 is a picture of all the pots on April 4th, the day of the first sprouts. I know it's hard to see. There was a sprout in the year 2000 (moderate) and 2011 (wettest). 002 is the 2000 sprout 1.25 inches. 003 is the 2011 sprout 1.125 inches. 004 is from April 5th, a second sprout popped up in the 2011 pot. 005 is from April 7th, 1st sprouts in 2005 (driest) pot, 1.5 inches. 006 is the other sprout from April 7th in 2005 pot, 0.375 inches. As of today, she started marking each plant A, B, C, D, in the order they sprouted. 009 is 2000 (moderate) pot. A is 2.1875 inches; B is 1.5 inchs; C is 1.0 inch; D is 0.25 inch. 010 is 2011 (wettest) pot. A is 2.125 inches; B is 1.75 inchs; C is 0.75 inch. 011 is 2005 (driest) pot. A is 1.5 inches; B is 1.4375 inches.

                                          Here are the plants on April 15th





Here is a sample diary about the rainfall

04/15

2005 (driest)

A - 2.5

B - 1.625

C - 1.75

2000 (moderate)

A - 2.5

B - 1.94

C - 2.25

D - 1.5

2011 (wettest)

A - 2.31

B - 1.94

C - 2.125

D - 2.875

04/18

2005

A - This plant died Monday, 04/16.

B - 1.75

C - 1.75

2000

A - 3.375

B - 2

C - 2.5

D - 1.75

2011

A - 2.75

B - 2.75

C - 2.5

D - 2.25

04/22

2005

B - 2

C - 1.5

2000

A - 3.75

B - 2.25

C - 3.25

D - 1.75

2011

A - 3.25

B - 3

C - 3.125

D - 3

Here is the final report

Great news! She won first place for her grade. Thank you so much for all of the help. We really appreciate it. The plants in the wettest pot perked back up since the project was over. And since she never pulled out the plant that died in the driest pot, it rerooted and started to grow again in May. It's pretty interesting how resilient plants are.

Congrats to a great project!!!

Joe