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Australian International Academy

Kellyville Campus

Assessment Task Cover Sheet

Unit Name: Student Research Project Year 8

Title: Does the colour of light affect the growth of plants

Name: Lana Jamil

Year Level: 8 Subject: Science

Date: 29/3/17 Word Count:

Assessment Task Cover Sheet 8/06/2017 V2


Title: Does the colour of light affect the growth of plants

Aim:
To find if the colour of light affects the growth of plants

Hypothesis:
If the colour is related to plant growth, then I think the plant in the green cellophane
will result in more leaves.

Background research:
All plants need oxygen and water to grow therefore they need
A process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process when plants convert sunlight into
chemical energy and turn nutrients from water and carbon dioxide. The word equation for
photosynthesis is; 6CO2 + 6H2O > C6H12O6 + 6O2. Another process that all plants need is
respiration it is a chemical reaction that plants do, it is when plants use oxygen to produce carbon
dioxide. The word equation for this is glucose (sugar) + oxygen= carbon dioxide + water + Energy. The
plant that I have chosen is cress, cress is part of the Cabbage family. Cress does not need to be in soil
and can just be planted. The soil needs to be moist with a neutral pH level of 6.0 to 6.8. Cress only
needs a couple of days to germinate. It is said that green light makes plants grow the fastest since the
plant is green. The factors that could decrease the growth of the plant is not watering it enough, not
enough sunlight and the temperature. Things I could do to increase the growth of the plant is to use
fertilisers, fertilisers make plants grow faster therefore they become bigger and it increases.

Risk Assessment:
There are many that could go wrong when growing a plant, if you dont give the plant
enough water then it wont grow, if you put different amounts of soil or seeds then the
experiment wont be fair and one plant will grow faster than the other, tripping over
the pot plant will cause it to spill, not putting enough soil or putting them in different
area for example one inside and the other outside will make an unfair experiment.
Another thing for me growing a plant is putting in outside but underneath something
so the rain will not affect my cardboard box and cellophane. The things that I could do
to reduce these risks are making sure that I water all the plants twice a day with
approximately the same amount of water. Another thing I could do is to make sure I
plant the seeds in the same sized cups with the same amount of soil and around the
same amount of seeds and making sure I put them in a safe place so no one trips over
them but making sure they are in the same area and underneath shelter.

Variables:
Independent variable- The thing that I will be changing is the colour of cellophane

Controlled Variable-The things that I will be keeping the same are the same amount of
water, same amount of cellophane, about the same amount of seeds at the beginning
and the same amount of soil in the same sized pot/cup.

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Dependent Variable-The thing that I will be measuring is the amount of leaves each day

Equipment:
Cress seeds
Water
Pot plants
Soil
Cellophane (red, green, blue)
Natural light
Cardboard boxes
Scissors
Tape
Drill

Method:
First, I brought 4 cups one for each colour (white, blue, red, green) then I put the same
amount of soil in each cup but not filling the cup then put the seeds in and then put
some more soil on top of it. Then I needed to create the cardboard boxes which I would
cover with cellophane and put the plant inside creating a small door so I can water the
plant. To create that I got 3 cardboard boxes from Bunnings warehouse and cut small
squares on every side of the box then with tape I stuck the cellophane onto the box and
then ripped one side. After that I drilled a small hole on the bottom of the plastic cup
because of the water and the plant. Finally, I left all the plants in the sun but
underneath something so if it rained the cardboard boxes wouldnt get ruined. Then I
just left the plants for 10 days watering them and letting them grow.

Results Table:
White light
Days Number of leaves
1 0
2 0
3 3
4 5
5 8
6 12
7 13
8 15
9 17
10 18

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Red
Days Number of leaves
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 3
5 5
6 6
7 8
8 10
9 12
10 15

Blue
Days Number of leaves
1 0
2 0
3 1
4 3
5 8
6 9
7 12
8 14
9 16
10 21

Green
Days Number of leaves
1 0
2 0
3 1
4 3
5 8
6 9
7 12
8 18
9 24
10 27

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Images:

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WHITE LIGHT

BLUE LIGHT

RED LIGHT

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GREEN LIGHT

Conclusion: I found out that the plant that was in the green cellophane grew the
quickest and the most.

Discussion of conclusion:
My experiment/SRP was to find out if the colour of light affects the growth of plants. I
found out that the plant with green light grew the quickest and the most with 27
leaves, the plant with blue cellophane grew 21 leaves, the plant receiving sun light
grew 18 leaves and my final plant receiving red light only grew 15 leaves in 10 days.

References:
https://www.growveg.com.au/guides/how-to-grow-cress-for-grownups/
http://www.livescience.com/51720-photosynthesis.html
www.healwithfood.org/grow-indoors/garden-cress.php
1. https://www.growveg.com.au/plants/us-and-canada/how-to-grow-cress/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy6GXyiZvH4
3. study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-respiration-definition-process-equation.htm
4. www.dictionary.com/browse/respiration
5. www.innovateus.net/health/what-process-respiration

6.

Reflection:
What went wrong? How did you fix it? If you would do it again what would you
change?

Throughout my experiment, I experienced many difficulties at first none of my plants


were growing even though I was giving them water, but then I realised that some of my

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seeds werent under the soil, So I put the seeds under the soil and then drilled a hole at
the bottom of each cup, after that It started growing. Another thing that went wrong
was at the end of my experiment when I recorded everything I accidentally left one of
my cardboard boxes in the rain so it got wrecked so I couldnt take a picture of it. Some
stuff that I did well was making the boxes for the plants and covering them with
cellophane. If I were to this experiment another time I would probably choose a
different plant a different method.

Assessment Task Cover Sheet 8/06/2017 V2

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