Science Experiments

Question: How to do my science fair EXPERiMENT ?

Ok . Well im doing my science fair project on The effect of salt Water On Alfalfa Plants . Today my teacher gave me alfalfa seeds to take home and now im on my own . I have no idea what to do now . IM SO NERVOUS ! How often do i water my plants ? How much salt should i mix with the water ? How much soil should i use ? I’ll admit i am kind of slow ; LOL ; but i need step by step directions ! PLEEEEEEASEEE & QUICK !!!

Answer: Hi Faith,

Take a deep breath and relax. I am a research scientist who does plant experiments everyday for my job.

What you need:

9 small plant pots about 4 inches in diameter.
Some seed raising potting mix.
Your alfalfa seeds
A measuring cup
Water
Salt
Labels for the pots
Scales for weighing small amounts.

Method

1. Put potting mix into your 9 pots. Try and make sure they are all fairly equal.
2. Label 3 pots “control” Label another three “low dose” and the final three “high dose”
3. Weigh out 9 equal amounts of alfalfa seed and sprinkle onto the soil surface in each pot.
4. Very gently water each pot with 100ml of water.
5. Place your pots in a warm, light position (not in full sunlight)
6. Each day, water with 100ml of water. Remember, the water is going to drain through the pots and come out the bottom so you might want to do this over a sink.
7. After a week or so, you should have a nice crop of alfalfa in each pot so its time to start your treatments.
8. Control pots – Each day, water each pot with 100ml of plain water.
Low dose – Each day, water each of these three pots with 100ml of water with 1/2 a teaspoon of salt dissolved in it. So that is 100ml + 1/2 teaspoon for each pot.
High dose – each day, water each pot with 100ml of water with 2 teaspoons of salt dissolved in it.
9. Starting the 2nd day after you begin applying your treatments, you need to start recording some data. This means you need to make a note of your observations for each pot. You might like to record a percentage of how many seedlings have died. This is just a visual estimation based on area. You might like to record observations of leaf shapes or any odd growth patterns. You need to do this every day just prior to applying that day’s treatments. If you do this for a week, you should get some pretty dramatic results.
10. Present your data in an interesting way. Maybe some graphs. Definetely take photos.

11. Finally, you need to discuss what it is you are observing. You might want to google words like “turgor” “osmosis” “plasmolysis” and see how you go.

Hope I’ve been some help.

Science Video 3 – Soil Erosion – French Version