Roots: how much do they really help? Jessica, Carrie, Kristen, Taylor Introduction Plant Growth Table Results For our experiment, we planned on taking two mung bean seeds and growing them out to cut one of the mung bean seed's main root in half. To begin the growing process, we gathered a petrie dish to place both of the mung beans seed in it. In the petrie dish we put a paper disk to cover the bottom of the petrie dish and wrote our group name on it and a letter A and B to label the plants. We took the mung beans seed and separated them by their letter in the petrie dish and then we added 15 mL of RODI water onto the disk until it was completely moist. We placed the whole petrie dish into a plastic baggie and set it under fluorescent lights over the weekend. After ten days we checked the plants and they had grown enough so we could see their roots and leaves. We cut two centimeter off of plant B's main root and placed both plants into separate planting systems. The planting systems are made from plastic 16 mL bottles cut in half and the top half filled with 160 mL of organic gardening soil as well as 15 mL of Miracle Grow Perlite fertilizer. The cap was screwed onto the bottom with a string cut through the middle so that in the bottom half of the bottle is filled with 35 mL of RODI water so that string can take the water up to the soil and keep the plants watered. We placed the systems under fluorescent light and labeled both of our systems with our names and which plant was placed into the container, as well as which one we cut the root off of. The result that we concluded from our experimental design is that a mung bean plant that had its main root cut in half will grow at a slower rate than the mung bean plant left alone as is. We also learned that if a plant looses its main root, the root will eventually grow back but at a much slower rate. The leaves of the mung bean plant that had its main root cut were shriveled, twisted, and brown on the ends. Plant Growth Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Plant A 1.5Cm 3.5Cm 4.5Cm 5 Cm 7.5 Cm 8 Cm 11 Cm B 1 Cm 3 Cm 4 Cm 5.1 Cm 6.5 Cm 9 Cm Supplies 2 Mung Bean Seeds 1 Petrie Dish 1 Eye Dropper 1 Filter Disk 1 Pencil/Paper 5 mL of RODI Water 1 Plastic 16 mL Water Bottle 15 mL of Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil 20 cm of String Scissors Conclusion Based on all of our observations, we have found out many things from our experiments. We had taken two mung bean seed seeds and grew them in a petrie dish until they were large enough for a planting systems. We labeled each plant, plant A and B, then we cut the main root of plant B in half. Planting both plants, we then observed them for a period of a few weeks. Our conclusion is that a mung bean plant will have a harder time growing than another mung bean plant left alone.