1. Science Fair Project 1/6/10 Science Science Fair Project

2. Big Question: Which seeds will germinate the fastest? The seeds being germinated are: 10 sunflower seeds, 10 green beans, and 10 pumpkin seeds. The reason I wanted to choose this experiment was because I enjoy growing plants and gardening and I was wondering which plants I could grow first so that my garden will be filled.

3. Hypothesis: I think that the green beans will germinate faster. The reason I think the green beans will germinate faster is because it doesn’t have a hard shell. The rest of the seeds, such as the sunflower seeds and the pumpkin seeds have harder shells.

4. Interesting Facts: Seeds need water and oxygen to germinate. When you see a plant’s soil bubbling, it means that they are going through photosynthesis Many seeds will not germinate when freshly harvested, but are dormant until a period of dry storage ranging from 1-12 months or up to 5 years. Late winter is a good time to plant seeds. The seed coat is the outer layer of the seed that we see.

5. Experiment/Control and Variables: Materials: 10 green bean seeds 10 sunflower seeds 10 pumpkin seeds 3 rectangle container/trays Potting soil Water Marker Ruler 2 charts to record the results/growth/data Procedures: 1.Fill each container/tray with potting soil 2.Label the first tray as bean seeds, the second, sunflower seeds, and the third, pumpkin seeds 3.Poke 10 shallow holes into the dirt of each tray. 4.Place appropriate seeds into the correctly labeled tray/container. 5.Cover the seeds with soil. 6.Water the soil in each tray at the same time, with the same amount, as needed. 7.Observe the tray every 2 days and count how many seeds have germinated/sprouted. 8.Record the results in the the first chart. 9.After the seeds 1. have sprouted above the soil, measure the height of the tallest in each tray and record it in the second chart. If no seeds have sprouted, just record as 0 cm. Measure every 2 days and record in the chart. Control/Variables: The controls of the experiment are the rectangle trays, the potting soil, the water, marker and ruler, as well as he charts to record the data with. The variables of the experiment were all of the seeds because I could have used any other different type of seeds, such as a watermelon seed or an apple seed.

6. Observations: I observed from this experiment, that the sunflowers germinated first, and none of the other seeds germinated at all. I understood that the sunflower, who had the hardest shell germinated the first. So I understood that the hardness of the shell does not count in germinating. I also observed that the water bubbled sometimes when I watered it in the sun. I learned from my research that this was the plant doing photo synthesis. Another observation was that the sunflowers took approximately sixteen days to germinate. I also observed that the sunflower seed would grow almost half a centimeter every few days. I observed that there were four sunflower seed seedlings.

7. Data: I planted 10 seeds each of Green Bean, Sunflower and Pumpkin seeds on 11/5/09 and checked every two days and the results are in the following two charts. The 1 st chart shows the number of each type of seeds that sprouted above the soil. The 2 nd chart shows the height of the seeds (Sunflower only) in cm. that sprouted. Number of seeds Germinated: Date----DayBeans seedSunflower seeds pumpkin seed 11/06 2 0 0 0 11/08 4 0 0 0 11/10 6 0 0 0 11/12 8 0 0 0 11/14 10 0 0 0 11/16 12 0 0 0 11/18 14 0 0 0 11/20 16 0 1 0 11/22 18 0 1 0 11/24 20 0 1 0 11/26 22 0 0 0 11/28 24 0 0 0 11/30 26 0 0 0 12/02 28 0 0 0 12/03 30 0 1 0 Continuation of Data on the next page:

8. Data cont. Following is a chart just for the Sunflower seeds that grew. Height of the Sunflower Seedlings in Centimeters 11/20 11/22 11/24 11/26 11/28 11/30 12/02 12/03 Total (16thday) (18thday) (20thday) (22ndday) (24thday) (26thday) (28thday) (30 th day) Height of 1 st Seedling 1/2cm + 1/2cm + 2cm + 2cm + 2cm + 1cm + 3cm + 3cm = 14cm Height of 2 nd Seedling 1/2cm + 1/2cm + 2cm + 2cm + 3cm + 3cm + 2cm = 13cm Height of 3 rd Seedling 1/2cm + 1/2cm + 1cm + 2cm + 2cm + 2cm = 8cm Height of 4 th Seedling 1/2cm = 1/2cm

9. Analysis of Data: From the data I have collected, I found that the sunflowers seedling germinated the fastest. None of the other seeds sprouted at all. The other two seed types did not have any growth whatsoever.

10. Conclusion: After looking over the data, I’ve concluded that my hypothesis of green beans germinating faster didn’t prove to be correct. The reason I predicted the green beans will germinate faster was because of its softer outer shell, compared to the other type of seeds I used in this experiment. This experiment proved to me that having softer outer shell for seeds doesn’t necessarily produce quicker or faster growth. I have learned that the sunflower grew fast even though it had a tougher harder outer shell. The growth of the sunflower seeds were random, started with 1/2cm and progressed to 1 to 3cm some days and the tallest one on the 26 th day was 14cm long. After 26days neither green beans, nor pumpkin seeds have yet to be sprouted. The experiment might’ve produced different results if it was done outdoors in the Summer. The outdoor environment might’ve been better with more exposure to the sunlight and being in the ground in the backyard. Perhaps the green and pumpkin seeds might’ve shown some growth, bit quicker, but may not be the 1 st to sprout. These are some questions I have after doing this experiment: Would the green bean have sprouted in the outdoor environment? Would the green beans have sprouted in the Summer and in full sunlight? Why hasn’t the other seeds sprouted after 26 days, even though the seeds were in the same environment? These are some of the questions I will explore in the future, as I love to garden with my mom.

11. References: http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/Germination. htmhttp://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/Germination. htm http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.maultranet/Bio logyPages/G/Germination.htmlhttp://users.rcn.com/jkimball.maultranet/Bio logyPages/G/Germination.html http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/vege004/ve ge004.htmhttp://gardening.wsu.edu/library/vege004/ve ge004.htm