1 SHU UK Plants in Space

Adele – RESULTS MONITOR

T’Yana - TECHNICIAN

Evie – TEAM LEADER

Rosie – PUBLICITY MANAGER

• We decided to focus on light

• Our Aim - to find out if the colour of the light would

affect the growth of the plant.

• Key theme of the project – plants

photosynthesising to help the astronauts in

space.

• It interested us!

• Research told us that it would be an effective way to

grow plants.

• We have previous knowledge

of which lights plants absorb.

• Blue and red acetate.

• Cress seeds

• Soil

• Plastic tubs

• Seed trays

• Lamp

• Pipettes

• We did the experiment twice, to double check

our results.

•3 is the magic number.

(3 times is always best!)

• Control variable

Test on different plants.

Continue using blue light.

Control the control variable more tightly.

We used a

smart phone

app to monitor

light intensity

under all three

boxes.

Colour of filter

Ave

rage n

um

ber

of

kale

gro

wn

1.24 lux 2.48 lux 1.17 lux

Ave

rage n

um

ber

of

buck

whea

t g

row

n

Colour of filter

1.24 lux 2.48 lux 1.17 lux

Ave

rage n

um

ber

of

cress

gro

wn

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

clear blue red

Number of Cress Grown

1.24 lux 1.17 lux2.48 lux

Colour of filter

• Plants left in different positions

• Buckwheat needed different conditions to grow

• Couldn’t get accurate readings with measurements

• Couldn’t control temperature

•Just concentrated on Cress.

•Left the plants in the same

positions with the same light

intensity.

•Same number of seeds in

each tray.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

clear blue red

Colour of filter

Ave

rage n

um

ber

of

cress

gro

wn

• Controlling Plant Growth. BBC Bitesize. [online]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gatewa

y_pre_2011/living/controlplantgrowthrev1.shtml

• Red and Blue Light effects on plants. eHow. [online]

http://www.ehow.com/info_7930505_red-blue-light-effects-

plants.html

• Growing cress. GrowVeg.com [online]

http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=307

• The Truth About Kale. WebMD. [online]

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/kale-nutrition-and-cooking

• 10 Health Benefits of Buckwheat. Care2. [online]

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-health-benefits-of-

buckwheat.html