Does Wi Fi Hurt Plants? - · PDF fileDoes Wi‐Fi Hurt Plants? • I like to listen to music while I fall asleep, and I wanted to listen to Spotifyon a tablet connected

Does Wi‐Fi Hurt Plants?

• I like to listen to music while I fall asleep, and I wanted to listen to Spotify on a tablet connected to our house’s Wi‐Fi.

• My grandma said that wasn’t safe. I wanted to test Wi‐Fi safety, but we don’t have a way to test safety on people at home, so I decided to use plants instead.

• Our house has a 12 megabit Wi‐Fi signal from an AT&T router, and we can also pick up Wi‐Fi from several nearby houses and a school.

Introduction/Background

• Some girls in Denmark did a science fair project that seemed to show that Wi‐Fi was harmful to plants.

• They used a commercial Wi‐Fi router that is more powerful than the home routers we have at our house.

• I decided to find out if the Wi‐Fi signal at our house would affect plant growth.

Experiment / Hypothesis

• Experiment: Does being close to a Wi‐Fi hotspot affect plants?

• Hypothesis: My hypothesis was that Wi‐Fi does not affect plant growth. – If true, there would be no difference in the growth pattern of plants close to a Wi‐Fi hot spot.

– If false, there would be a difference in the growth pattern of plants close to a Wi‐Fi Hot spot.

Materials/Supplies

• 24 glass jars with lids (24)• Cotton balls• Steel cans (6)• Metric ruler• Digital camera• Notebook/journal• Computer• Cell phone• Radish seeds• White beans

• Coffee can lids (6) • 2 cardboard egg cartons,

cut into 3 parts with 4 sections in each

• Distilled water• Potting soil• Spoon• Triple beam balance scale• Markers• 30 ml. measuring cup• 10 ml. syringe

Variables

• My variables were the strength of the Wi‐Fi Signal and a steel can to protect one sample at each location. – 5 BARS: Grandma’s study –bookshelf

next to the main Wi‐Fi router for the house.

– 4 BARS: Kitchen – a shelf at the end of the kitchen counter.

– 3 BARS: Den – mantel over the fireplace.

– 2 BARS: My bedroom – my desk.– 1 BAR: My grandpa’s study – a shelf

on a bookcase.– 0 BARS: Master bedroom – small

writing table.

Controls

• All of the samples used the same number of seeds, and the same amount of water.

• Each location had the same amount of light, according to a Nikon light meter.

• The temperature was the same in each location.

Methodology

• Prepare 48 test samples.• Make sure each sample

has the same amount of seeds, water, and growth medium. – 24 sparkler white tip radish

seeds in glass jars with cotton balls & distilled water

– 6 radish seed samples protected from Wi‐Fi in a steel can

– 24 blue lake white beans in potting soil placed in egg carton sections

• Put 5 test samples at Wi‐Fi hot spots with 0‐5 bars.– 4 glass jars with radish seeds– 1 egg carton section with 4

bean samples in potting soil

• Observe, measure, record, and photograph samples for 10 days.

• Analyze data.

Measuring Wi‐Fi Signals

• I used a cell phone set to use the Internet on a Wi‐Fi connection to find locations in the house where the Wi‐Fi signal strength varied.– 5 BARS: Grandma’s study – a bookshelf

next to the main Wi‐Fi router for the house.

– 4 BARS: Kitchen –a shelf at the end of the kitchen counter.

– 3 BARS: Den – the fireplace mantel.– 2 BARS: My bedroom – on my desk.– 1 BAR: My grandpa’s study – a shelf on

a bookcase.– 0 BARS: Master bedroom – a small

writing table.

Data Table: 5 Bars

5 BARS 12/14 12/16 12/18 12/20 12/22

Height, in centimeters

Radish seeds jar 1 1 3 5 5 5

Radish seeds jar 2 1 2.5 6 6 5

Radish seeds jar 3 3.03 3.5 4 4.5 4

Radish seeds jar 4 (Shielded) 0.02 1.5 4 5.5 5.5

White Bean, Potted 1 0 0 0 0 0




Data Table: 4 Bars

12/14 12/16 12/18 12/20 12/20


Radish seeds jar 1 0 3 4.01 4.5 4

Radish seeds jar 2 0 3 4.5 6 5Radish seeds jar 3 0 2.01 4.5 5 4.5Radish seeds jar 4 (Shielded) 1 4 5 5 5.5





Data Table: 3 Bars

12/14 12/16 12/18 12/20 12/22





Radish seeds jar 4 (Shielded) 0.02 2.01 3 5 4

White Bean, Potted 1 0 1 4 6 6.5

White Bean, Potted 2 0 1 3 6.02 7.5

White Bean, Potted 3 0 0.04 0.5 0.5 0.5

White Bean, Potted 4 0 0 0.6 0.5 0.5

Data Table: 2 Bars

12/14 12/16 12/18 12/20 12/22


Radish seeds jar 1 0.04 3 2.5 3.5 4

Radish seeds jar 2 1 1 3 4.5 4

Radish seeds jar 3 0 2 6 6.5 7

Radish seeds jar 4 (Shielded) 1 1 1 1 0.5





Data Table: 1 Bar

12/14 12/16 12/18 12/20 12/22


Radish seeds jar 1 1 2 5 4 4.5

Radish seeds jar 2 0 1.5 3.5 4.5 5

Radish seeds jar 3 0 2 3 4 4

Radish seeds jar 4 (Shielded) 0 2 3 3.5 3.5





Data Table: 0 Bars

12/14 12/16 12/18 12/20 12/22


Radish seeds jar 1 0.04 0.5 2.5 3 4

Radish seeds jar 2 0 1 4 3.5 4.5

Radish seeds jar 3 0 1 3 3.5 5Radish seeds jar 4 (Shielded) 0 0.5 3 5 5





Average Shielded vs. UnshieldedRadish Seed Growth

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Dec. 14

Dec. 16

Dec. 18

Dec. 20

Dec. 22

• 12/14/12, Location #1: 5 Bars

• Radish Seeds• The Shielded sample is on the far right, in jar #4.

Photos: Dec. 14, 5 Bars

• 12/14/12, Location # 2: 4 Bars

• Radish Seeds

• The Shielded sample is on the far right, in jar #4.


• December 14, Location #3 : 3 Bars• Radish Seeds• The Shielded sample is on the far

right, in jar #4.


• December 14, Location # 4: 2 Bars• Radish Seeds• The Shielded sample is on the far

right, in jar #4.


• December 14, Location 5: 1 Bar Radish Seeds


Photos: Dec. 14, 1 Bar

• December 14, Location 6: 0 Bars Radish Seeds



• December 16, Location #1: 5 Bars• Radish Seeds• The Shielded sample is on the far

right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.


• December 16, Location #5: 1 Bar• Radish Seeds• The Shielded sample is on the far

right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.



right, in jar #4.


• 12/22/13, Location #1: 5 Bars

• Radish Seeds• The Shielded

sample is on the far right, in jar #4.


• 12/22/13, Location #2: 4 Bars

• Radish Seeds



• 12/22/13, Location #3: 3 Bars

• Radish Seeds



• 12/22/13, Location #4: 2 Bars

• Radish Seeds



Note: The shielded sample died, because the lid was screwed on too tight.

• 12/22/13, Location #5: 1 Bar

• Radish Seeds



• 12/14/13, Location #6: 0 Bars

• Radish Seeds



Results: 5 Bars

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

5 Bars Unshielded

5 Bars Shielded

Exposed to Wi‐Fi: Shorter, browner

Shielded from Wi‐Fi: Taller, greener

Results: 4 Bars

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6

4 Bars Unshielded

4 Bars Shielded

Results: 3 Bars

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6

3 Bars Unshielded

3 Bars Shielded

Results: 2 Bars

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6

2BAR

2BARS

Results: 1 Bar

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Bar Unshielded

1 Bar Shielded

Results: 0 Bars

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6

0 BarsUnshielded

0 Bars Shielded

Analysis

• Once I had collected all of the data and photographs, I did the following steps to analyze the measurements.– Averaged the height of the unshielded radish seed samples grown at each site.

– Compared the average in each location with the actual data for the shielded radish seeds.

• Used Microsoft Excel to create line graphs of the data.

• The graphs showed that Wi‐Fi exposure WAS affecting the growth of the radish seedlings.

Conclusion

• Wi‐Fi does affect plants.– My hypothesis was wrong.

• In the beginning, the unshielded radish seeds grew as quickly, or even more quickly, than the radish seed samples in the shielded containers.

• But after a few days, the shielded plants grew better, and by the end of my experiment, they seemed the healthiest and strongest.

• 20 of 24 white bean seeds failed to grow at all.

• Seeds planted in Styrofoam egg carton sections grew, but the ones planed in cardboard did not.

• There wasn’t enough data to tell if Wi‐Fi hurt these plants or not.

Experiment Design Problem

Preliminary Test Samples

• In a preliminary test, I learned that if you tighten the jar lids too much, all of the radish seeds will die.

• That happened with some of my samples during my science fair project, too. • This explains the data on some of the charts, where the shielded samples did

not do as well as expected.• But this problem doesn’t change the outcome of the experiment: Wi‐Fi does

affect plants.

Does Wi Fi Hurt Plants? - · PDF fileDoes Wi‐Fi Hurt Plants? • I like to listen to music while I fall asleep, and I wanted to listen to Spotifyon a tablet connected

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