A Summer Project: Racing Plants!

The Great Plant Race!

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It may sound silly to think about how fast a plant can run, but if you think about how fast a plant can grow, then it is not so silly. In this project you and a few of your friends will compete to see who can get a plant to grow the fastest. As in all science experiments, you must sit down first and think a little. Little kids are likely to run off and try to start something without thinking, but you are a mature kid and will do some thinking first. The little kids will take the nearest plant and try to measure its speed of growth, but you will sit on you front steps and think about which plants are likely to grow the fastest. "Let me see, does grass grow faster than - say - a morning glory vine? Can I think of anything that will grow faster than a morning glory vine? What about corn (maize)? Hmmm, corn grows to more than 8 ft (2.5 m) in a summer? That's pretty fast, but is there something that grows even faster?" Keep thinking this way. Oh, and make a list of your ideas? Do that! Go and ask your parents and other adults about plants that grow fast. Collect information and add those suggestions to your list. Finally, when you think you have just the right plant - one that you believe will beat those of your friends, start yours growing, or find one that is already growing and start measuring how fast it is growing. Yes! Of course, you may add fertilizer to help it grow even faster! (But it is not fair to dump something on your friends' plants that will stop them from growing. That is a no-no. A BIG NO-NO! That will disqualify you absolutely, and the penalty is that you will have to do all their chores at their homes!) So let's get started.

Nobody loses! At the end of this project you will see that nobody loses. That is because you and your competitors will combine your results into ONE report, and put all of your names on it. That is the way real scientists often do their work. Everybody wins because everybody's name is on the report. You don't have to tell anyone else who chose which plant. Remember that it is much more mature to build up your team than to tear each other down.

Starting materials

Select individual plants for your "horses" in the race against those of your friends (and remember they might not pick the same kind of plant, but ones which are totally different). (See step #10, below.)
Measuring tape or yard stick or meter stick
Record keeping equipment
- a calendar
- sharpened pencil
- small notebook
- graph paper
- camera and film (with close-up capability)
Some sort of fertilizer. Get advice on which would be best, or maybe none at all. And where does a thinking scientist go for advice? To experts. Do you know any experts in plant growth? What about garden supply shops! Or you may contact THIS WEB SITE with your questions.

Methods

SECTION ONE
Step Directions and Diagram, if any
1 Now that you have selected your type of plant, you must figure out how you are going to measure it. A small tree is easy to measure - from the ground to the tip-top. A vine is a little harder because it likes to wrap itself around things and doesn't like to be stretched out straight. Corn plants are mostly bent-over leaves when they are in their fastest growing stage, so maybe you can stretch a leaf straight up and measure the plant that way. But many plants have an "apex" like trees and can be measured easily. Because climbing vines are often the fastest growing plant around, you might consider this trick for measuring its growth. Mark where the tip of the vine was at the start. Then the next day, starting at the marked point, carefully unwind the newly grown stem from the fence or whatever, gently try to stretch it out straight and measure the amount of new growth. Then wind it back the way it was, mark the place where the new tip is, and wait for the next day, to repeat the measuring.
2 At this time, you should consider how you are going to feed your plants to make it the best athlete it can be. This will be left totally up to you. There are many hazards in this so be careful. Remember: ask the experts!
3 Each day you measure your plant. It helps to measure your plant at the same hour each day. If you don't, you will have to learn about using fractions because you might be measuring a plant after two and a half days. We are now going to make a big jump - into graphing. Teachers love graphs, and they start teaching graphing very early, so let's get started!
4 As you keep your records you will also want to start graphing your "data" - the measurements you are collecting. On your graph paper you will make the vertical be the increasing height of your plant and the horizontal will be the growing number of days. The horizontal "axis" at the bottom of the graph paper is where the "independent" variable is listed. In this case, it might be helpful to remember that time marches on independent of other things. However, the vertical axis on the left side of the graph is where the heights are listed. Height is a "dependent" variable because the height of the plant depends on when you measured it. So your graph paper should look something like this →
5 Each day you measure the plant. Try not to damage the plant when you make the measurements or else your plant might stop growing, and your friend's plant will win the race. Oh, and don't get worried if you miss a day because you just measure it the next day and make a note that you missed a day. Obviously, you don't make a dot on your graph when you miss a day. (Of course, you could measure the plant later in the day, but then you will have deal with fractions of days.) Here is a graph where the third day's measurement wasn't taken, but the fourth day's is recorded. Notice that the person made big dots on the paper, and even put circles around them so that they would be easily seen by teachers and other adults who don't have as good eyesight as you have.
6 After you have made your graph for perhaps a month, you might notice that the plant is slowing down, or has gotten too tall for you to reach the top, or for some other you need to stop taking measurements. Shown here is a plant that started slowing down (just like people: little people grow fast upwards, and big people stop growing up and start growing sideways!).
7 Here is where the "power of graphs" becomes a powerful tool for you to use. You want to find out how much your plants grows PER DAY or PER WEEK. That is the rate of growth. From your graph, you can see when the plant started slowing down, if it did. You do not want to use those "slowing-down" points. You want to use the points that are going up FAST. And so how much did the plant grow during those days when the points were going up FAST? This you can probably figure out in your head, but you want to impress your teacher with your graphing skills, so you should use a ruler and draw a straight line through those points WHEN the plant was growing its fastest. See? →
8 Now you want to determine the rate of growth per day. Here is how that is done. How much did the plant grow when it was growing its fastest. Maybe it grew 34 inches in 17 days. So that means it grew how fast per day? 34 inches ÷ 17 days = 2 inches per day. (For more advanced young scientists, that is the "slope" of the straight line you have drawn, above.)
9 Contact THIS WEB SITE with your results mention the type of plant you used, how many you used, and what their growth rates were. Also mention if you had any friends working with their plants, and what results they got.

OTHER THOUGHTS
Now comes the part of the project that will make you or break you in a science fair. More thinking is needed so that you will give a really good showing. Let's look at some things which you ought to think about and be ready to answer if your teacher or a science fair judge asks you.
10 You are asked:
"Why are the points on your graph so wiggly and not on a line?" Things that you might consider for your answer may deal with weather, watering and fertilizing. Would you expect a plant to grow best on a sunny day, or a dark, cloudy day? If your plant is not getting enough or is getting too much water, is it likely to slow down in its growth? Does your plant grow fastest right after you have given it some fertilizer? Do your expect your plant to grow best on cool days, or warm days, or hot days? All these "environmental factors" you should have been noting in your notebook as you took measurements.
11 "What did you do to prevent a total disaster if your plant got broken or otherwise injured?" You should have been measuring several plants of the same type.
12 "Did your plants grow at night?" How would you determine this?
Number 12 brings up an alternative plan rather than a race. Each of you and your friends take up a portion of a big project. One of you determines if plants grow more in the day or at night. Another determines if plants grow more on cloudy or sunny days. Yet another determines if plants grow better on hot days rather than cooler days. And finally a last friend studies the effects of various fertilizers on the plants. When all of you have finished collecting your "data", have a meeting and write ONE report and put all your names on it. This is the way most professional scientists do their work.

SECTION ONE
Step	Directions and Diagram, if any
1	Now that you have selected your type of plant, you must figure out how you are going to measure it. A small tree is easy to measure - from the ground to the tip-top. A vine is a little harder because it likes to wrap itself around things and doesn't like to be stretched out straight. Corn plants are mostly bent-over leaves when they are in their fastest growing stage, so maybe you can stretch a leaf straight up and measure the plant that way. But many plants have an "apex" like trees and can be measured easily.	Because climbing vines are often the fastest growing plant around, you might consider this trick for measuring its growth. Mark where the tip of the vine was at the start. Then the next day, starting at the marked point, carefully unwind the newly grown stem from the fence or whatever, gently try to stretch it out straight and measure the amount of new growth. Then wind it back the way it was, mark the place where the new tip is, and wait for the next day, to repeat the measuring.
2	At this time, you should consider how you are going to feed your plants to make it the best athlete it can be. This will be left totally up to you. There are many hazards in this so be careful. Remember: ask the experts!
3	Each day you measure your plant. It helps to measure your plant at the same hour each day. If you don't, you will have to learn about using fractions because you might be measuring a plant after two and a half days. We are now going to make a big jump - into graphing. Teachers love graphs, and they start teaching graphing very early, so let's get started!
4	As you keep your records you will also want to start graphing your "data" - the measurements you are collecting. On your graph paper you will make the vertical be the increasing height of your plant and the horizontal will be the growing number of days. The horizontal "axis" at the bottom of the graph paper is where the "independent" variable is listed. In this case, it might be helpful to remember that time marches on independent of other things. However, the vertical axis on the left side of the graph is where the heights are listed. Height is a "dependent" variable because the height of the plant depends on when you measured it. So your graph paper should look something like this →
5	Each day you measure the plant. Try not to damage the plant when you make the measurements or else your plant might stop growing, and your friend's plant will win the race. Oh, and don't get worried if you miss a day because you just measure it the next day and make a note that you missed a day. Obviously, you don't make a dot on your graph when you miss a day. (Of course, you could measure the plant later in the day, but then you will have deal with fractions of days.) Here is a graph where the third day's measurement wasn't taken, but the fourth day's is recorded. Notice that the person made big dots on the paper, and even put circles around them so that they would be easily seen by teachers and other adults who don't have as good eyesight as you have.
6	After you have made your graph for perhaps a month, you might notice that the plant is slowing down, or has gotten too tall for you to reach the top, or for some other you need to stop taking measurements. Shown here is a plant that started slowing down (just like people: little people grow fast upwards, and big people stop growing up and start growing sideways!).
7	Here is where the "power of graphs" becomes a powerful tool for you to use. You want to find out how much your plants grows PER DAY or PER WEEK. That is the rate of growth. From your graph, you can see when the plant started slowing down, if it did. You do not want to use those "slowing-down" points. You want to use the points that are going up FAST. And so how much did the plant grow during those days when the points were going up FAST? This you can probably figure out in your head, but you want to impress your teacher with your graphing skills, so you should use a ruler and draw a straight line through those points WHEN the plant was growing its fastest. See? →
8	Now you want to determine the rate of growth per day. Here is how that is done. How much did the plant grow when it was growing its fastest. Maybe it grew 34 inches in 17 days. So that means it grew how fast per day? 34 inches ÷ 17 days = 2 inches per day. (For more advanced young scientists, that is the "slope" of the straight line you have drawn, above.)
9	Contact THIS WEB SITE with your results mention the type of plant you used, how many you used, and what their growth rates were. Also mention if you had any friends working with their plants, and what results they got.

OTHER THOUGHTS
Now comes the part of the project that will make you or break you in a science fair. More thinking is needed so that you will give a really good showing. Let's look at some things which you ought to think about and be ready to answer if your teacher or a science fair judge asks you.
10	You are asked: "Why are the points on your graph so wiggly and not on a line?"	Things that you might consider for your answer may deal with weather, watering and fertilizing. Would you expect a plant to grow best on a sunny day, or a dark, cloudy day? If your plant is not getting enough or is getting too much water, is it likely to slow down in its growth? Does your plant grow fastest right after you have given it some fertilizer? Do your expect your plant to grow best on cool days, or warm days, or hot days? All these "environmental factors" you should have been noting in your notebook as you took measurements.
11	"What did you do to prevent a total disaster if your plant got broken or otherwise injured?"	You should have been measuring several plants of the same type.
12	"Did your plants grow at night?"	How would you determine this?
Number 12 brings up an alternative plan rather than a race. Each of you and your friends take up a portion of a big project. One of you determines if plants grow more in the day or at night. Another determines if plants grow more on cloudy or sunny days. Yet another determines if plants grow better on hot days rather than cooler days. And finally a last friend studies the effects of various fertilizers on the plants. When all of you have finished collecting your "data", have a meeting and write ONE report and put all your names on it. This is the way most professional scientists do their work.