Abstract:
This article is to give the reader insight regarding my work and
my findings. Through an experiment using rye grass seeds, I attempted
to show that a loving enviorment would stimulate a plant's growth,
causing to to surpass that of it's counterpart which received nothing
but harsh treatment.
Introduction:
What I attempted to prove through this experiment is that a living plant would grow and respond better when placed in a loving and caring enviorment. One in which it is entertained, encouraged, and praised often, rather than a harsh enviorment where it is bored, degraded, and scorned.
Methods:
SUBJECTS-
The variety of grass seed used for subjects in this
experiment was Annual Ryegrass from Agway, Inc., from Syracuse, New
York.
APPARATUS-
For planters I used a quarter gallon milk carton cut in half
lengthwise. Plastic bags were also used for the planters to be placed
in once the seeds were planted.
PROCEDURES-
I divided twenty-two seeds into two groups of eleven. I planted
eleven seeds in each of the two milk carton halves that were filled
with fresh potting soil. I then watered the seeds in each carton
lightly, put them into their respective plastic bags, and set them on
the window sill were they would receive plenty of sunlight. I waited
three days for the seeds to sprout and when they still hadn't I
removed them from the plastic bags and waited.
The seeds still hadn't sprouted so I began my experiment anyway. I
took one of the cartons to the TV lounge with me and left the other
alone in my room. We watched sitcoms and talked awhile. I continued
to do this for three days. I then measured the growth of each seed
and recorded them and prepared to do my calculations with my data
collected.
Results:
After collecting the data, I used the Mann-Whitney U to test my hypothesis. The number of subjects was 11 in each group. My U-obtained was 175.5 with a critical U for this experiment of 34. The average height for the seeds was zero millimeters.
Discussion:
My Null hypothesis stated that a loving enviorment has more
of a positive effect on plant growth than a harsh one. My independent
variable was amount of affection shown towards the experimental
group. Based on the results of the Mann-Whitney U that I calculated I
would have to reject the null hypothesis, and restate that a positive
enviorment has seemingly no effect on plant growth.