Biology Green Fruit Ripening Experiment

Observation/ Mission Statement: Wrapping green bananas in newspaper will ripen them faster.
Background Knowledge: Plants use ethylene as a hormone. It is a very small, simple molecule that exists as a gas at biological temperatures. Thus, when a plant releases ethylene, it diffuses quite quickly in the air. Ripening can be accelerated or decelerated depending on the conditions green fruits are put under for example washing fruits or wrapping them in newspaper. Therefore newspaper (wrapping green fruit in newspaper) is the independent variable while ripening is the dependent variable.
Hypothesis: Green fruits wrapped in newspaper ripen faster than those left in the open/ unwrapped.
Aim: Investigate whether green fruits wrapped in newspaper ripen faster than when unwrapped.
Materials:
1. Newspaper
2. Twelve (12) green bananas
3. Two plates
4. Table
5. Calendar
6. Pen
7. Paper
8. A cool dry place at home.
Procedure
1. Make sure all bananas are about equally unripe. If one is riper than the other, buy a new banana.
2. Examine both bananas
3. Wrap six of the bananas in a sheet of newspaper and leave the other out in the open.
4. Record the time and day.
5. Everyday at the same time, check for yellow colouration among the bananas in each bowl. Experiment ends once yellow colouration is observed.
Expected Result: It is expected that yellow colouration will occur first in the wrapped banana.
Limitations: Weather patterns and temperature differ each day
Conclusion: In the end both bananas became ripe. However the banana wrapped in newspaper ripened quicker and by the end of the 7 days it had become slightly overripe.