Lima Bean Experiment

Research Question: What is the effect of calcium in different concentrations on lima bean growth?
Personal Engagement: For my internal assessment, I chose calcium because it interested me how adding a certain nutrient or element, can aid in growth of an organism. Calcium is a vital nutrient needed by most organisms and can be found in many things we consume like milk. Knowing that calcium helps keep humans healthy and have stronger bones, I wanted to experiment how calcium might aid in the growth of lima beans.
Background Information: In plant growth, calcium effects the metabolic process of other nutrient uptake that is vital for growth of the plant. Calcium also strengthens the cell wall structure (It is an essential part of the cell wall);
Experiment Description: In this experiment, I gathered 25 lima beans and made 5 groups for different calcium concentrations (0 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, 300 mg, 400 mg). I used constant variables such as the amount of water, soil, and light to ensure the accuracy of the results. The growth of the lima beans was recorded over a period of 5 days.
Hypothesis: If calcium is added to the soil in greater amounts (0mg, 100mg, 200mg, 300mg, 400mg), then the lima beans will grow healthier and taller because calcium aids in the uptake of nutrients in plants.
Rationale: How does a bigger quantity of calcium effect the growth rate of a plant compared to only a moderate amount of calcium? Does temperature and other important factors impact the growth rate differently at different concentrations of
The lima beans with more calcium added also germinated quicker than the ones with minimal amounts or no calcium at all. The data recorded supports the hypothesis that if calcium is added in greater amounts, that the lima beans will grow taller and healthier. The plants in groups 4 and 5 grew much quicker and faster than all 3 of the other groups. The lima beans in groups 4 and 5 germinated in the second day while the 3 other groups took 3 days to germinate and sprout. The total amount each plant grew in the different groups is directly correlated with the amount of calcium added to each group of plants because certain variables were kept constant to ensure that each plant had the same environment. The benefits of calcium in plant growth are numerous. Calcium helps in the metabolic uptake of nutrients vital to plant growth. It also helps in creating a strong cell wall and membrane in the plant’s cells which help in fighting against diseases and fungi’s. For these reasons and more, that is why calcium plays such a big role in plant growth. The results are noticeably different and show clearly that calcium aids in lima bean growth. A few flaws in my experiments design were that the scale was not a .001 accuracy scale which means that the amount of calcium added could have been less accurate than possible. Also since the plants were