The Effects of Light on Plants Essay Example

All living things need specific nutrients and necessities for growth and reproduction. For plants, soil is needed to obtain these nutrients. Plants must also have light, air and water in order to grow. Light is a major component because plants need it in order to survive in their habitats because they use it to make food through photosynthesis. Light is also used to reflect off a natural green color, which is absorbed by the green pigment, chlorophyll.
Aim
What effects does sunlight and no light have on growing plants? The goal of this lab is to determine the effects of different approaches of growing seedlings and to understand these effects.
Hypothesis
I believe that actual sunlight will benefit the plants in helping to make them grow. I also believe that the effect of having no light on growing seedlings will cause the plant not to grow at all because plants need light in order to produce food. Materials
- A package of pea seeds
- Access to tap water
- About 60 grams of potting soil
- 3 planting trays
- Access to sunlight
- A shoebox with a cover
- A marker to label the trays
- A notebook to record data
- A ruler

Variables
The constant variables were the amount of water used for watering the plants, size of the planting trays, type of soil, the kind of seeds, and how deep the seeds were planted. The manipulated variable is the sunlight used and the lack of using light.
Procedure
Place potting soil into each of the three planting trays so that it is halfway filled in the tray. Next, take 1-2 seeds and place it in the center of the soil. Cover the seeds with the remaining soil to the edge of the tray. Water each seedling and label each tray according to what circumstances it is going under: with sunlight or without light. Place each planting tray under its specified place with its specific conditions. Place the planting tray labeled ‘with sunlight’ under a place with