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Does the Color of Light Help plants Grow Tall?

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The purpose of this project is to determine which colored light will make a lima bean plant grow tallest.

Purpose

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Hypothesis

If orange,red,blue,green, and sunlight are tested to see which light will make a lima bean plant grow tallest, then the orange light will work best.

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Materials

1 25 pound Miracle Gro potting mix

45 large lima beans

4 large Home Depot cardboard moving boxes

1 red LED light bulb

1 blue LED light bulb

1 orange LED light bulb

1 green LED light bulb

4 lamp making kits

Water to give to the plants

15 small/ 4in terracotta pots

Metric measuring cup

1 metric ruler

1 pair of scissors

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Procedures

Gather all materials
Line up 15 pots and put two cups of soil in each pot
Using ruler measure and dig with finger

a 3 cm deep hole

Place one lima bean in each hole and cover with soil
Pour 237 ml of water in each pot
Fold one side of each cardboard box closed
Cut 3 cm hole in middle of each closed end of cardboard box
Thread lamp wire through each hole, leaving plug side out of box

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Procedures

9 Plug each light bulb in each lamp kit

10. Place three potted seeds under each box with open side of box resting on floor, so only light from light bulb can get in

11. Place three potted seeds outside in natural light

12. Plug in all lamp kits

13. Allow each plant to get eight hours of light each day.

14. Water 118 ml every three days for each pot

15. Let plants grow for two weeks, at the end of two weeks measure the height of each plant.

16. Repeat process two more times, cleaning out pots between each trial and starting with new soil and seeds each time

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Data Chart of Height for Each Plant

Color	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3
Sunlight	0 cm 0 cm 0 cm	8 cm 1 cm 1.5 cm	12 cm 2. 14 cm 3. 13 cm
Blue light	11 cm 2 cm 0 cm	40 cm 40 cm 31 cm	24 cm 37 cm 23 cm
Orange light	11 cm 8 cm 0 cm	35 cm 25 cm 13 cm	24 cm 37 cm 44 cm
Green light	29 cm 8.5 cm 0 cm	31 cm 34 cm 1 cm	36 cm 0 cm 26 cm
Red light	37.5 cm 0 cm 0 cm	38 cm 33 cm 22 cm	37 cm 31 cm 35 cm

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Graph

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Conclusion

From my observations of my data, I have realized my hypothesis was incorrect.The orange light did not support the lima bean growth best. The orange light produced an average of 20.8 cm of height .However, the red light produced the best lima bean plant growth at an average of 26 cm in height.In conclusion, the red light performed best out of all lights.

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Real World Connection

One way this knowledge can be used in the real world is with urben farmers who have small farms indoors (micro-farmers). Micro farmers often farm indoors due to lack of land. When these farmers farm indoors they need artificial light. Knowing that red light helps plants grow the tallest, will help them pick what color light to use.