Kyle Austin

 The initial question for our experiment was this: “How does colored light affect the survival (ultimately the ability to perform photosynthesis) of a plant? What color is best? What color is worst?”  We predicted that Blue would be the color that showed the best survival of plants, because previous published experiments have shown that plants absorb most of their needed light from the blue end of the visible spectrum.

 -4 small, leafy plants  -4 boxes of good size for the plants you selected  -4 CFL bulbs, (1 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Regular White)  -4 lamps (we tested with work lamps, but any lamp that fits your bulbs will do)  -1 box of tin or aluminum foil

 We will test using 4 boxes of the same size, lined with tin foil, each with the same species of plant inside. Each box will be tested under a different color of light (red, blue, green, and white) and at the end of the testing week, the results will be finalized. You may also wish to test temperature, to ensure that the experiment does not become a fire hazard!  1)Line Inside of all 4 boxes with tin/aluminum foil, leaving top open  2)Fit lamps (we used work lamps) with colored lights, testing to ensure that they function properly.  3)Place each plant in a different box, place each lamp on top of that.  4)Turn on all the lamps, water each plant and place a thermometer in each box.  5)Test successively for the next three-four days, at regular time intervals.  6)Record results

 End of class, 1 st day: all plants are equally healty, White: 23°C, Red: 26°C, Green: 26°C, Blue: 23°C  Wednesday: White: showing some deterioration, 26°C Red: Healthy, 25.5°C Green: Shriveling, 26°C, Blue: some leaves dead  Thursday: White: showing more deterioration, 25°C, Red: dying suddenly, 25°C, Green: More shriveling, 25°C, Blue: some shriveling; is healthiest, 24°C  Friday: White: relatively healthy, 26°C, Red: wilting, 25°C, Green: wilting, 28°C, Blue: Healthiest, 26°C

 White: Never got unhealthy, but remained relatively healthy throughout  Red: Was immaculately healthy the first two days, then fell to wilting FAST  Green: Fell steadily to wilting  Blue: Fell slightly, then showed to be the most healthy

 We found through four days of equal- condition testing of all plants that our Hypothesis WAS supported, but did not look like it at first. While the plant under blue light was the least healthy on the second day of testing, it did turn out to be the most healthy by the time the testing was through.

 A few sources of error in this experiment might have been controlling water quality and nutrient intake, better control of external light, and maybe better containment for the plants  A future question based on this experiment might be what affect other, less mainstream and less available colors of light would have on the survival questions.