IS WATER THE BEST FOOD FOR A PLANT? BY:DINO KAMBEITZ Science Fair Project Mrs. Crane- Grade 4

MY BIG QUESTION? Will a plant live the best being fed soda, coffee or just plain water? If I fed the plants something other than water, would the plant die instead of grow?

My Hypothesis My hypothesis was that a plant fed just plain water would grow and live much better than a plant fed bad things like soda and coffee. I thought this because I know that drinking soda and coffee are not good for humans to grow and be healthy.

Interesting Facts 1.All living things need water to live and grow. Plants are living things, therefore they need water to live and grow. 2.Plants require 16 specific chemical elements to grow and live, but not all plants require the same elements. 3.Feeding plants coffee grounds helps to keep bugs from eating the plant. 4.Sugar water may be a good food for some plants. 5.Small amounts of caffeine may be good for plants. 6.Cold coffee may be good for plants.

EXPERIMENT: Materials: 1. 3 Small Plants 2. Can of Soda ( Dr. Pepper) 3. Regular Brewed Coffee 4. Tap Water 5. Camera to track progress

Step By Step Instructions Begin with healthy looking plants and start feeding only one plant the soda, one plant coffee and one plant tap water. Keep all the plants in the same place so they get the same amount of sunlight. Use the camera to take pictures of how the plants are doing over time. Observe if the plants are growing or dying.

Control/Variables All three plants are not the same type of plants. All three plants are the same size. All three plants were fed on the same days, at the same time. All three plants were kept in the same amount of sunlight and temperature.

OBSERVATIONS First couple of weeks (10 days) there was no change to any of the plants. The soda plants leaves began to turn yellow and brown. The coffee plant was a bit droopy, but it was not turning brown like the soda plant. The water plant looked exactly the same.

DATA (after 4 – 6 weeks) The soda plant was dying and smelled very bad. All the leaves were turning brown and either falling off or very droopy. The coffee plant looked pretty good but also had a bit of a smell to it. The leaves were still green and the plant was alive. The water plant is doing the best. It had grown and looks very green.

ANALYSIS OF DATA Soda is definitely not the best food for plants because it is rotting the plant to death. The coffee plant did not die, but it was not growing very much and it did have a bit of a smell. Coffee did not make the plant die in the short amount of time I did the experiment. The water plant is growing and turning green and very alive. It did the best of the three.

Water Plant The water plant after being fed tap water for 6 weeks.

Soda Plant The soda plant after being fed Dr. Pepper for 6 weeks.

Coffee Plant The coffee plant after being fed brewed coffee for 6 weeks.

CONCLUSION My hypothesis was correct because the water plant did the best. It stayed alive and grew much more than the soda or coffee plants. The coffee plant did not die, but did not look as good as the water plant. The soda plant died pretty fast. So feeding plants soda is just as bad as humans if you want them to live and grow healthy.

REFERENCES 1. Science and Technology, The Southwestern Company How plants grow and survive at pppst.com Forums 2.gardenweb.com