
Gold Powder and Radish Seed Growth
Medium
What happens when you add gold powder to growing seeds? You place 100 radish seeds in each of twelve petri dishes lined with filter paper. Six pairs of dishes receive increasing amounts of gold powder mixed with water. One pair gets no gold and serves as the control.
You record germination each day. The control group without gold sprouts fastest and has the highest percentage of germinated seeds. As the amount of gold increases, both germination rate and percentage drop.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that the larger amounts of gold will not increase the germination rate of the radish seeds.
Method & Materials
You will place 100 radish seeds into each of 12 petri dishes, pour a mixture of water and gold powder over the seeds, and document any changes in the seed's germination each day.
You will need 12 petri dishes, 100 radish seeds, filter paper, 25 ml of water, and 0.25 gram of powdered gold.
Results
The results showed that the seeds in the petri dishes that contained no gold germinated at a faster rate and had a higher percentage of seed germination than the other groups of petri dishes. The germination rate and percentage of seeds germinated decreased as the amount of gold in each pair of petri dishes increased.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it tests the effects of gold powder on the growth of radish seeds, which is something that has not been studied before.
Also Consider
Experiment variations to consider include testing different types of seeds or different amounts of gold powder.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related video
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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