
Vitamins as Antioxidants for Seed Growth
Medium
Can vitamins protect seeds from damage caused by hydrogen peroxide? Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer. It can harm living cells. You test whether three vitamins can counteract that damage.
You fill fifteen petri dishes with 150 radish seeds each. One group gets soaked in Vitamin C. Another gets Vitamin E. A third gets Beta Carotene. Then hydrogen peroxide is added to all three. One control group gets water only. Another gets hydrogen peroxide only.
The water group sprouts 70 percent of seeds. Beta Carotene performs best among the vitamins at 47 percent. Vitamin C performs worst at 12 percent.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that Vitamin C will be the best preventive vitamin against antioxidants.
Method & Materials
You will line 15 petri dishes with filter paper, divide them into five groups, and saturate each group with a different vitamin or water. Then, fill each petri dish with 150 cherry belle radish seeds and saturate with five mL of hydrogen peroxide. Finally, place the petri dishes under a growing light and record the seed germination.
You will need 15 petri dishes, filter paper, cherry belle radish seeds, hydrogen peroxide, and vitamins C, E, and Beta Carotene.
Results
The experiment showed that Beta Carotene was the best preventive vitamin against antioxidants, with 47% of the seeds germinating. Vitamin C was the least efficient, with only 12% of the seeds germinating.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it shows how vitamins can help protect seeds from antioxidants, which is important for the growth of plants.
Also Consider
Experiment variations to consider include testing different types of seeds and different concentrations of vitamins.
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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