Californiaman Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 So you've heard it before, plants respond to different stimuli, right? This is my son's sixth-grade science experiment. Well we took four, one-quart size geraniums, put them in one gallon containers with the same amount of soil and water, and placed them in front of radios playing different genres of music throughout the house. Plant No. 1: Blues Rock all night long. Plant No. 2: Contemporary Christian Radio all night long. Plant No. 3: Classical Radio all night long. Plant No. 4: Regular stimulus from the surrounding environment. TV, Kids, Adults what ever stimuli is around it. I've weighed all of the plants (for determining root growth) and counted each new stalk of flowers (between 4-6 on each). Stay tuned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoyVader Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I bet plant No 2 turns into a vegetable.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilpanda Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Plant no. 1 is gunna be the Charlie sheen of the group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANNIC Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 2, 3 and 4 will probably try and find their roots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Plant number one will grow sunglasses.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I bet plant No 2 turns into a vegetable.... But it will feel really good about it and tell all of it's friends... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Interesting study always, but lot's of variables - light and temperature being the greatest variable usually in plants. You should have put one of the radio's on a modern talk radio channel I bet the plant would really be leaning to the right before the experiment was ended . I did the same thing in high school and other than getting in trouble for my choice of plant subjects it was interesting. Like i stated above I also used a light meter and temperature gauge to track trends and the growth followed those trends more than music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowdiddley Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Interesting study always, but lot's of variables - light and temperature being the greatest variable usually in plants. You should have put one of the radio's on a modern talk radio channel I bet the plant would really be leaning to the right before the experiment was ended . I did the same thing in high school and other than getting in trouble for my choice of plant subjects it was interesting. Like i stated above I also used a light meter and temperature gauge to track trends and the growth followed those trends more than music. Unless it was one of those liberal radio stations then it would ..... wait there aren't any liberal stations still on air are there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Interesting study always, but lot's of variables - light and temperature being the greatest variable usually in plants. You should have put one of the radio's on a modern talk radio channel I bet the plant would really be leaning to the right before the experiment was ended . I did the same thing in high school and other than getting in trouble for my choice of plant subjects it was interesting. Like i stated above I also used a light meter and temperature gauge to track trends and the growth followed those trends more than music. Thank Christ someone said it. It was actually disproven that plants react to music in any way at all about 30 years ago. Every difference they measured in every case could be more soundly attributed to other variables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Guys is a sixth grade experiment! Take it easy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl00dsm0k3 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 2 my dad listens to that in the car all the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Guys is a sixth grade experiment! Take it easy! You are quite right but bad science annoys me enough without teaching it in school. Don't worry, I'm not being reactionary I just want to offer good science in it's place. The original 1973 experimentation was carried out by Dorothy Retallack at Collared Women's College. The experiment was flawed in many ways. Not least of all because Dorothy Retallack was convinced that rock n roll was a dangerous influence on young people and she set out to prove it. It was highly politically motivated research carried out by a highly politically biased individual. Scientists at Colorado university repeated her experiments, and a lot more of their own. They showed two things... A. Loud bursts of sound helped seeds germinate quicker, this was because of the mechanical advantage afforded by the vibrations. B. If you ask individuals with different musical preferences to repeat the experiment you see repeatable bias towards that individuals preferred music. It seems that it is very difficult not to nurture the plants given the music you like. It is worth mentioning that it is not possible to rule out the possibility of a persons feelings influencing the growth of the plants but all the scientists agreed this was very unlikely indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I get it...Bad science bugs me too, but do you expect a six grader to do the research on this before picking their experiment? Hopefully the teacher can help identify some of the variables that could also affect the experiment to teach the kids the scientific process and to think of everything when performing an experiment... But like I said...its sixth grade stuff...they are just getting into science...there's no reason to discourage them from trying things that are interesting to them right? We should be encouraging kids to try stuff...as they get older, they learn more and learn from mistakes. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 As far as variables go we've tried to keep them to a minimum. All of the plants are outside in the same place during daylight hours. At night, they're all brought into the house, weighed and then placed in front of the music boxes and kept in the dark as much as possible until morning when we put them outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 You are quite right but bad science annoys me enough without teaching it in school. Don't worry, I'm not being reactionary I just want to offer good science in it's place. The original 1973 experimentation was carried out by Dorothy Retallack at Collared Women's College. The experiment was flawed in many ways. Not least of all because Dorothy Retallack was convinced that rock n roll was a dangerous influence on young people and she set out to prove it. It was highly politically motivated research carried out by a highly politically biased individual. Scientists at Colorado university repeated her experiments, and a lot more of their own. They showed two things... A. Loud bursts of sound helped seeds germinate quicker, this was because of the mechanical advantage afforded by the vibrations. B. If you ask individuals with different musical preferences to repeat the experiment you see repeatable bias towards that individuals preferred music. It seems that it is very difficult not to nurture the plants given the music you like. It is worth mentioning that it is not possible to rule out the possibility of a persons feelings influencing the growth of the plants but all the scientists agreed this was very unlikely indeed. I read the original experiment. I've also looked a several others and results do tend to vary. We're trying to keep it as controlled as possible. Each plant receives about seven hours of musical stimulus. Then as I said before, back outside. Yes, I believe the added warmth of the house will effect all plants equally. We should see this in the root growth first I would think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB Cooper Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Being a sixth grade science teacher, I would offer a qualified opinion on this topic...but I just graded about 60 science fair projects yesterday - some good, some bad, some ugly...and honestly, I'm just about science-faired out. That was about five hours of my life I will never get back... :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 No, no, no. Let the 6th grader do what he/she wants to do. The 6th grader isn't a member of this forum, this is an off topic discussion area on a forum. We are discussing! I had thought that the pupil had been told to do this experiment but I now realize I was mistaken. Makes no difference to the discussion though. How old is a 6th grader anyway? I'm British. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB Cooper Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 How old is a 6th grader anyway? I'm British. 11-12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 All plants were lighter tonight when weighed. I have my theory as to why. Care to take a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 They didn't get watered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Unless it was one of those liberal radio stations then it would ..... wait there aren't any liberal stations still on air are there? They come and go. Only federal grants keep some on the air. People voting with the tuner button is so-o-o-o unfair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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