Germinating seeds help! Urgent for Bio IA

[ibstudent77]

Hey guys,

 

My Bio IA involves seed germination.

The independent variable is intensity of light. 

 

My teacher suggested I put one container (5 seeds) near a window, one far from a window, one in a dark box, one in shade. 

However, won't the light intensity be too variable? It doesn't remain constant throughout the day.

 

Instead of this, if I were to put them in boxes with a single lamp as a light source, say for 6 hours a day, will there be too much heat in the box?

 

Which one would be better? Please respond ASAP as all experiments need to be completed by the end of this month.

Thanks!

 

[avalinelegato]

Perhaps you could put them in boxes with a single lamp as a light source as one of your variables, and use the container near the window as your control.

 

On a side note, how do you plan to plot your data? Is it going to be a bar graph or a line graph? Also, how many independent variables do you have? You listed 3, and I think it is a requirement for the Biology IA to have 5 independent variables

[ibstudent77]

Perhaps you could put them in boxes with a single lamp as a light source as one of your variables, and use the container near the window as your control.

 

On a side note, how do you plan to plot your data? Is it going to be a bar graph or a line graph? Also, how many independent variables do you have? You listed 3, and I think it is a requirement for the Biology IA to have 5 independent variables

But the one near the window would be variable right? Changing intensities with the time of day?

[avalinelegato]

Not sure if I'm interpreting your question correctly; are you asking if the seeds near the window would be an independent variable? If yes, then yeah, the germinating seeds near the window would be one independent variable (out of the five you need to do), but since the intensities of the light will change throughout the day, I would personally use that variable as the control instead

[ibstudent77]

Not sure if I'm interpreting your question correctly; are you asking if the seeds near the window would be an independent variable? If yes, then yeah, the germinating seeds near the window would be one independent variable (out of the five you need to do), but since the intensities of the light will change throughout the day, I would personally use that variable as the control instead

What I mean is, the one near the window would face fluctuating light intensities, so would I lose marks for not controlling the light intensity? (putting them in boxes)

[avalinelegato]

If there really aren't any other alternatives- put it in your evaluation! It shows that you're aware of the weaknesses of your experiment, so address the weakness, talk about how it might have impacted the results and give suggestions for improvement

[ibstudent77]

If there really aren't any other alternatives- put it in your evaluation! It shows that you're aware of the weaknesses of your experiment, so address the weakness, talk about how it might have impacted the results and give suggestions for improvement

Well, there is the alternative of putting them in boxes with a lamp, but that might cause overheating. Ahhhhh help I'm so confused

[isaiguana]

I came across a similar issue with my biology EE. Instead of using the sun as a light source, I believe it would be much easier to use fluorescent lights. You could vary the light intensity by simply varying the distance between the seeds and the light. If you are worried about the overheating, I suggest running a "test" experiment where you see if your procedure will work. That way, you are not actually performing your IA, but you are gaining valuable information about how it would be carried out. Good luck!

[avalinelegato]

To add on to isaiguana's post, doing the "test" experiment (preliminary experiment) would not only help you to gauge the proper light intensity needed, but also to fix any noticeable drawbacks- which would be great if you included that in your actual write-up

Edited October 25, 2015 by avalinelegato

[ibstudent77]

I came across a similar issue with my biology EE. Instead of using the sun as a light source, I believe it would be much easier to use fluorescent lights. You could vary the light intensity by simply varying the distance between the seeds and the light. If you are worried about the overheating, I suggest running a "test" experiment where you see if your procedure will work. That way, you are not actually performing your IA, but you are gaining valuable information about how it would be carried out. Good luck!

In this case, would I be placing it in a box so the light of the room isn't affecting it?

To add on to isaiguana's post, doing the "test" experiment (preliminary experiment) would not only help you to gauge the proper light intensity needed, but also to fix any noticeable drawbacks- which would be a great if you included that in your actual write-up

Thanks!

[isaiguana]

It depends on the room in which you are performing the experiment. If the room is seldom used by anyone (for example, a garage), then it would suffice to just have the one light on for however long you need it. If it's in a room used more often, where lights will be turned on an off, you could use a box to "control" the other light, as you said. However, I would recommend that you find a room where your experiment will not be disrupted by other light, as this will just make everything much easier.

[ibstudent77]

It depends on the room in which you are performing the experiment. If the room is seldom used by anyone (for example, a garage), then it would suffice to just have the one light on for however long you need it. If it's in a room used more often, where lights will be turned on an off, you could use a box to "control" the other light, as you said. However, I would recommend that you find a room where your experiment will not be disrupted by other light, as this will just make everything much easier.

Thanks!