28.

Discussion & Conclusions I believe that my results show me how much more affects plant growth than just light wavelengths. My experiment shows that as long as plants are getting some form of visible light that they will be able to survive and grow. My hypothesis was that the plant surrounded by the green cellophane would only be able to grow slightly if at all. My experiment however disproved this hypothesis as my experimental plant grew much larger than the control plant and did not show any signs of being hindered at all by the lack of the other wavelengths of light. The results of the experiment also tell me that plants may grow better when in an enclosed area rather than being fully exposed to everything in their environment. The results show that there are many other environmental factors that are more important to plant growth than the range of wavelengths that are available for absorption. It also shows that carotene is a very important pigment in plants for more reasons than helping to deal with the oxygen radicals. It can be used in the absence of red and blue light to absorb green light and provide enough energy for the light reactions. If I was going to do this experiment again differently the main things that I would change would be to provide better conditions for the plants to grow in so that the control plant could grow to its full potential. The one other thing that I would change would be to design a way to allow only green light to reach the plant while keeping the rest of the environmental factors as much the same as possible. Possibly by not sealing the bottom of the cellophane or by using some other form of ventilation to keep temperature and moisture the same as in the control. The results of my experiment relate to other broader questions like: How do plants adapt to their environment? What allows plants to thrive in environments not as well suited to the needs of photosynthesis? And What is the most important factor that influences plant growth? My experiment relates to these questions because even though the experimental plant was deprived of all but green light, which plants absorb the least of, the plant thrived and grew even better than the plant exposed to all wavelengths of light. I learned that even though plants dont absorb as much green light as other wavelengths they can still get enough energy from it to grow and even thrive. The results relate to our environment in the way that it lets us see that plants can adapt and survive in almost any conditions and will always be around. It also tells us that when growing plants in our homes it may not always be the most traditional methods that work the best. For instance perhaps the green cellophane while depriving the plant of all but the green wavelengths of light, also produced a greenhouse effect that gave the plant added warmth and allowed it to survive, or perhaps it allowed the soil that the plant was in to retain more of the moisture or maybe allowed the air inside to be more moist. Some suggestions that I could make would be to focus on doing things that provide the most benefits to plants even if they may have a few negative affects as well.

29. References "Photosynthesis." . J. Stien Carter, 02, Nov 2004. Web. 29 Nov 2011. <http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/photosyn.htm>. "Photosynthesis." Photosynthesis. Maricopa College, 18, May 2010. Web. 30 Nov 2011. <http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/biobookps.html>.