Steven's Seed Story

 For the last story of the seed post we will be interviewing a classmate for their experience with the story of the seed. I am interviewing Steven and asking him about his experience. Steven has learned that plants grow faster than he originally thought. Steven has learned how to use a syringe and how to plant certain plants. Steven was very surprised when he opened the syringe and all of the medicine spilled on him. He was amazed on how big his plant got, but then the plant died. Steven laughed because of how lost his teammates were so he had to carry the team to finish the project. Steven paused to think a little bit deeper when his plants started dying and wondered why they died so quickly.

Story of the seed Blog post #4

Story of the seed#4

There are a few abiotic factors that our plant depends on for surviving. Some of the factors include water, sunlight, temperature, oxygen, and soil. These factors were and are very important in the development of our plant. First off, water is the most important factor. Our plant needs a decent amount of water to stay and remain healthy and the soil needed to be good in order for it to keep growing well. Finally, sunlight and temperature were also crucial. Temperature and sunlight have a big effect on how much the plant grows. If there is more sunlight and a warmer temperature, than the plant will grow much more. Also with rain the plant should grow and the rain is good for the soil.

Our plant is definitely engaged in competition. The competitors are the other plants next to it in the garden. The plants are competing for water and nutrients, they try and get more water and nutrients than the surrounding plants. Wild animals in the garden are also definitely engaged in competition also. They are competing for certain foods and nutrients.

In life there are always “winners” and “losers”, same with in the garden. “Winners” would be the ones benefiting from something, and the “losers” are the ones with a disadvantage. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what plants and animals win or lose. For example if a plant rots and dies it would be considered a “loser” rather than if the plant were to grow a lot and it be very green. Then it would be a “winner”.  Another example of winners and losers would be aphids and plants. The winner would be aphid because they are getting sugars from the plants. The loser would be the plant because it is getting infected with viruses from the aphid.

There are many forms of interactions dealing with plants in the garden. Some forms of interactions are mutualism in which 2 organisms benefit from each other and parasitism. An example of mutualism in the garden is a bee and a flower/plant. The bee would get nectar from the flower, and the bee fertilizes the flower allowing it to reproduce. Another example of parasitism is with aphids and plants. The aphids are small insects who suck out fluids from plants and give plants very negative viruses. The aphids turn plant leaves yellow and they usually inject toxins into plants. Aphids benefit from getting sugars from the plants.

There is succession going on in the garden currently is secondary succession. There is proof of succession going on because our plant and most of the plants are growing, getting much bigger, and much greener. It isn’t primary succession because the garden isn’t lacking soil or hasn’t dealt with any natural disasters.

Elizabeth's Seed Story

 1: What have you learned? 
          "Planting is a lot more complicated than it seems"
 2: What surprised or amazed you?
          "How slow it took for our plants to grow even though they did not grow that much"
 3: What made you laugh?
          "Talking about putting drugs in our plants"
 4: What made you pause and think a little deeper? 
          "Thinking about what the purpose of this activity was"
 5: What questions do you have about things you observed or experienced in the garden?
          "Why did our plant stop growing all of a sudden?"

Story of the Seed Blog Post #3

Some changes in our plant over the past 2 weeks are that they got larger and it became a very dark green instead of the light color it was as a young plant. Are is one the biggest in the garden and is in great condition this year.
    Just about every living thing in the world plays a role in their lifetime, are plant plays a role in the water cycle with transpiration. This process is where the moisture is put through the plants beginning at the roots to the pores under the leaves. Then it is changed to vapor, and gets released into the atmosphere. This water cycle benefits are plant to make it larger, healthier, and dark shade of green.
     Our plant is a part of the carbon cycle by being involved in photosynthesis , which is when the plants takes in carbon dioxide and water using chlorophyll in its leaves and the sun. It is able to release the oxygen, water vapor, and sugars all at once. Our plants role in the carbon cycle relates to changes in its looks by keeping it alive and helping it grow. Also, if the plant does not have have photosynthesis the could not feed itself, where it will eventually die. Photosynthesis is one of the biggest role that has made our plant a lot bigger than the others.
     Our plant´s role in the nitrogen cycle begins with bacteria. Bacteria helps change the nitrogen so plants can use it. Animals will then get the nitrogen from the plants that will absorb it. Nitrogen also relates to the plants growth this week because without nitrogen, our plant could not live. It helps the chlorophyll in our plant which helps with photosynthesis to produce it owns food and energy.

William's Seed Story

Today I interviewed William and learned about his seed story.  He had a interesting time carrying out this project, because he ran into some small issues, like forgetting a control group.  He learned how to improve on growing plants.  He was amazed by how much information is embedded in the plants and there is so much more in photosynthesis than he thought. He also thought it was funny when they wrapped their plants in different colored lights.  A challenging process for him was grasping the biochemical cycles and what they involved.  Overall he had a pretty good time doing this project and had fun time.

Claudia's seed story

For the last story of the seed post we will be interviewing a classmate for their expreience with the story of the seed. I am interviewing Claudia and asking about her experience. Here are the questions are responses.

Claudia  learned how to garden plants and how not only water can make plants grow and she said  that was pretty interesting.
The most surprising part of this for her was how the plant grew a lot and they thought it wouldn't grow that much.
The funniest part of the story of the seed for Claudia was working with her teammates, especially Andres.  He was very funny and he made a ton of bad plant jokes,  in which made this experience not too bad.
Claudia would probably have tried watering the plants with new liquids and might have done more trials with the plants
Claudia says she would definetly want to garden for plants that either smell really nice or look beautiful, or even if she could get food from them, like a tomato plant, or a watermelon plant.

Here are the questions
What have you learned from this experience?
What was the most surprising part about the story of the seed
What was the funniest part of the story of the seed?
What would you have differently if you did this again?
From doing the story of the seed would you ever want to plant plants again?

Nathan Ferrari and Cole Nelson's Cell project

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12UXAqxTeCrPYZXzvuCucXqOA-K_t3Ndr96lKSaeFuZs/edit#slide=id.g32d5698e16_1_0

Enzyme lab report

Hypothesis: I think the temperature will affect the way our enzyme performs. If the temperature is high production will speed up. If the temperature is lower there will be a low production.

Independent Variable: Temperature change.

Dependent Variable: How much foam come out of the heated or cooled substrate when it is mixed with the plant extract(enzyme).

Controlled Variables: The enzyme at room temperature.

Justification of hypothesis: When stuff becomes heated up to a certain extent it will work better and faster.

Why did you choose this as your hypothesis?

Materials (Your Team’s Experiment): Plant extract, Hydrogen peroxide, water, and test tubes.

Procedure: First we have to get our enzyme by mashing up plants and creating an extract. Then we need to fill one tube with just water for the control.  Then have 3 with hydrogen peroxide that is at room temperature. Next, we need to have 3 that are heated to 50 degrees celsius and 3 that are cooled to 5 degrees celsius.

Summary: The lab was pretty easy to perform, but we got some unexpected results.  We did the controls first and got the results we expected.  Next we did our 3 heated tests and they did little to nothing at all.  We initially thought the heat would speed up and make the reaction bigger, but it seems like 50 degrees celsius was too hot for the enzyme to operate properly.  Then we did our 3 cold tests next and the results were even smaller and slower than any of them.

Data and Results:

(This section should include at least one graph!)

Control with no peroxide : No reaction.

Control with peroxide (room temp) : 4.5 cm.    4.23 minutes

50 Celsius : 1.    1.1 cm     6.24 minutes 2.    .3 cm    5.83 minutes         3.       .1 cm   5.34 minutes

                                                                      

5 Celsius : 1. .1 cm        8.9 minutes 2.     .2 cm    8.45 minutes       3.    .6 cm     9.2 minutes

                                                                             

Conclusions: In conclusion, we realized that maybe room temperature was the optimum operation temperature for the enzyme to operate since the plant we got the extract from does only grow in this time of year because the temperature.

Blog #4

      Are plant needs abiotic and biotic factors to survive. Some abiotic factors are sun, soil, water, weather, and climate. Some of the biotic factors can be worms, snails, butterflies, people, and slugs.
Some these factors are the biotic and abiotic factors to grow the plants.
You know when plants are engagaed in competition because they are battling with another plant for abiotic and biotic factors to help it grow.
The competiton is other plants and animals. Winners in a garden can be determined by being healthier than the other plants or stronger. Sometimes they can be closer than you think sometimes.

Blog post #3

      Some changes in our plant over the past 2 weeks is it got bigger and it became very dark green instead of the light it had been as a young plant. Are is one the biggest in the garden and is in great condition this year.
    Just about every living thing in the world plays a role in their lifetime, are plant plays a role in the water cycle with transpiration. This process is where the moisture is put through the plants beginning at the roots to the pores under the leaves. Then it is changed to vapor, and gets released into the atmosphere. This water cycle benefits are plant to make it larger, healthier, and dark shade of green.
     Our plant is a part of the carbon cycle by being involved in photosynthesis , which is when the plants takes in carbon dioxide and water using chlorophyll in its leaves and the sun. It is able to release the oxygen, water vapor, and sugars all at once. Our plants role in the carbon cycle relates to changes in its looks by keeping it alive and helping it grow. Also, if the plant doesn´t have have photosynthesis the could not feed itself, where it will eventually die. Photosynthesis is one of the biggest role that has made our plant a lot bigger than the others.
     Our plant´s role in the nitrogen cycle begins with bacteria. Bacteria helps change the nitrogen so plants can use it. Animals will then get the nitrogen from the plants that will absorb it. Nitrogen also relates to the plants growth this week because without nitrogen, our plant could not live. It helps the chlorophyll in our plant which helps with photosynthesis to produce it owns food and energy.


     
     

mysteries of water

https://youtu.be/Y9MYsFyXr0Y

Story of the seed #4

Story of the seed#4

There are a few abiotic factors that our plant depends on for surviving.  Some of the factors include water, sunlight, temperature, oxygen, and soil.  These factors were and are very important in the development of our plant.  First off, water is the most important factor.  Our plant needs a decent amount of water to stay and remain healthy and the soil needed to be good in order for it to keep growing well. Finally, sunlight and temperature were also crucial.  Temperature and sunlight have a big effect on how much the plant grows.  If there is more sunlight and a warmer temperature, than the plant will grow much more.  Also with rain the plant should grow and the rain is good for the soil.

Our plant is definitely engaged in competition. The competitors are the other plants next to it in the garden.  The plants are competing for water and nutrients, they try and get more water and nutrients than the surrounding plants.  Wild animals in the garden are also definitely engaged in competition also.  They are competing for certain foods and nutrients.

In life there are always “winners” and “losers”, same with in the garden.  “Winners” would be the ones benefitting from something, and the “losers” are the ones with a disadvantage. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what plants and animals win or lose.  For example if a plant rots and dies it would be considered a “loser” rather than if the plant were to grow a lot and it be very green.  Then it would be a “winner”.  Another example of winners and losers would be aphids and plants.  The winner would be aphid because they are getting sugars from the plants.  The loser would be the plant because it is getting infected with viruses from the aphid.

There are many forms of interactions dealing with plants in the garden. Some forms of interactions are mutualism in which 2 organisms benefit from each other and parasitism .  An example of mutualism in the garden is a bee and a flower/plant.  The bee would get nectar from the flower, and the bee fertilizes the flower allowing it to reproduce.  Another example of parasitism is with aphids and plants.  The aphids are small insects who suck out fluids from plants and give plants very negative viruses.  The aphids turn plant leaves yellow and they usually inject toxins into plants.  Aphids benefit from getting sugars from the plants.

There is succession going on in the garden currently is secondary succession.  There is proof of succession going on because our plant and most of the plants are growing, getting much bigger, and much greener.  It isn’t primary succession because the garden isn’t lacking soil or hasn’t dealt with any natural disasters.

Story of the seed #3

story of the seed #3

1. There has been some recent changes in our plant over about 2 weeks. Much more grass has grown around the plant,  it's gotten much bigger, and it is one of the biggest plants in the garden. Our plant has grown a lot since we first started growing it and is in great shape.
2. Almost all living things have jobs or roles, one of our plants roles is in the water cycle with transpiration.  This process is where moisture is carried through the plants starting from the roots to pores under the leaves, where then it changes to vapor, then released into the atmosphere.  The water cycle makes our plant more green, healthier, and bigger. Our plant participates in the carbon cycle by being involved in photosynthesis, which is when the plant takes in carbon dioxide and water using chlorophyll in it’s leaves and energy from the sun, it releases oxygen, water vapor, and sugars.  Our plants role in the carbon cycle relates to changes in it’s looks by helping it grow and keeping it alive.  Also, without photosynthesis the plant would not be able to feed itself, causing it to die.  Photosynthesis has definitely helped our plant get a lot bigger. Our plant’s role in the nitrogen cycle starts with bacteria.  Bacteria helps change the nitrogen so plants can use it.  Animals then will get nitrogen from the plants that will absorb it.  Nitrogen also relates to the plants growth because without nitrogen, plants would not survive. It helps make the chlorophyll in our plant which works with photosynthesis to make it’s food and energy

Ecological Analysis of our Plant

     Our plant is affected by many factors, some abiotic and some biotic.  The abiotic or nonliving factors are sun, watering, and weather. These 3 factors all affect growth and healthiness of our plant. For example, the amount of sunlight plays a huge role in how our plant will grow. Some biotic factors are animals that are eating our plant and worms affecting the soil quality.  There could be insects feeding on plant leaves and affecting its health, also there could be worms making the soil have more nutrients for the plant to consume.
     I know my plant is engaged in competition because the plant behind me is withering and doesn't look too good.  I think this is because it is in the very back corner and my plant towers over it and gets way more sunlight.  I feel like my plant is the winner because it is receiving more sunlight and doesn't have to worry about much other competition.
     My plant is interacting a whole lot.  It interacts with the soil when getting nitrates from it, it interacts with other organisms trying to consume it, and it interacts with Mr. Bursch when he turns on the hose to water it.  The interaction of getting nitrates from the soil helps my plant stay healthy and get all the sugars and nutrients it needs to grow.  When other organisms try and eat my plant they are engaging in herbivory, since they are a herbivore/omnivore that is consuming my plant.  The organism here receives food/nutrients from my plant and my plant loses some nutrients and may have some holes in it or other feeding marks.  And when Mr. Bursch waters it, he loses time and energy but my plant gains all the positive affects of water. 
     Evidence of ecological succession are the plants adapting to the new soil and some plants dying/some plants thriving.

Biogeochemical Cycles in Our Plants

     Our plant has been growing for a decent amount of time and it has grown pretty big and the leaves are pretty large.  The leaves seem to be larger than most of the plant, so that means it should be getting plenty of sun.  There are 3 major biogeochemical cycles that are interacting with our plant.  The cycles are the water cycle, the nitrogen cycles, and the carbon cycle.  All of these cycles have different affects on the plants.  They all help our plant germinate and stay healthy
     The first cycle I am going to go over is the water cycle.  The water cycle is a large part of why our plant is still healthy.  As we know plants need water to survive just like everything else on earth and the way it gets water is from precipitation and the irrigation system in the garden.  The water helps the plant draw nutrients from the soil and without water in the plant's soil they would droop.  After the plant has used all the water it needs it releases the rest using transpiration, which is basically evaporation on the plants leaves.
     Equally important is the carbon cycle.  The carbon cycle involves photosynthesis.  In photosynthesis the plant will take in atmospheric Co2 and convert it into sugars and carbohydrates to feed themselves.  A byproduct of photosynthesis oxygen which is necessary for animal life.  Plants have kept Co2 levels substantially lower because they use it to feed themselves constantly. 
     Finally there is the nitrogen cycle.  Some say this is the most important part of plant growth.  The plants take in nitrates from the soil through their roots.  The soil get nitrates from decomposed organisms.  Nitrogen is what keeps the plants healthy and green, if you see a plant that is yellowish and droopy, it probably is lacking nitrogen. 
     I hope now you can see the importance of all these cycles.

Lab Report

"The Story of the Seed" Lab Report

Title Page: This is the lab that we performed on growing collard greens with different liquids by Nathan Ferrari, Elliot Hooper, Jack McCarthy, and Ethan Short on 8/22 - 9/14.

Introduction: We are testing which liquid, water, sparkling water, and ginger ale, will make the collard greens germinate the best.  Our hypothesis is, if the Co2 and added ingredients affect the germination of the plants, then the water will germinate the best, followed by sparkling water, and ginger ale won’t germinate at all.We are trying to see if the Co2 in the sparkling water and ginger ale will affect the plant growth.  Also the ginger ale has added flavors and ingredients, so that is another factor.  

Materials: We used a 50 ml watering tool, 3 cups for our plants, 60 seeds(20 each cup), and the 3 liquids, water, sparkling water, and ginger ale.

Method: We put 10 seeds in each cup and water them with 20 mL of each liquid everyday.  1 watered with water, 1 with sparkling water, and 1 with ginger ale.  After we water them, we put them under the lights at the same time.  Then we just repeat everyday for around 22 days.

Results/Analysis: Our results were quite surprising.  Our hypothesis was technically wrong.  We assumed that the ginger ale wouldn’t grow at all and the sparkling water would, but not as good as the water.  What happened was the sparkling water had the most seeds germinated, then water, and then ginger ale.  The ginger ale didn’t grow the best, but still it did germinate.  Next, the water had the tallest plant, followed by sparkling water, and then ginger ale.  We decided to test both of these dependent variables so we could see what did better in which are vs just one area.

Graph:    

Conclusion: In conclusion we discovered that the carbon dioxide didn’t affect the germination of these seeds as much as we thought it would.  However, the added ingredients in the ginger ale did affect the germination as you can see by the graph. We could’ve improved this experiment by having more test like 2 cups of each seeds that were being watered specifically.  Now with what I know I could test different flavors of soda to see which flavors affected the germination the most.

Sources: http://storyoftheseed.blogspot.com/ https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-collards/

My Autobiography

My name is Ethan Short and I used to live in Pittsburg, CA before I moved to San Jose in 5th grade. I have gardened before. My gardening experience was not very fun. My grandma knows a lot about gardening because she did mos of her landscaping at her house.

My Autobiography

Hi my name is Jack McCarthy and I'm 14 years old. I was born in Oregon and moved to San Jose when I was 1 years old and have lived here ever since. My parents have lived in San Jose for the past 13 years.

I haven't gardened much since i was about 8-9 years old but when I did I liked to garden tomatoes and potatoes. When I  was really young and sometimes today I really liked cooking. I liked to cook pasta, chicken, steak, and I liked to bake cookies ad brownies too. I loved to garden and cook with my mom and i loved eating my tomatoes and boiling my potatoes to put into my meals like mashed potatoes. I have never been super interested gardening but when I do garden to help out my mom it seems pretty interesting and fun. I know somewhat about plants but, I would like to learn more and after or during the project maybe I will study plants like the collard greens!

My Autobiography

Hi my name is Nathan Ferrari.  I go to WGHS and I enjoy playing basketball.  I am 14 years old and a freshman.  I like Science class and Math class.

I have had some gardening experiences before, my grandmother owned a garden and we would go and check on it everyday I was there.  She grew all types of plants such ass, tomatoes, collard greens, broccoli, and mint.  I always looked forward to checking on the plants that I planted.  I don't cook much, but my mom does.  She gets the produce in the mail and then prepares it herself.  I always ask what is in it because there are so many good flavors.  I would like to have more gardening experience with my grandma because it would be a lot of fun.

My Autobiography

Hello, my name is Elliot Hooper, I live and have lived in San Jose my whole life.  I am 14 years old, and I go to Willow Glen High School and am a freshman.  My favorite classes are science and English.

I have had some experiences with gardening before.  I loved planting tomatoes, watering them, and then eating them when they were ready. I mostly did that when I was younger with my mom and grandma.  I also still grow tomatoes in my backyard even today. My grandma and mom have showed me taught me how to garden properly and it was pretty fun. I enjoy gardening with plants, vegetables, and fruits.  My favorite fruits are watermelon, grapes, and tomatoes.