Inquiry project

Does a plant grow faster in direct

sunlight, or from UVA rays?

Trevor, Cam, Jill, Zoe

Period 9
Biology
12/13/16
Introduction:

In the current world today when people decide to plant plants, they usually decided to use sunlight as

their main source of energy for their plants. However, now there is a new, trending source for plants to

receive their energy. People have been using UVA lighting to grow plants. According to

www.streetdirectory.com "UV (Ultra Violet) Light as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength

shorter than that of visible light but longer than soft x-rays." According to www.uh.edu "Niels Finsen

discovered ultraviolent radiation and won a Nobel peace prize in 1903 for curing tuberculosis with it."

People use this lighting due to the fact you can use it year round, however it is a bit more expensive.

UVA means ultraviolet radiation. The group then decided to make a experiment out of this

information.The groups testable question is: Does the different type of light effect plant growth? The

group hypothesized that The plant growing with the UVA lighting would grow better than the plant

growing in direct sunlight. For this project, the group decided to use red pepper plants as the plant

subjects. The group used the same type of plastic cup, the same brand of plant seeds, and the same kind

of soil. The purpose of this experiment is to figure out which is the best way to grow pepper plants. The

dependent variable is the height of the plants, while the independent variable is the type of lighting

used to grow the points.

Materials:

 Two plastic cups

 Miracle-Gro Soil

 Tap Water

 Two bags of pepper seeds

 Sharpie

 Duct-Tape

 Paper Towels

 Scissors

Procedures:

1. Take 2 plastic cups and label one cup "Sunlight" and label the other cup "UVA"

2. Then, place an equal amount of soil into both cups.

3. Make a hole around the size of a thumb in the soil.

4. Place one whole bag of pepper seeds into each cup

5. Cover the seeds with soil so the seeds are not visible

6. Using the scissors, cut a hole in the bottom of the cup to let access water drain out

7. Place cups on paper towels to soak up access water

8. Put 100 ml of water into each plant every day

9. Measure plants and record results

Chart:

Discussion: The Interpretation for the project is that the uv lights are better than regular sunlight for

growing plants. The pepper plant in uv lights grew faster and better than the pepper plants in the

sunlight. Obviously the radiation or something in the uv lights makes the act different when they are in

the sun. The only error there was is that when the pants started growing, it was pushing half of the soil

up with it. Another error is that the uv lighting was on all of the time, therefore the plant growing under

the uv lighting had more light to grow. For future improvements, the group could plant the seeds a

different or just plant them better.

References:

"HVAC UV Lights for AC Systems-Do They Work? - House So Green." House So Green. N.p., 18 Nov. 2015.
Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

"Shop." Gardening Tips Do Plants Grow Better with Sunlight or Artificial Light A Common Question
Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

"Diverse City. Diverse University. Houston’s University." University of Houston. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec.
2016.

"SG & Singapore Map! Powered by Streetdirectory.com." SG Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2016.