Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My 10 year old did the Hydroponics vs. Soil project and the hydroponics part worked good but the soil plants never sprouted. This is due in 2 days and I'm wondering how to present it if we don't have any soil data to submit.

Thanks! Teresa

Hi Teresa,

I'm really sorry to hear that the soil part of the project didn't work out, but experiments not working is a very normal part of science. Your 10 year old can still present his/her results regardless because your hydroponics section did work and I'm sure that you got some really cool results! I would include all the data that you have gathered from the hydroponics section, and in the portion about the soil plants, note that those plants did not sprout at all. Even though you haven't been able to compare plant growth between the two groups, you can still talk about what you have observed of the plants grown in hydroponics. An important thing to do is to document why you think your soil plants didn't sprout. Is it because the soil plants actually take a lot longer to grow than the hydroponic plants, and that's why you haven't seen anything sprouting yet? Was it due to some error in planting the seeds in the soil? In the watering? In the amount of sunlight given? You can consider all of these parameters (and I'm sure there are more) and figure out where potential problems have occurred. Figuring out these aspects is a crucial part of doing science because it will give you some hints as to which part of the procedures can be done better next time if you were to repeat the experiment again! Talking about these problems will show the people looking at your project that you have thought extensively about your experiments and your data, which is extremely important.

I hope that helped. Let us know if you have anymore questions.

Best,
Connie

Hi Teresa,

Is this the project you tried? https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p045.shtml

If so, I suggest looking for growth in the soil. Seeds have to germinate underground before they sprout above the soil. There may be some leaves to measure, but they could be still underneath the surface.

I hope that helps. Please post again (in this same thread) if you have more questions.

Heather