Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

How long does it takes Morning Glory (Crimson Rambler) to grow?

Thank you for posting your questions on the forum. For more information on the growth rate of Morning Glory plants I suggest you do an internet search or contact your local nursery. They should have plenty of information on Morning Glories and their properties.

I did a quick internet search for "Morning Glory, growth rate" and came up with a couple of informational websites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_glory
http://www.gardenguides.com/plants/plan ... ymbol=IPLE

Hopefully the links above will help you get started with your research.

Regards,
Melissa G.
Science Buddies Staff

Thank you very much, I really appreciates the help

I am 13 years old, doing an sicenice fair on plant's growth rate
-wondering if...
*what does micro organisms affect on a plants growth
*What is micro organisms if we were talking about plants.

how long does it take to bake all the micro organisms away from the soil?
Why does plants in baked soil grow faster than regular soil?

and also, how will I make my topic and the rest of my project more interesting?

Hi,
This is actually a very complicated topic, because there are so many different types of soil microorganisms. Some are beneficial to plant growth and some are not. Also, heat sterilizing the soil does more to it than just killing microorganisms - it will creates chemical changes as well. So, one way to make your project more interesting or challenging would be to look at the changes in nutrient concentrations of water leaching through these soils before and after the soil is baked. That is just one example, and there are many others.

For your other questions, I suggest using internet search engines to search for terms like "soil microbiology" "soil nutrient cycling" "plant pathogens" "mychorrhizae" and "nitrogen fixation".

Good luck!

Chris

Thank you for everything, that was very helpful

But, how do you look at the changes in nutrient concentrations of water leaching through these soils before and after the soil is baked.

You're welcome.
Here is one method for measuring nitrate in soils:
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/assessment/files/chpt7.pdf
You could do this procedure for the sterilized and unsterilized soil. Please keep in mind, that is just an option, and I'm not saying it is the best route for you to take. You should choose topics that are interesting and inspiring to you.

Thank you
Is my expriment a contorlled expriment.
If not, how an I make it a contorlled expriment?

Does this count on a eviromental issue?

From the information you've provided, I really can't tell whether your experiment is controlled or not. A controlled experiment has an independent variable, a dependent variable, and several controls. The independent variable is what YOU change and the dependent variable is what responds to the change that you made. Controls are all the factors that you keep constant among all your experimental groups so that the only difference between the groups is the independent variable. This ScienceBuddies page explains all of this:https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... bles.shtml.

I would consider research on how microorganisms affect plant growth an environmental-related project, so I think that your project would count as studying an environmental issue.

If you can provide a detailed outline of what exactly your question, hypothesis, and procedures are we'll be able to better help you work out the specifics for your project.

What is Macronutrients and Micronutrient

what does soil contain?

PeigeLynn,

Macronutrients and micronutrients are nutrients that plants need in order to grow (just like people need certain vitamins and minerals to be healthy, so do plants) Macronutrients are those that the plant needs a lot of (macro means "big" or "large"). Micronutrients are those that plants require small quantities of (micro means "little" or "small"). According to a listing on the website of the University of Wisconsin, Macronutrients: N, K, Ca, Mg, P, and S, and Micronutrients: Cl, Fe, B, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, and Ni. (http://www.soils.wisc.edu/~barak/soilsc ... cronut.htm).

Soil is actually quite complicated. As a general definition, soil is consists of weathered rock, material from the atmosphere, decaying plants, animals, and microbes.

These sites provide useful information about soil: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sc ... ures/soil/ and http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/edresources/soil.html.

Both of these sites were returned by a simple Google search. Try one of your own and you will discover many more useful websites. Let us know what you find out!

what does Micro-organisms contain?

what does micro-organisms contain that make plants grow
what does micro-organisms contain that make plants doesn't grow

how long does it take to microwave the soil's microorganisms
how long does it take to oven the soil's microorganisms

Tell me everything about grade 8 optics
I want to know the vocabularies

what is the definition of the principal axis on a concave mirror
what is the definition of the principal axis on a convex mirror

Peigelynn,

What do optics have to do with your project? I suggest looking up the terms you need to know on the web--it will be a lot faster than waiting for answers from experts, as we only check the forum once per day.

As the other experts have already said, there are many different sorts of microorganisms in the soil--bacteria, fungi, protozoans, etc. In many cases, they break down the dead material on the forest floor into nutrients that the plants growing in the soil can then absorb, but this is not the only possible relationship between microorganisms and plants. Some even have symbiotic relationships where they provide nutrients to the plants in return for sugars produced by the plants. Others do things such as affect the pH of the soil, which can in turn affect the health of the plant.

Here are a couple of sites that give several different methods for sterilizing soil: http://www.extension.colostate.edu/4DMG ... terile.htm http://www.ehow.com/how_2060243_sterili ... -soil.html. I have never sterilized soil myself, so I don't know how good these methods are. Perhaps one of the other experts who has can chime in.

Hope this helps!

Peigelynn,

Many of the questions you posted can be answered with a quick look at an encyclopedia, your science book, or a Google search. I would suggest that you take your questions (for instance, microorganisms, soil, and plants) and use them to do a Google search to find the answers to your questions. We experts are here to help you, but we won't answer questions that can be answered by using a quick internet search. We are here to help, but we won't do your work for you. Once you have done some research on your own, then post back with questions that you have.

I wanted to know if you could help me figure out the different variables in the Science fair project How Do Roots Grow When the Direction of Gravity Changes? If I'm not going to change the direction, but set up 6 different seeds at different angels what are the variables?

Hi india1103,

Three kinds of variables are quite important for science fair projects: the independent variable, the dependent variable, and controlled variables. The independent variable is the thing that you change. The dependent variable is thing that responds to changes in the independent variable. This Science Buddies page has an excellent discussion of the different types of variables:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... bles.shtml

To figure out what the variables in your project are, ask yourself these questions:

What am I changing from experiment to experiment? That will be your independent variable.
What am I measuring that changes when I change my independent variable? That will be your dependent variable.
What things should I keep the same in all of your experiments? Those will be your controlled variables, and they could include things like how frequently you water the plants, the kind of soil you plant them in, etc.

Answer these questions for your project, and then post back with what you think the independent, dependent, and controlled variables will be in your experiment. If there's still something that isn't clear to you, we'll help you figure things out!