Video summary of This project
This is a quick overview of the entire project.
conclusion
Unfortunately I must disprove part of my hypothesis with the data that I collected.
The part of my thesis where I claimed the plants would grow the best in a hydroponic system based on their height and number of leaves is not true according to my data on the previous page. When reviewing the graphs that compare the height and number of leaves it is clear that the control group had the greater growth overall because the graphs comparing them showed the control group having a bigger growth rate.
The part of my thesis where I claimed the plants would grow the best in a hydroponic system based on their height and number of leaves is not true according to my data on the previous page. When reviewing the graphs that compare the height and number of leaves it is clear that the control group had the greater growth overall because the graphs comparing them showed the control group having a bigger growth rate.
The part of my hypothesis in which I claimed water would be saved is tricky to prove or disprove with such a short experiment. When not counting the water initially added to the reservoir then it is clear that more water was used on the control group because there was no additional water necessary to add to the experimental group. Overtime I believe that the amount of water used to water the control group would surpass the amount of water used to fill the reservoir but this experiment does not prove or disprove this. This experiment only proves that the experimental group did not require additional water over the four weeks whereas the control group did and this proves that water was saved by using hydroponics instead of traditional gardening.
I can prove that topsoil erosion would be reduced with this experiment. This part of my hypothesis is true when I consult my data. Since the hydroponic system did not have any soil in any way, the experimental group did not show any topsoil erosion. The graph on the results page shows the trend of the soil levels in the experiment. The trend of the control group's topsoil is decreasing which proves that topsoil is eroded away in a traditional gardening setting where there is no erosion in a hydroponic setting.
Presented to the community
I teamed up with my friend Tyler Van Eck ( here is the link to his website: http://vanecktj.weebly.com/index.html ) because we have similar projects. We traveled to Sandy Hill Elementary where we presented our project and findings to a second grade class and taught them about hydroponics.
The kids found our experiment interesting and had many questions. They found out that they had done an experiment similar to hydroponics by planting a bean sprout in a bag with a wet paper towel to observe if it would grow like it would in dirt.
They decided that hydroponics would be a good experiment to compare to growing in soil if they could set up the system correctly and have the correct nutrients.