“Where does the water go when a plant is watered? With this experiment, children can discover for themselves how essential the functions of roots and stems are to plant growth. As the colored water is absorbed, students will be able to see how the water is absorbed into the plant and the petals of the carnation change color.” Steve Spangler Science
Alex and a friend are going to participate in the Science Fair this year. Alex really enjoys science and I think this is a good experience for her to try out. The girls are showing how plants feed off water. They are using white carnations and food coloring to demonstrate the science behind the theory.
These pictures above are of our “side” project. For her actual project, Alex used 1 color of food coloring and 3 different variables (cold tap water, tap water with sugar, and tap water with salt). But we had lots of flowers left over so we went a little crazy coloring the flowers.
What you need:
- glasses filled with water
- carnations (other white flowers may work, though we did not try)
- food coloring
Fill glasses with water. Add 30 or more drops of food coloring. The more drops the better in this case. I would suggest a lot more than 30 drop judging from the results we got from her project. Wait and watch. Every hour Alex checked on and wrote down her findings of the flowers. You can see in the photos the colored water traveled through the veins of the flowers. This effect can be subtle, depending on the color. These pictures were taken at six hours.
Have Faith Everyday 