Unit 17 Module 3: Plants – Supercharged Science

From the bushes outside your window, to the tree that produced the apple you had with lunch, to moss on a log, plants are all around us. In this section, you will learn all about plants including their parts and methods of reproduction and survival. You will see that although all plants have some things in common, there are many different kinds of plants. You will also see that plants have an impact on their environment, and that they are affected by their environment as well.

When you think about all the times you interact with plants during your life, you can see how important it is to understand them! At the end of this section, you will know:

What makes something a plant
Important structures that many plants have, and what they do
The major groups of plants
How plants reproduce
The role of flowers in plant reproduction
How plants are helpful to people

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	Measuring Photosynthesis Here’s a neat experiment you can do to measure the rate of photosynthesis of a plant, and it’s super-simple and you probably have most of what you need to do it right now at home! You basically take small bits of a leaf like spinach, stick it in a cup of water that has extra … Continue reading "Measuring Photosynthesis"
	What Color Light Do Plants Like Best? If you’re thinking sunlight, you’re right. Natural light is best for plants for any part of the plant’s life cycle. But what can you offer indoor plants? In Unit 9 we learned how light contains different colors (wavelengths), and it’s important to understand which wavelengths your indoor plant prefers. Plants make their food through photosynthesis: … Continue reading "What Color Light Do Plants Like Best?"
	Giant Veggies! Six-foot zucchini? Ten-foot carrots? Are giant veggies just a photography trick, or are they real? The happy news is that yes, they’re real! Expert horticulturists have accumulated a great wealth of knowledge about different climates and dirt conditions. They must know about the different chemical, physical and biological properties of gardens and do multiples of … Continue reading "Giant Veggies!"
	Stomata When we think about the parts of plants, we often thing about stems, leaves, seeds, or flowers. Many plants have these parts. However a plant does not need to have any of these parts to be considered a true plant. So, instead of talking about parts that all plants have, we’ll talk about parts that … Continue reading "Stomata"
	How to Ripen a Tomato with a Banana It drives me crazy it when my store-bought tomatoes go straight from unripe to mush. After talking with local farmers in my area, I discovered a few things that might help you enjoy this fruit without sacrificing taste and time. Grocery store owners know that their products are very perishable. If the tomatoes arrive ripe, … Continue reading "How to Ripen a Tomato with a Banana"
	Plant Press Art and science meet in a plant press. Whether you want to include the interesting flora you find in your scientific journal, or make a beautiful handmade greeting card, a plant press is invaluable. They are very cheap and easy to make, too!
	Monocots and Dicots Flowering plants can be divided into monocotyledons and dicotyledons (monocots and dicots). The name is based on how many leaves sprout from the seed, but there are other ways to tell them apart. For monocots, these will be in multiples of three (wheat is an example of a monocot). If you count the number of petals … Continue reading "Monocots and Dicots"
	Einstein’s Garden Mass and energy are conserved. This means you can’t create or destroy them, but you can change their location or form. Most people don’t understand that the E energy term means all the energy transformations, not just the nuclear energy. The energy could be burning gasoline, fusion reactions (like in the sun), metabolizing your lunch, … Continue reading "Einstein’s Garden"
	Carnivorous Greenhouse Plants need light, water, and soil to grow. If you provide those things, you can make your own greenhouse where you can easily observe plants growing. Here’s a simple experiment on how to use the stuff from your recycling bin to make your own garden greenhouse. We’ll first look at how to make a standard, … Continue reading "Carnivorous Greenhouse"
	The Science of Broccoli Broccoli, like all plants, has chlorophyll, making it green. You can really “see” the chlorophyll when you boil broccoli. This is such a simple experiment that you can do this as you prepare dinner tonight with your kids. Make sure you have an extra head of broccoli for this experiment, unless you really like to … Continue reading "The Science of Broccoli"
	Turning Compost into Gold If you have a backyard garden, be sure to give it plenty of sunshine, water, and garbage. Wait… garbage? Yes, you read that right. Garbage like rotting food and coffee grounds, made into compost, can be highly beneficial to garden plants. Why? It all has to do with nitrogen. Plants need nitrogen in order to … Continue reading "Turning Compost into Gold"
	Three Ways to Create a Plant If you’ve ever eaten fruits or vegetables (and let’s hope you have), you have benefited from plants as food. Of course, the plants we eat have been highly modified by growers to produce larger and sweeter fruit, or heartier vegetables. There are three basic ways to create plants with new, more desirable traits:

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