Oh my god! Oh my god! OH MY GOD!!!!

Hey everyone reading this! Guess what? I won grand prize at my science fair! I seriously did not think that I would even win a ribbon! If you do not believe me for some unknown reason I am uploading the picture proof below this post. I would like to thank (god, I sound like someone who just won a Grammy award) my family for helping me on this project, my friends who decided to look at my project, all the science teachers, and viewers like you. Thank you. Well, see you next year when the science fair starts again. Good bye!

Purple ribbon:  Grand Prize!

Science Experiment - Day Nineteen (also last day! :( )

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that this will be the last day that I am going to blog on this project unfortunately. Not only that but I have also watered the plants on this last day and completed my boring tri-fold poster that you could see in the pics page. Now here are the final results.

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches
• Lipton Tea #1: 11.875 inches
• Lipton Tea #2: 11 inches
• Lipton Tea #3: 11.25 inches
• Tap Water #1: 12.25 inches
• Tap Water #2: 10.25 inches
• Tap Water #3: 7 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2: 11 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches
• Milk #1: 6 inches
• Milk #2: 0.0 inches
• Milk #3: N/A (my dog ate it)
• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1: 13.25 inches
• Instant Coffee #2: 8.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #3: 14 inches
• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

As you can see, Instant Coffee won the battle with the highest height of 14 inches and is now named the Garden King! I will now say my final goodbye and I thank everyone for reading this, including people from Australia and Germany. Now good bye!

My research on acid rain.

It appears as if my plants with orange juice, lemonade, and tropical punch aren't doing so well and since they all have citrus acid in them, I decided to do some research on acid rain. What acid rain actually does is lower the pH of the lakes and rivers and destroys high elevated trees. It also seems that lemon juice and orange juice are more acidic than acid rain itself which is pretty shocking. Black Coffee has the same pH as normal rain, while milk is on the basic side.

Science Experiment - Day Eighteen

Today, Instant Coffee is still in the lead and the juices are still in last place. What is really cool that I found out today is that I have people from Australia and Germany coming to this website even though this is from the U.S.A. So hello to all the Australian and German people who are reading this! Anyway, here are the results!

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches
• Lipton Tea #1: 11.5 inches
• Lipton Tea #2: 11 inches
• Lipton Tea #3: 11.25 inches
• Tap Water #1: 12 inches
• Tap Water #2: 9.5 inches
• Tap Water #3: 7 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2: 11 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches
• Milk #1: 6 inches
• Milk #2: 0.0 inches
• Milk #3: N/A
• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1: 12.75 inches
• Instant Coffee #2: 8.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #3: 13.5 inches
• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

Science Experiment - Day Seventeen

It's turning into a real competition, and the drink inspired by coffee beans is holding onto the lead!  ... and yes, the juices are still tied for last place.  Here are today's exciting results:

• Lipton Tea #1 -- 11.5 inches
• Lipton Tea #2 -- 11 inches
• Lipton Tea #3 -- 11.25 inches
• All Orange Juice -- 0 inches
• All Lemonade -- 0 inches
• All Tropical Punch -- 0 inches
• Tap Water #1 -- 11.5 inches
• Tap Water #2 -- 9.5 inches
• Tap Water #3 -- 7 inches
• Aquarium Water #1 -- 0 inches
• Aquarium Water #2 -- 11 inches
• Aquarium Water #3 -- 0 inches
• Milk #1 -- 4.75 inches
• Milk #2 -- 0 inches
• Milk #3 -- eaten by my dog
• Instant Coffee #1 -- 12.25 inches
• Instant Coffee #2 -- 8.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #3 -- 12.5 inches

I'm sure that you're probably wondering, "Just how much more exciting can this get?"  Stay tuned.  I'll soon have all kinds of graphs and charts for you to look at as the great bean race continues.

Science Experiment - Day Sixteen

Results for today:

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches


• Lipton Tea #1: 11.25 inches


• Lipton Tea #2: 10.5 inches


• Lipton Tea #3: 10.75 inches


• Tap Water #1: 11.5 inches


• Tap Water #2: 9 inches


• Tap Water #3: 6 inches


• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches


• Aquarium H2O #2: 10.5 inches


• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches


• Milk #1: 4.25 inches


• Milk #2: 0.0 inches


• Milk #3: N/A


• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches


• Instant Coffee #1: 11.5 inches


• Instant Coffee #2: 8.25 inches


• Instant Coffee #3: 11.75 inches


• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

Science Experiment - Day Fifteen

Today's results!

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches



• Lipton Tea #1: 11 inches



• Lipton Tea #2: 10.5 inches



• Lipton Tea #3: 10.75 inches



• Tap Water #1: 11.5 inches



• Tap Water #2: 9 inches



• Tap Water #3: 5.5 inches



• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches



• Aquarium H2O #2: 10.5 inches



• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches



• Milk #1: 3.5 inches



• Milk #2: 0.0 inches



• Milk #3: N/A



• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches



• Instant Coffee #1: 11.25 inches



• Instant Coffee #2: 8 inches



• Instant Coffee #3: 11.75 inches



• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

Science Experiment - Day Fourteen

Hello. So today I wrote down the measurements and watered the plants with liquids (it is very weird saying the word watered in this project). Here are today's results:

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches
• Lipton Tea #1: 10.75 inches
• Lipton Tea #2: 10.5 inches
• Lipton Tea #3: 10.5 inches
• Tap Water #1: 11.5 inches
• Tap Water #2: 8.75 inches
• Tap Water #3: 4.5 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2: 10.25 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches
• Milk #1: 3.5 inches
• Milk #2: 0.0 inches
• Milk #3: N/A inches
• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1: 10.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #2: 7.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #3: 11.5 inches
• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

It's Arbor Day!

It's Arbor Day! Here are some interesting facts about Arbor Day if you would like to know. Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling Morton who loved nature and planted shrubs, flowers, trees, and other plants around his house in Nebraska. He also realized that his pioneer friends in Nebraska not only missed having trees (there weren't many around) but also needed trees for keeping cool, for getting wood buildings constructed and for firewood.  They also needed trees to help the soil stay in place. All of this motivated him to take action and finally, he proposed a new holiday for planting trees known as Arbor Day. In 1885 on Arbor Day, there was a parade and Morton had a speech to share with everyone. The students from the schools came to plant trees and care for them. After the parade and the speech, the first Arbor Day ended. By the time of 1870, the holiday had already become nationwide in the U.S. (and now there are lots of trees in Nebraska).

Science Experiment - Day Thirteen

The results!

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches
• Lipton Tea #1: 10.5 inches
• Lipton Tea #2: 10.25 inches
• Lipton Tea #3: 9.75 inches
• Tap Water #1: 11.5 inches
• Tap Water #2: 8.25 inches
• Tap Water #3: 3.625 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2: 10.25 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches
• Milk #1: 3.5 inches
• Milk #2: 0.0 inches
• Milk #3: N/A
• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1: 9.875 inches
• Instant Coffee #2: 6.75 inches
• Instant Coffee #3: 10.5 inches
• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

Science Experiment - Day Twelve

The results for today!

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches
• Lipton Tea #1: 9.25 inches
• Lipton Tea #2: 9.5 inches
• Lipton Tea #3: 9.25 inches
• Tap Water #1: 10.75 inches
• Tap Water #2: 7.75 inches
• Tap Water #3: 2.75 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2: 9.5 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches
• Milk #1: 3.25 inches
• Milk #2: 0.0 inches
• Milk #3: N/A
• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1: 8.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #2: 6 inches
• Instant Coffee #3: 9.5 inches
• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

Science Experiment - Day Eleven

The day of the science fair keeps getting closer. One of my plants grew six feet tall. Haha just kidding. I forgot to tell you guys that I watered my plants yesterday. So here are the measurements for today:

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches
• Lipton Tea #1: 7 inches
• Lipton Tea #2: 7.75 inches
• Lipton Tea #3: 7.5 inches
• Tap Water #1: 8.375 inches
• Tap Water #2: 6.125 inches
• Tap Water #3: 0.75 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2: 8 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches
• Milk #1: 3 inches
• Milk #2: 0.0 inches
• Milk #3: N/A
• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1: 6.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #2: 5 inches
• Instant Coffee #3: 7.5 inches
  
• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

Science Experiment - Day Ten + P.U.!

So my dad and I decided that we should empty out the tray filled with liquid. In the process my dad accidently spilled the liquid from the bottom of the tray TO the floor in the living room and the smell stinks worse than puke plus rotten milk COMBINED! Another thing that happened. My dog ate the plant with milk #3 so yeah. At least he didn't eat all of them but only one. The results today were:

• All Orange Juice: 0.0 inches
• Lipton Tea #1: 5.25 inches
• Lipton Tea #2: 6.5 inches
• Lipton Tea #3: 6.5 inches
• Tap Water #1: 6 inches
• Tap Water #2: 5 inches
• Tap Water #3: 0.25 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1: 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2: 5.5 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3: 0.0 inches
• Milk #1: 2.75 inches
• Milk #2: 0.0 inches
• Milk #3: 1 inch (before my dog ate it!)
• All Lemonade: 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1: 4.75 inches
• Instant Coffee #2: 4.25 inches
• Instant Coffee #3: 6.75 inches
• All Tropical Punch: 0.0 inches

Science Experiment - Day Nine

Today my beans have grown. Still only eleven of the seeds have sprouted. The beans moistened by orange juice still have not grown, nor the lemonade nor the tropical punch.





Here are today's results:

• All Orange Juice -- 0.0 inches
  
• Lipton Tea #1 -- 1.5 inches
• Lipton Tea #2 -- 4 inches
• Lipton Tea #3 -- 3.75 inches
• Tap Water #1 -- 3.5 inches
• Tap Water #2 -- 3 inches
• Tap Water #3 -- 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #1 -- 0.0 inches
• Aquarium H2O #2 -- 2.25 inches
• Aquarium H2O #3 -- 0.0 inches
• Milk #1 -- 1 inch
• Milk #2 -- 0.0 inches
• Milk #3 -- 0.625 inches
• All Lemonade -- 0.0 inches
• Instant Coffee #1 -- 1.125 inches
• Instant Coffee #2 -- 1.5 inches
• Instant Coffee #3 -- 2.75 inches
  

Science Experiment - Day Eight

Right now eleven out of twenty-four beans have sprouted. All three from Lipton Tea, two from Tap Water, one from Aquarium H2O, two from Milk, and the other three from Instant Coffee have sprouted. Still not any from orange juice, tropical punch, or lemonade yet. If you are wondering how tall the plants are, I cannot take measurements because the plants just sprouted and have not stood up straight yet. As soon as the beans are standing up straight, I will take measurements then. For now, everyone has to wait to see which liquid helps the beans grow best.

Science Experment - Day Seven

My plants finally sprouted! Well, only six out of twenty-four but still that is good! The first one that had sprouted was Lipton Tea. The second and third one was Tap Water, fourth was the Aquaruim H2O, the fifth one was surprisingly milk, and the last one was Instant Coffee. None from the Orange Juice, Tropical Punch, or Lemonade have sprouted yet but I do wonder if they will or will not. The tallest plant right now is the one with Lipton Tea so maybe that one will work the best, who knows? Well this is good news and now I don't have to tell you any more boring stuff on this blog for the rest of my life! Joy. Well have a good day and good bye.

Science Experiment - Day Six + Earth Day!

Nothing grew still. It is so boring. Anyway happy Earth Day! The day we take care of our planet yay! So what are you doing for earth day? Saving water, saving electricity, not littering, or all of those and more? Did you know the first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970? I sure didn't know that. Here are some tips for you to keep the earth healthy!

1. Plant lots of trees, flowers, and other plants as well to keep the Earth green!
2. Save water. After you are done using the sink, hose, or other things, turn the water off.
3. Save electricity. Turn off all tvs, computers, and lights if not in use.
4. Do not litter or pollute. Pick up garbage or recycle items so the earth won't be buryed in waste.
5. Instead of using paper or plastic bags when carrying items from the store, use a reusable bag.

That is all for today. Good bye and happy Earth day!

Science Experiment - Day Five

Guess what happened today? Nothing still BUT I did find something interesting on the plants that have been watered by milk.

On my previous blog, I mention that milk spoils and do you know what happened? There is now these fuzzy white hyphae (mold) on top of the soil. What was even weirder is that when I poured milk on it today (I watered the plants today) is that the milk stays on top of the mold and not completely soaked into the dirt. The only one thing I am worried about is that the mold doesn't spread to every plant in the tray or else the whole experiment will be ruined and so will my project.

Well that is all the stuff that has happen and since tomorrow is the day when the plants might sprout, that might happen and then I will have more to talk about. My prediction on the milk soaked seeds is that they will not grow or grow well so good bye for now. Also, I will have the pictures of the hyphae on the dirt in the pics page as soon as possible.

Science Experiment - Day Four

Guess what!? The most exciting thing happened with my plants today! It is.......nothing. Nope, not even a sprout yet.

Well here are some things I found out today. One is that this whole blog here won't count because it can't be in the science fair. Even if it could, I highly doubt that people will take care of it well. But I will have some important pages and research on my tri-fold so yeah. Another thing that a friend of mine mention and I completely forgot about it is that milk spoils. Which would mean that my plants might smell........Thank god I put a lid on so the room doesn't stink.

Well, that is all I am going to say for today and hopefully some will sprout so I won't have to tell you this boring word again "nothing." Have a nice day and I will blog tomorrow bye!

Science Experiment - Day Three

Nothing has grown...........still. Which is a bit (actually a lot) boring. By the way, I forgot to mention in day one before you put the dirt in, you cut a hole on the bottom of the cup to let the liquid drain out so the seed doesn't rot. Another thing I found out is that beans take about 6-10 days to germinate so maybe we will see a sprout by then. And that is pretty much all I have to say for today so bye!

The Scoop on Fish Waste

Since today there really wasn't much to report on the growth of my plants (they didn't sprout at all), I decided to do some research. I knew that most of the liquids I was using have their ingredients written on the side of the container -- all, except the aquarium water which is basically water and fish waste. After some research into the exciting topic of fish waste, I discovered that scientists are actually studying this stuff!

I found an article entitled, "Mud made of fish poop" that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists concluded that "Fish are constantly drinking and filtering seawater, converting minerals such as calcium and magnesium into carbonates and excreting them as mucus-bound fecal pellets." This poop provides food for other organisms.

A second article was called "Aquaponics: Fish poop makes for good vegetables". In this very short article they provide a quote: "The vegetables and the fish work together in a sustainable loop. The fish waste provides fertilizer which is made accessible to the plants via bacteria that convert the ammonia to nitrates, which feed the plants."

Having read these two sources, I concluded that fish poop is good fertilizer that can help plants grow. So, I am optimistic that my aquarium-watered plants will do well. Three cheers for poop!

Experiment: Day Two

Nothing has grown yet. I asked my teacher today if I could do a blog for my project... but, my teacher said I had to do a tri-fold poster anyway. The video below expresses my feelings on this subject:

Experiment: Day One

I started the day by trying to figure out what to do first. I knew that I needed cups and something to hold them, so I first grabbed a bunch of styrofoam cups and a tray. How many cups did I need? Well, I had eight liquids in mind, and I wanted to have at least three beans per liquid (just in case some of them were defective)... so altogether I had twenty-four cups and (lucky me) they fit into the tray.

You might be wondering what kind of beans I decided to use. While Jack's Magic Beans would have been great, I settled for Bush Beans because we had some at home.

As for the dirt, I'm told that nothing is better than Miracle Gro, and as my baby beans deserve nothing but the best, I decided to make them as happy as possible.





Then I created some labels and labeled all the cups.



Next I added two inches of dirt to each cup and put those cups into a tray. After that I put a bean seed into each cup. When that was done, I put another inch of dirt in on top of each bean.



Then I poured the different liquids into their labeled cups (there were three cups for every different liquid). Finally I put the cover on top of the tray and that's all there is today.

Experiment Getting Started Soon!

So... I spent a bit of time thinking about what my science fair project would be about. I thought that it would be very interesting to see which liquids will help plants grow best. I came up with this experiment after rejecting these other ideas: tracking the movement of snails in the lawn (but I couldn't find any snails) and seeing which plants grow well with fungi (but I don't know how to get fungi).

You might wonder why I am documenting all this stuff on a blog. Well, I didn't want to do it on a boring tri-fold poster like everyone else is always doing, and on blogs you can record stuff every day.

I came up with eight different liquids that I can use, such as coffee, water, orange juice, lemonade, tea, tropical punch, milk and stinky aquarium water (my mom needs to clean the tank).

At first I thought of using a model to display my experiment but then I thought that the Internet would be a much better idea because you can put up pictures and it will display the experiment much better than a model.

Now let's see what happens over the next three and a half weeks!