Experiment Essay Example: The Effect of Action and Comedy Movies on a Popcorn Plant Height

Question: How do Action and Comedy Movies affect plant height?

Variables: Independent Variable: Action/Comedy movie

Dependent Variable: Plant Height

Constants: Same volume, same video quality, same decibel level, same kHZ level, same screen brightness, same time exposed to movie, no night shift, no dark mode, and same battery percentage.

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is if one plant is exposed to an action movie, one to a comedy movie, and one to no movie, the plant not exposed to a movie will grow the tallest. This is because sound waves affect plant cell membranes and change how the cell membrane functions.

Materials: Ruler                         Water (480 ml)                   

                   Masking tape            Graduated cylinder

                   24 pots                      3 iPads

                   24 seeds                   Sharpie

                   Soil                            3 Chargers

Procedure: 

1. Place a piece of tape on the plant’s pot and label which plant is which, 8 Pots  “Hr 7 control” 8 Pots “Hr 7 Action” 8 Pots “Hr 7 Comedy”

2.  Measure how tall the plant is with the ruler (in mm). Place the ruler straight up and measure from the soil level to the tallest part of the plant. Hold the plant vertically if drooping.

3. Give the plant 20 ml of tap water. Use graduated cylinder to measure water. Water plant over sink.

4. Bring each plant to the appropriate movie viewing spot (roughly 8 meters from other movie watching spots.

5. Arrange plants 10 cm from screen in a row of four with a second row behind the first touching it.

6. Show each group their corresponding movie for 10 min. Make sure to have the volume at 50% and the brightness at 100%. Action Group gets: Star Wars: Time from 24-34 min. Comedy Group gets: Dumb and Dumber (Repeat video 3 times). The Control Group gets an iPad turned off.

7. Repeat Steps 2-6 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 5 weeks.

Graph:  

This is the average height of the plants in each group. The Action plants got off to an impressive start then peaked at 253 mm and plunged down. In the middle is the control plant, which peaked at 170 mm. In the end comedy is the lowest, peaking at just 77 mm. 

Graph 2:              

This is the height of all of the plants in each group. Control eight ends up growing the tallest, peaking at 330 mm. There is a mix of plants at the top of the graph with two controls, one action, and one comedy. Action one had a wild ride at the end going from 170 mm, down to 68 mm, then back up to 196 mm. 

Graph 3:                 

This is the maximum height of all the plants in each group. Action ended up growing the tallest with its maximum height being 253 mm. In the middle is the control plant which ended up sprouting to 170.38 mm. Lastly, the comedy plant which, at max, only shot up 97.43 mm.

My original hypothesis stated that if one plant is exposed to an action movie, one to a comedy movie, and one to no movie, the plant not exposed to a movie will grow the tallest. This is because sound waves affect plant cell membranes and change how the cell membrane functions. My hypothesis was partly supported by the evidence because in the end control had the highest average, but action had the tallest plant. 

This could be applied to real life when you watch a movie in a room, and your plants are in that room, the movies could have negative or positive effects on the plants. I would recommend locating your plants away from any electronic devices.

Some changes that could’ve been made were having more plants. We only experimented with 24 plants, some died or were dud seeds during the experiment, 8 in each group. Another thing we could’ve changed was the amount of soil each plant gets. The soil amount was roughly estimated in each pot. These changes would make the experiment more realistic and grounded.