Keishawna Barracks

Lab #

SKILLED TESTED AI

TITLE: SENSITIVITY AND COORDINATION

AIM: To investigate the effect of one sided lighting on shoots

APPARATUS/ MATERIALS: Test tubes, cotton, 4 seedlings, test tube rack, beaker, clinostat,
bulb with electricity, water, paper towel.

METHOD:

1. A test tube was labelled A and a beaker labeled B.

2. Sufficient paper towel was placed inside the test tube and the beaker as a support
medium.
3. A damp cotton was wrapped around the root of each seedling.
4. They were placed in the respective containers and it was ensured that the roots were fully
immersed in water.
5. The beaker was placed vertically on a clinostat and the test tube was placed in the rack.
6. A 60W bulb was placed 35cm away from each of the plants ensuring that the light is in
line with the shoot.
7. The setup was surrounded with cardboards to block out excess external lights.
8. They remained for three days and they were observed.
9. Observation were noted.

OBSERVATION:

TABLE SHOWING THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT ON ONE SIDE OF A SHOOT

DISCUSSION:
Keishawna Barracks

Tropism is the indication of growth or turning movement of a biological organism, usually a

plant, in response to an environmental stimulus. In tropisms, this response is dependent on the
direction of the stimulus. There are different types of tropisms Phototropism, Geotropism,
Hydrotropism, and Thigmotropism. They all operate differently towards growth. Phototropism is
the growth in response to the stimulus of light. The growth in response to gravity is known as
geotropism while the Hydrotropism is the growth or turning of plant roots towards or away from
moisture and thigmotropism is the turning or bending of a plant or other organism in response to
a touch stimulus. In this lab phototropism and geotropism was our main focus. The response to
a plant shoot is called positive phototropism and a negative geotropism as the shoot needs light
to carry out photosynthesis. When light is not needed it would be a positive geotropism and a
negative phototropism. Growth in plants is controlled by hormones called Auxins which are
found in meristems which is the growing part of a plant. Auxins are created in the tip of the root
and shoot.

It was noticed that the the pant that was placed on the clinostat grew upwards as the auxins
were evenly distributed because the clinostat was spinning so all around the plant was exposed
to the same amount of light evenly distributed. The plant that was in the test tube without the
clinostat grew towards the light bulb because the light was not evenly distributed. It was focused
on one part of the plant making the plant bend because the auxins went from the side that was
obtained to the light to the dark area which then cause an elongation of the cells, making the
plant grow towards the direction of light source. This is a positive phototropism.

Naturally germinated seedlings are very similarly to this lab. The light bulb operating as the sun.
The earth operating as the clinostat. It is clear that most plants do grow upwards because the sun
is at a fixed spot while the earth spins on an axis. Allowing the auxin to stay in the center of the
plant making it stay up right.

A controlled variable in this lab was the plant in the beaker on the clinostat because light was all
around the plant.

LIMATION:

A limitation is the rate at which the plants grew.

CONCLUSION:

It can be concluded that in order for the plant to grow upwards light is necessary everywhere on
the plant so it would be a positive phototropism.