Question

Lab Report:

Introduction: There are many factors that can influence seed germination. Germination is the process where a seed grows into a plant. Some of the factors that affect germination are as follows: Light exposure, temperature, nutrition, time, distance between seeds, topography, oxygen, and many others.

Experiment: The purpose of this experiment is to test three variables, and to hypothesize what effect those three variables would have on the seed germination.

Hypothesis: I believe that the variables that I selected for this experiment have correct and incorrect conditions that will increase the seeds chance of germination. For temperature, I believe that germination will increase at room temperature verses a colder temperature. For light, I believe that germination will increase with more light verses less light. For oxygen, I believe that germination will increase with oxygen verses no oxygen.

Method: To germinate the beans, place one folded paper towel, moistened but not soaking wet, into the 5 x 8 inch bag. Place 10 beans in a horizontal line on the paper towel. Use a different prepared bag for each variable tested. Label each bag with the variable being tested. Hang each bag using masking tape in the environment you select. For each variable tested, use two samples (for example: Variable = Light. Hang one bag in a dark area and one in a light area). Measure results.

For my selection I used temperature, light and oxygen. For temperature I hung one bag in the garage where the temperature is generally about 50 degrees F. The second bag I hung in my room, with the average temperature being 70 degrees F. For light I hand another bag in my room that has both natural lighting (window) and lighting from lamps. The second bag I hung in my closet. For the third variable, oxygen, I hung two bags in my room, one with the bag sealed and the other open. The seeds were allowed to germinate for 7 days. The following were my result.

Conclusion: Of the variables that were tested, oxygen and lighting were significant when it came to seed germination. Without exposure to one of these two variables the, the seeds were unable to germinate within the time frame of the selected test.

QUESTION:

What should I put in an abstract for my paper? What should I highlight as my main abstract points?

Answer 1

Germination is the process where a seed grows into a plant. This process is mainly affected by exposure to light, nutrition, topography, temperature, oxygen and distance between seeds etc. Amongst, all we have studied three main factors affecting germination in this study namely, temperature, light and oxygen. To germinate the beans, one folded paper towel, moistened but not soaking wet was placed into the 5 x 8 inch bag. In this way 10 beans in a horizontal line were placed on the paper towel. We have analysed the effect of temperature by hanging beans in bags at 50 degree and 70 degree. Similarly, for light, bags were kept in exposure to both light (natural lighting (window) and lighting from lamps) and in closet (no light). For the third variable i.e Oxygen, one bag was kept sealed and the other open. The seeds were allowed to germinate for 7 days. We have found that of the variables that were tested, oxygen and lighting were significant when it came to seed germination. Without exposure to one of these two variables the seeds were unable to germinate within the time frame of the selected test.