Color Me Crazy: Effects of Food Dye on Plant Growth

Tiana Sanders, Tori Jeffries, Francisca Hernandez

Abstract


Plants have been known to be affected by dye, but we hypothesized that dyes will not have an effect on the growth of plants because roots filter out chemicals. We used 3 seeds per pot of both soybeans and wheat in 1 cup of soil. We used regular water to water the plants during the germination period. From week two, we used water prepared with dyes to water the plants. It was prepared by adding 28 drops of red and blue food dye  to 2 seperate 500 mL containers. In addition to our hypothesis not being supported, we noticed several interesting effects based on plant proximity to sunlight and their color change. 


Keywords


growth; color; roots

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References


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