Please help!! Science project question about plants?

Question

Ok so the question is Can plants grow in a dark environment with only a small amount of sunlight? This is my son's project. So we did the project. We planted 4 bean seeds in each pot with soil, put 2 pots in boxes with a small hole at the top and put the 3rd plant in the light. A&B (the plants in boxes grew faster) and C (the one in the sun ) grew a little slower, but was definetly in better condition. ( I know this is because clorophyll absorbes energy from the sun which gives the plants it's green color). The other 2 in the boxes grew taller (trying to reach for the light and climbed out of the top of the box) although the stems are pale. So the question is can the plants still survive with only a small amount of light or will they eventually die? Please help asap. This is due tomorrow.

Answer 1

The answer to the question is NO. It can live only very shortly after it sprouted while it still have its stored energy previously stored in its seeds.

When seeds are planted they do not need light to germinate because they are planted beneath the soil, where it is already dark. Seeds contain a plant embryo and stored food to give the baby plant all the energy it needs to sprout. After the seeds sprout the plants do need light to grow.

Light is needed for the plants to produce their own food through photosynthesis. Shortly after sprouting the plant grown in the dark will grow just as the ones in the light and partial light because they all have stored energy from their seeds, but the plant grown in the dark will not have any color -it will have a faint yellow-green color but taller and trying to catch some sunshine to survive. The plant grown in the light will have the healthy green color of a plant capable of photosynthesis.

Over time the plant growing in the light will continue to use the light to produce its own food and it will grow, but the plants grown without full light will die since they cannot produce food without light.♥

Answer 2

Some types of plants cannot have a lot of sun because they are overwhelmed, especially smaller plants. The photosynthesis process occurs for too long of a period of a day and the amount of clorophyl becomes poison to the plant.

In your example, limited amounts of light are better that full sunlight. As the plant with limited light gets bigger it will require more sunlight since it will require more clorophyl. Again, too much is not good. Over time as the plant gets bigger, it may be able to handle full sun, but only after it has grown to a much larger size.

The plant that receives full sun will certainly die sooner.

Answer 3

plants have enuf food n energy stored in them to go a few days without the optimum conditions. many plants produce chlorophyll even in the absence of sunlight by a process called dark reaction and yes, plants do grow faster in the dark.
seeds will germinate whether or not they are in the presence of light. Once germinated, the plants in the dark will grow faster than the plants in the light. However, they will be spindly and will have fewer leaves. If the experiment were stopped before the plants in the dark condition die, nd you will be left with the alternative conception that light is not necessary for plants to live and grow.
Light is not necessary for seeds during the germination phase of growth. It is necessary following germination for health and continued growth.

hope i was of any help

Answer 4

If the tall skinny plants were in the "wild" they would fall over and break and wouldn't survive. Inside the house, the plants would continue to live but probably would not produce flowers and seeds as a threshold amount of sunlight is required for this. The answer is they can grow but not well.

Answer 5

I would think they would eventually die, because if they continue to grow, eventually they will have more cells to support than the sun is supplying energy for. Granted, some plants do very well in shade with diffuse light. I think it would really depend on the plant.

Answer 6

A great plant is called Wisconsin Fast Plants and take just over a week to flower and reproduce.

Answer 7

The plants do not need lots of light to stay alive, they need it only to thrive. They will attempt to complete their lifecycle with the resources present, and then because they are annuals, they will die.

If they are not able to flower, because the conditions are too extreme, they may just die without ever flowering or completing their life cycle.

Careful, the plants will develop a vendetta against you for mistreating them, and you may use your green thumb:)

Answer 8

Yes they can still survive.

Answer 9

They probably wont die although they definately wont be healthy.