Can noise effect plants growth!

We are going to be comparing 3 plants with different levels of noises.High,Medium and Low.
Hanaa Adil, Heba Adil
Horizon Leadership Academy
Grade 6

Hypothesis

We believe that plant growth is affected by noise because noise is an important and natural factor in living organism’s life, and it may affect growth in ways we do not yet understand. Plants are all around us so they will have some impact even though they are living things with different traits.

Research

How do plants hear?

  • Plants don't have ears, but they can sense and react to sound vibrations in the air and soil through specialized structures that trigger signals that affect some plant growth factors.
  • When sound waves travel, they create tiny movements. Plants can sense these movements through their leaves, stems and roots.
  • Very loud sounds create strong vibrations that can affect how plants grow.
  • Speaking kindly to plants can have a positive affect, while yelling, screaming, and non-rhythmic noises can have a negative affect.
  • If you play calm music, it can positively affect plants, but exposing them to harsh, loud, or out-of-rhythm music could have negative affects.

What do loud noises do to the plants?

  • Exposing plants to harsh, loud, or out-of-rhythm music could have negative affects.
  • Research suggests that loud noise can stress plants leading to slow growth. This may lead to slower growth, smaller leaves and thinner stems.
  • Extremely loud and long-term constant vibration (like near machinary or construction) can damage plant cells overtime. It affects how nutrients move inside the plant and reduce healthy growth.
  • Long-term stressed plants may use their energy to survive instead of growing taller.
  • The negative affects will also affect the soil and the bugs or animals living under it which contributes to slower growth.

Real-World Examples of noisy environments

  • Plants growing near highways, near airports, near factories or construction sites may experience constant vibration stress.
  • Over time this can affect plants’ height, leaf size and overall health.
  • However, plants can adapt well and many will use the energy they receive towards survival rather than growth.

What do calm or natural sounds do to the plants?

  • Low-pitched noise can improve nutrient absorption and photosynthesis.
  • It enhances the process rates, improves nutrient absorption, controls chemical levels, and attracts pollinators. Controlling chemical levels means controlling the amount of chemicals produced and released by the plant. Attracting pollinators means that natural sounds, like birdsong, really are essential for plants.
  • It improves nutrient absorption, meaning that certain sound frequencies can enhance nutrient uptake and photosynthesis.
  • It enhances the process rates, meaning it helps seeds sprout faster by encouraging them to take in more food and water.
  • Some noise can reduce stress and means that gentle sound can help plants cope with stress. Plants have lots of stress like water stress, nutrient deficiency and temperature extremes. Water stress means when there is too much salt in water that they are given or they don't get enough water
  • Nutrient deficiency means that plants don’t get enough nutrients that they need.
  • Temperature extremes means that the temperature needs to be balanced in order for the plants to grow. When it's too hot plants can get stressed and stop growing. When it's too cold they can freeze and die.

Do no noise or complete silence have an affect?

  • Plants are naturally adapted to grow in environments they are placed in. They do not need sound to grow. They mainly need sunlight, water, air and soil nutrients to grow. However, some of these essentials bring in gentle natural sounds.
  • Some studies suggest that plants need these gentle natural noise to slightly stimulate growth. However, plants do not sound vibrations to warn each other or defend themselves.
  • They depend on the chemical and sometimes physical signals, not sound, to communicate. E.g. When a plant is attacked by insects, it releases chemicals into soil or air which is detected by neighboring plants and they start protecting themselves.

What noises will affect plants in a positive way

  • Classical music often benefits noise
  • Quran
  • Positive tones
  • Calm sweet tones
  • low frequency noise
  • Bird song
  • Flowing water

What noises will affect plants in a negative way

  • Screaming or yelling
  • Not rhythm noises becuse harsh sounds make plants die.
  • Unstable noises
  • High frequency noises
  • Harm sounds

What are frequencIes in sound?

  • Frequencies in sounds are the number of vibrations per second that a sound wave completes. These are measured in Hertz(Hz). These vibrations are produced by a source, such as musical instruments. They travel through the air to reach our ears. The frequency of a sound determines its pitch. Higher frequencies correspond to higher-pitched sounds, while lower frequencies produce lower-pitched sounds. For example, a high-pitched whistle might have a frequency of around 10,000 Hz, whereas a deep bass note could be as low as 50 Hz.
  • Humans can only hear from 2o Hz to 20,000 Hz.

Details about our plants Aloe and Haworthia:

  • It is a slow-growing succulent plant adapted to dry environments and survive harsh conditions.
  • They store water in their leaves and grow slowly to conserve energy typically grow a few cm per year.
  • The instructions suggest:
  • Water only when it is BONE dry.
  • Water less in winter and more in summer

Tropical plant:

  • It often grows fast typically to several cm per week and are adapted to warm, humid conditions.
  • The instructions suggest:
  • Water only when almost dry to prevent root rot. Water the plant until it is moist or 1-2 inches inside the soil.
  • Water less in winter and more in summer
  • You can water smaller pots every 4-7 days. Medium pots every 6-10 days and larger pots every 10-14 days.

WHY WE CHOSE THIS PROJECT We chose this project as we noticed trees wilting or plants dying near highways and minimal or no greenery near industrial sites and wondered why that happens? So we thought maybe noise could be a factor.

This project helped us to be aware of the affects of noise pollution on living organisms typically plants. The experiment helped us to dig deeper into concepts like vibrations, growth and stress responses of the plants.

Variables

  • Controlled Variable: That we water it every day.
  • Independent Variable: The volume, temperature and the light.
  • Responding Variable: The plants growing and being affected.

Procedure

  1. Get the plants.
  2. Put them in the area where they are meant to be.(Depending on the volume)
  3. Water them everyday on the amount of how much is needed.
  4. Measure the height once every week
  5. Record the information on a paper

Observations

  • The least noise level plants grew better and had minimal broken leaves or crinkly leaves.
  • The highest noise level plants showed burnt/crinkly leaves while the medium noise level plants only had some.
  • The last week of our experiment had cloudy weather which affected our experiment as one of the essential need (sunlight) was missing which affected the height of all the plants in the experiment.
  • We compared the experiment by how much it grew.

Analysis

  • The least noise level plants grew better and had minimal broken leaves or crinkly leaves.
  • The highest noise level plants showed burnt/crinkly leaves while the medium noise level plants only had some.
  • The last week of our experiment had cloudy weather which affected our experiment as one of the essential need (sunlight) was missing which affected the height of all the plants in the experiment.
  • We compared the experiment by how much it grew.

Conclusion

  • We learned that some sounds can have some effect on plant growth. But it depends on the following:
  • Type, volume and duration of the sound.
  • Type of the plant (Plant species have different sensitivities to vibrations).
  • The change in the exposure to the basic needs of the plant (sunlight, water, air and nutrients).
  • Loud noise can affect in a negative way causing stress in plants and slows growth.
  • No noise will allow normal plant growth.
  • Soft sounds or gentle noise stimulates growth slightly.

Application

    • Long periods of experiments and research further can help in finding the different species of plants that can sustain higher noise vibrations. For example: which plants are more suitable to survive noise in industrial areas (Like succulents in our experiment were able to withstand loud sounds).
    • Which frequency of vibration can help plants grow better and that could be applied to plants/trees/crops to improve growth.

Sources Of Error

  • It was really hard to get the plants for our experiment. Most stores did not carry many options in winter.
  • We should have added more time for the experiment to notice a more significant effect.
  • The last week of our experiment it was very cold and cloudy which impacted the height of all plants.
  • Substantial outcomes could be observed if this experiment was completed in spring or summer.

Citations

Acknowledgement

  • Mrs. Abdelmoneim (our teacher)
  • Our family (who helped us get the plants in winter and set-up the different areas to ensure controlled variables are about the same in each location).
  • Our friends (Arya Ahmed and Manasa Nassif to help with the video and citations).
  • The judges at our School Science Fair who gave us suggestions and insights to improve the project.