FLOWER PROJECT

QUESTION:

Hypothesis:
If tulips are sprayed with hairspray, then they will stay fresh longer, because the sticky hairspray keeps them upright.

MATERIALS NEEDED

• 2 vases that are the same size
• 6 tulips from the same bouquet
• 2 2 oz. cans of hairspray
• Water
• A room with a steady temperature and a steady light source
• Centimeter ruler

Procedure

1) Obtain six identical tulips
2) Trim the stems to 17 centimeters
3) Take three flowers and label them control group and the other three the experimental group.
4) Fill two identical vases with 450 ml of water (Label the vases Experimental Group and Control Group.)
5) Spray the three experimental group flowers with half an ounce of hairspray each across the stem and all the petals.

Procedure (continued)

6) Place the sprayed flowers facing up into the vase labeled Experimental Group.
7) Place the control group flowers facing up into the vase labeled Control Group.
8) Immediately observe them and take photos.
9) Take photos and observations every night at 9:30.
10) Take multiple photos of the flower.
11) Smell from 5 centimeters away for 3 seconds.
12) Write down if there was a change in the fragrance from the last observation.

Procedure (continued)

13) Observe the color of the stem and petals.
14) Record if the stem or petals got darker compared to the last observation.
15) Record the amount of petals still on the flower and average it out with the two other in the group.
16) Measure from the stem up and average out how much the petals drooped.
17) Repeat steps 9-16 and record in data table every time.

Independent Variable- The independent variable is the amount of hairspray that each flower gets. The experimental group received .5 oz. of hairspray each, and the control group received no hairspray.

Dependent Variable- The dependent variable is the amount of droop each flower has after each day and how it looks after each day.

Control Group- The control group is the group of flowers that aren't sprayed with any hairspray.

Experimental Group- The experimental group is the group flowers that are sprayed with hairspray.

CONTROLLED VARIABLES

• The temperature the tulips are in
• The amount of water in each vase
• The time the flowers are observed
• The flowers’ access to light
• The stem length of the flowers

Control Group on left - Experimental Group on right
(Day 1)

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Control Group on left - Experimental Group on right
(Day 4)

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Control Group on left - Experimental Group on right
(Day 6)

Control Group on left - Experimental Group on right
(Day 7)

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SMELL OF THE FLOWERS

Analysis
After conducting the experiment, I was astonished by the results. The difference between days 1 and 3 were minor, but after day 4, everything went downhill. Petals started falling off, stems started drooping, and the flowers started to not look like tulips. This surprised me as I thought the hairspray would help the flowers instead of kill them. What didn’t surprise me was the fact that the flowers sprayed with hairspray had less droop than the control group flowers. These results were probably because the chemicals in the hairspray killed the petals, yet strengthened the stems. One thing that might have effected the results were the variables, because the hairspray was not applied evenly, and the stems were all cut to different lengths.

Conclusion-
The hypothesis was that if a tulip is placed in water and then sprayed with hairspray, then the tulip will stay upright longer, because the sticky hairspray keeps it upright. After ending the experiment, it was observed that the data did not support the hypothesis. The flowers that were sprayed lost more petals than the control group, and had the more noticeable color change . If the experiment were to be conducted again, it would be made certain that even hairspray was applied to each flower, and that the stem lengths were all the same.

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