Title:

The Effects of Sugar on Flower Longevity

Purpose:
Mrs. Oostindie was having trouble keeping flowers, the ones her husband gave her,
alive, so she came to us to see what she should use to keep the flowers alive.

Hypothesis:
If sugar is put in the water, then the flower should live longer because the sugar should
give the flower an energy boost as it does humans.

Materials:
1. A 12 oz. cup
2. 157 ml of water
3. 3.7 ml of white sugar

Procedures:
1. Fill 12 oz. cup 157 ML full with room temperature water.
2. Get the flower and cut the stem at an angle at the bottom.
3. Put a 3.7 ML of sugar in the cup.
4. Put the flower, stem down, in the cup.

My partner and I began this lab experiment by using two 12 oz. plastic cups and marked
one control and the other experimental. We put approximately 157 ML of room
temperature water in each cup. Then we cut the flowers stem at an angle. The flowers
were cut about of an inch above the rim of the cup. My partner and I put 3.7 ML of
white sugar in the cup labeled experimental. Then we put the flower stems down into
the cup. For the experimental cup, I stirred most of the sugar in, but let part of it drift
down to the bottom.

Observation/Data:
9/12- Day 1- Flowers are happy, healthy
Rating: 10
9/13- Day 2- Flowers look happy, healthy. No changes.
Rating: 10
9/16- Day 5- Flowers arent droopy, but a few petals are shriveled up while others look
like theyve bloomed a little. Otherwise, they look happy and healthy, for the most part.
Rating: 9
9/17- Day 6- Flowers arent droopy, but just a couple more petals are shriveled up on
the control flower and 1 more petal that was shriveled up on the experimental flower.
They still look pretty, perky, and happy.
Rating: 8.5
9/18- Day 7- Some more of the control flowers petals have shriveled up. The
experimental flower still looks like its at about the same level as it was yesterday. It
looks a little bit bigger, though.
Rating:
Control: 8
Experimental: 8.5
Our variable was that in the second cup, my partner put white sugar in it. Our control
was a healthy flower in a cup of room temperature water that was untouched.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
Control 10 10 N/A N/A 9 8.5 8
Experimental 10 10 N/A N/A 9 8.5 8.5


Conclusion:
For six days, there was no noticeable difference between the control and the
experimental flowers. On the 7
th
day, the experimental flower had a slightly healthier
look than that of the control flower. In the experiment, my partner and I placed both
flowers in equal amounts of room temperature water and they were in the same
environment. Daily evaluation of their appearance was noted as the goal was to
determine if adding white sugar increased the flowers longevity. My partner and I
learned that adding sugar to a flower had negligible effect. If a larger sampling group
had shown the same results in multiple comparisons, consistency would have shown a
definite pattern. There are some questions that would help further research and
investigation. Would more sugar added to the experimental cup have changed the
results drastically, if at all? Would putting the flowers in direct sunlight have changed the
flowers longevity? Would different flowers show different results? How would the flowers
be affected if put in a refrigerated area?