Running Head: HOW DO YOU CHANGE A COLOR OF..

How Do You Change A Color Of A Flower With Food Coloring?

Maciah Heckaman

Bowman County Middle School

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ABSTRACT
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INTRODUCTION

All plants need water to survive. Plants, such as flowers; use water to keep their roots

healthy to prevent them from wilting or drying out. Water plays an important role in carrying

dissolved nutrients (Need for Growth)throughout the plant. How do plants transport water from

its roots up throughout the rest of the plant? Water moves through the plant by means of

capillary action (Goes through Tiny Tubes into the Leaves). What do you think you will see if

the plant uses capillary action to move the water up the flower? This study will use colored water

and flowers (white carnations and white roses) to figure out where the water goes.

LITURATURE REVIEW

Independent Variable

DYE AND FLOWER

White Carnation

White Carnations are the historical good luck gift to women (Katemopoulos, np).

Cultivated for more than 2,000 years and named "flower of the gods," it was used to create

garlands for ancient Greek ceremonies (Katemopoulos, np). The white carnation is a perennial

plant that grows from 1 to 2 feet tall (Katemopoulos, np). The leaves are a grayish to blue green

(Katemopoulos, np). While most white carnation features a single bloom per stalk, some

varieties, including the "Aqua" and "Berkshire Moon" produce large double blossoms on each

stem (Katemopoulos, np). The flower's petals are ruffled along the edges and a healthy plant will

feature ball-shaped blooms (Katemopoulos, np).

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White Roses

Roses are climbing, or trailing shrubs, the stems of which are usually copiously armed

with prickles of various shapes and sizes, commonly called thorns (Petruzzello, np). The

leaves are alternate and pinnately compound (i.e., feather-formed), usually with oval leaflets that

are sharply toothed (Petruzzello, np). The flowers of wild roses usually have five petals, whereas

the flowers of cultivated roses are often double (i.e., with multiple sets of petals) (Petruzzello,

np). Rose flowers’ size ranges from tiny miniatures 1.25 cm (0.5 inch) in diameter

to hybrid flowers measuring more than 17.5 cm (7 inches) across (Petruzzello, np). The

rose plant’s fleshy Petals, sometimes edible depending on the Petals, berrylike “fruit” (the floral

cup) is known as a hip and usually ranges from red to orange in color (Petruzzello, np).

Dependent Variable

COLORING AND EFFECT

Coloring

Coloring the water with food coloring does not harm the plant but it allows you to see the

movement of water into the flower (stevespanglerscience np). Here is where you change the

color of the liquid (red and blue dye) and then make comparisons between the white carnation

and white rose flower as it has been exposed to the different colored water (stevespanglerscience

np). Most plants “Drink” water from the ground through their roots (stevespanglerscience np).

The water travels up the stem of the plant into the leaves and flowers where it makes its food and

helps keep the plant rigid (stevespanglerscience np). When a flower is cut off the plant, it no

longer has its roots but the stem of the flower still “Drinks” up the water and provides it to the
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leaves and flowers (stevespanglerscience np). One can observe the effects of the dependent

variable to the independent variable on the dye or colored water transports to the petals

(stevespanglerscience np). The color shows up on the petals due to the xylem cells which form

long tubes that transport materials, and the mixture of water and nutrients that flows through the

xylem cells (stevespanglerscience np). For Example, observations will be made after 2, 4, 24,

and 48 hours after you first put the flowers in the colored water. The focus of the observations

will be on the petals of the flowers and flower stems.

Color Effect on Flower

Plants absorb liquids through their roots and stems. Substances in the water a plant drinks

have an impact on the growth, color and overall health of the flowers and foliage the plant

produces (Richards,np).By placing a flower with its stem in a glass of water with dye, you can

actually see the stem change color slightly, as it draws the water up and into the

flower(Richards,np).To help the stem transport the water to the petals, the ends of the stem will

be snipped before adding flowers to the water. (Richards, np). How does this color change

happen? Water that evaporates from the leaves “pulls up” other water molecules behind it to fill

the space it left (stevespanglerscience np). Instead of a mouth providing the suction, it is due to

the evaporating water (stevespanglerscience np). This can happen because water sticks to itself

(Cohesion) and because the tubes in the plant stem are very tiny (stevespanglerscience np). This

water movements process through tiny tubes is called Capillary Action (stevespanglerscience

np). There are three things that combine to move water through plants – Transpiration and

Cohesion (stevespanglerscience np). Water evaporating from the leaves, buds, and petals

(Transpiration) pulls water up the stem of the plant (stevespanglerscience np). As transpiration

occurs in white flowers, the food coloring is pulled into the stem and up into the leaves and
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petals. (Contributor, np) The flower petals will exhibit the most obvious color change, but the

leaves and stems will also absorb the dye. (Contributor, np) Absorption of food coloring from

water occurs more quickly in white flowers with herbaceous stems than in those with woody

stems. (Contributor, np) Flowers with woody stems take longer, up to several days, to absorb

the food coloring through transpiration. (Contributor.np) Woody stemmed flowers can come

from plants that include trees, shrubs, and liana, and are either evergreen or deciduous.

(Contributor, np) Coloration can be uneven when dying woody stemmed plants with food

coloring. (Contributor, np) These observations will be recorded in this study. Herbaceous

plants do not have a persistent stem, instead dying back to the ground at the end of their

growing season. (Contributor.np) Because of their rapid growth cycle and short flowering

period, herbaceous plants have a significant uptake of water. (Contributor, np) This is often

why people use food coloring to dye white herbaceous flowers such as carnations and roses.

(Contributor.np) 

Methodology

Step 1 – 3) trim about 4” (10 cm) from each stem. Use a knife and cut at an angle.
Any gardeners and florists even cut stems under water so no air bubbles can get in
to break the tube of water and cause wilting. It is important that the stem tubes
always be filled with water. If air gets into the tube, water may not be able to move
up the stem to the flower.) Step 4 – 6) Keep all the flower stems in plain water.
(Use a sharp knife to slit the stems of three of the flowers straight down the middle.
Keep them in the plain water. Fill Four of the cups with Different colors of water.
Step 7 – 9) Fill the other Two with Uncolored Water. Place Four Drops of Dye in
the Cups. This step is often called “Split Ends.” Place each half of a stem into a
cup of different colored water. Step 10 – 12) For example, position the red and
blue cups next to each other and put a stem half into each color. Use a color with
one of the cups of uncolored water. Place the last white carnation into the
remaining cup of uncolored water. This one is your control flower. Let all the
flowers sit and soak for several days. As you wait to see the results.
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WORKS CITED

Color Changing Carnation Flowers: Experiments: Steve Spangler Science. (n.d.). Retrieved
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December 09, 2020, from https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/colorful-

carnations

Katemopoulos, M. (2020, September 03). The History of the Carnation Flower. Retrieved

December 12, 2020, from

https://www.gardenguides.com/82240-history-carnation-flower.html

Britannica. (n.d.). Rose. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from

https://www.britannica.com/plant/rose-plant

Contributor, S. (2020, December 02). What White Flowers Can You Change the Color of With

Food Coloring? Retrieved December 12, 2020, from

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/white-flowers-can-change-color-food-coloring-65956.html

Richards, Patti. (2018, December 14). The Effects of Food Dye on Flowers With Roots

Retrieved December 12, 2020 from https://homeguides.sfgate.com/effects-food-dye-

flowers-roots-101292.html