11/20/10

Science Experiment

Rebecca's school recently held a Science Fair, and Rebecca and one of her good friends decided to participate. With a little help from their moms, they decided to set out to prove that plants absorb water through their stems, and that the water makes its way all the way out to the outer reaches of the leaves and branches.

They did this by placing white carnations in colored water. They took 4 cups of water, and added blue food coloring to one, red to another, yellow to the third, and they left the 4th one uncolored as a control. They then placed a white carnation in each cup....and waited....and waited.... Within a few days, the petals on the carnations in the colored water started developing a ring around the outside of the petals the same color as the water. So Rebecca and her friend had successfully proven the process of cohesion and capillary action (I had to look up these terms).

The point of all this is that Rebecca and her friend had the opportunity to show off their experiment in the school cafeteria, along with all of the other young scientists. They stood proudly at their table, wearing lab coats (their dads' old white suit shirts) and protective goggles, happily explaining to everyone that approached about their methodology and results. It was wonderful to see Rebecca completely engaged in something that is outside her regular world of activities. She seemed to really enjoy doing this experiment, and then took great pride in sharing her experience with the world. It was a proud moment for her parents.

Well done Rebecca.....well done.

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