How can I do this expirement?

Question

Does electricity affect plant growth? How do I get electricity in a plant? Please help!!!!:) THANX!

Answer 1

If you took a battery - or the output of a DC power supply - like a mobile/cellphone charger - and wire the two wires to, say, large nails that you stick into the ground on either side of a germinating seedling, you might get some impact.

But you would need to do the same for, say 6 plants, and have another 6 plants with no electricity. That way - if the ones with electricity grew in a similar way, and grew differently form the ones that grew without electricity, you might get some clear hint that the electricity is making a difference.

You could also use larger plants, and put one wire into the ground - like with a nail - and use a clip, or bend a piece of copper wire around the stem higher up. But again, you would need to do this to several plants, and to have several other plants, that you otherwise treated equally, without electricity.

But you will have to be patient to see if you can find a difference. You have to be prepared to find that there is NO difference. That is not the most exciting result you might hope for, but that is the nature of real science: that sometimes an idea works and sometimes not. If you want a certain result too much, you can manage to fool yourself that you have found it. Even scientists have to be careful about this.

Do not even think about using electricity from a wall outlet directly in such an experiment. the plants will not like it at all, and you could seriously injure yourself, or anyone who touched the wires or plants.