Traveling Seeds

Canalino School
Teacher:  Vicki Walton
Scientist:  Dr. Ellen Damschen

Question: How do seeds disperse?

Hypotheses:

1. Heavy seeds will fall faster than light seeds
2. Lighter seed will go farther than heavy seeds
3. Wind will affect light seeds more than heavy seeds

Methods:

Set up a ladder
Place fan
With fan off, drop the Blazing Star seeds
Measure time to fall and measure distance
Turn on fan; repeat steps above
Repeat all steps with Black Cherry seeds
Record data for all steps

Conclusion:

Light seeds drop more slowly and travel farther than heavy seeds.
Light seeds with wind blowing, drop the most slowly and go farthest.
Heavy seeds drop the fastest and travel the shortest distance.

Our experiment informed us about how far seeds travel. This is useful because we can determine where plants might grow and how we might help more trees to grow by planning corridors for trees when development occurs.