Just recently, a parent on our Parent Support Group asked us for help with a question on the growth of plants.
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As such, in this article, I’ll be sharing how overcrowding affects the growth of plants.
Question
Source: Catholic High School – 2015 P5 SA1 Science Examination Paper [Q10]
What Your Child Needs To Know
Plants are living things and will respond to changes around them.
The presence of sunlight is an important condition for plants to grow well. This is because the leaves of the plant have chloroplasts, which contains chlorophyll, that trap sunlight in the process of photosynthesis to make food.
Therefore, plants will grow towards the light to absorb the sunlight needed to make food.
Thought Process
Using the above background knowledge, we can begin to tackle the question.
Pot A has the most number of seedlings, causing the seedlings in Pot A to have the most competition for sunlight. This will cause the seedlings to grow taller in order to avoid being blocked by the adjacent plant. Thus, Pot A would have seedlings with the thinnest and longest stems, as compared to those in the other pots.
On the other hand, Pot D has the least number of seedlings. Therefore, the seedlings are likely to have the thickest and shortest stems, as compared to those in other pots.
Final Answer
As such, the answer is Pot A. Pot A would most likely to produce the tallest adult plants after a week.
I hope that this article has helped you and your child understand how overcrowding affects the growth of plants. For more articles, do check out our other articles on the topic of Plant Cycle!
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