What it shows
Dry seeds are alive. With water they wake up and sprout, and the sprouts are a healthy food full of nutrients.
The science
A dry moong has a tiny plant inside. Water makes it swell, and the seed coat splits. The root comes out first and then the shoot. Sprouting increases some vitamins, and people eat sprouts for health.
Materials
Cost: under Rs 50. Many items come from home or from waste; spare parts such as LEDs, motors and wire are in the store.
- Half a cup of whole moong (green gram) (under Rs 50)
- A bowl of water
- A thin cotton cloth
- A steel plate or a colander
- A notebook and pencil
Safety
For this project: An adult must supervise if you plan to eat the sprouts, and wash them well. Wash hands before touching them.
Never use mains electricity: power models with cells, batteries or a low-voltage adapter. Sharp and hot tools, flames and lab chemicals need an adult or your teacher beside you. Keep magnets, button cells and small parts away from young children, and wash your hands after making.
All the safety rulesStep by step
8 steps. Do them in order, and test each part before you go on to the next. Write what you notice in a notebook as you go.
Wash half a cup of moong and soak it in water for eight hours or overnight.
Drain the water and look at how the seeds have swelled.
Put the soaked seeds on the wet cloth and tie it loosely like a bundle.
Hang the bundle over a plate or put it in a colander in a warm place.
Sprinkle water on the cloth twice a day so it stays damp.
After one day, open it and look for tiny white tails and draw them.
On day two and day three, draw the sprouts again and measure the tails.
Write the length of the longest tail each day and make a small graph.
What you should see
White tails appear after about a day and grow longer each day. The tails reach 1 to 2 cm in three days.
Viva questions
A teacher or a judge will ask how it works. Try to answer each question before you open it, then compare.
1Why did we soak the seeds?
To give them water so they can wake up.
2What is the white tail?
The new root.
3Why is the cloth kept damp?
Seeds cannot sprout if they dry out.
4Why are sprouts good to eat?
They have vitamins and are easy to digest.
Take it further
Sprout channa and compare how long it takes.
Change one thing, measure what happens, and add a table or chart of your readings: that is what turns a model into your own investigation.
Free ebooks for this project
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