MadSci Network: Botany
Query:

Re: Are there any experiments like mine? (metronome+ growth of plants)

Date: Mon Dec 11 19:25:28 2000
Posted By: David Hershey, Faculty, Botany, NA
Area of science: Botany
ID: 976503159.Bt
Message:

Complete question:

I did an experiment on the growth rate of plants. I had 3 sets of plants, 
the first set to a metronome speed of 120, second to 80, and third 
(control group) no metronome. I was wondering if there was any other 
experiment anywhere that is about the same as mine. I need to compare 
results. My findings were that the fastest tempo grew the fastest, the one 
set to 80 the slowest, and the control group grew just a tiny bit slower 
than the first group. Could you help me out? Thanks

Reply:

Experiments on the effects of sound or music on plants are very difficult 
because you need a lot of replication (number of plants for each treatment) and 
identical environments for each treatment other than the music or sound level. 
That is difficult to achieve even for a professional botanist much less in a 
home or classroom. You also need a statistical anlysis to determine if the 
growth differences are real or just due to natural variability. No botanist has 
yet found a beneficial effect of music or sound on plant growth that is 
reliably repeatable and statistically significant.

How did you measure plant growth? Height is easy to measure but is not the best 
method. Plant dry weight is a more accurate method. How much less was the 
growth of your 80 beat plants compared to the control, for example 90% as tall 
as control?  

Please read the reference for an excellent discussion.

Reference


Science Projects on Music and Sound









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