Question: I am going on a trip to Greenland during the summer and we have to do a science related project, but I'm not sure what to do. I am sorry that this is a difficult question! I was thinking maybe something to do with plants...

Sophie Robinson answered on 16 Mar 2015:

Hi Joanna,

This depends on how long you are going for, what equipment you will have available and what level you are at.

Here are some ideas though:

1. Germination is the process by which a seed emerges from the seed coat. Many different variables can effect the process of germination. Try to sprout seeds from different species of plant to see if different species vary in germination time. Are weeds faster germinators than vegetables? Try measuring seeds and then germinating them to see if big seeds sprout at a different rate than small seeds. Try sprouting seeds in different environments to test the effect of different environmental variables on seed germination. Try testing variables like temperature, soil acidity, water content, light or the presence of insects, worms or other plants. You can also cut open seeds to learn about the parts of a seed. By counting the number of cotyledons, you can learn to classify plants as monocots (with one cotyledon) or dicots (with 2 cotyledons)

2. lobal warming is how scientists describe the gradual warming of our global climate. Scientists think that the trend towards global warming can be attributed to the build up of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere from industrialization. Another problem is deforestation, as we remove plants and trees from the environment to meet a high demand for lumber or by clear cutting fields for farming and urbanization. By removing trees from the earth’s environment, are we changing how greenhouse gasses are processed in the earth’s atmosphere? What effect do trees and plants have on greenhouse gases? You can perform an experiment using miniature greenhouse pickle jars to test the effect of plants on greenhouse gases. Place a plant in one jar, and leave the other jar empty. Place a thermometer in each jar and put the jars in a sunny window. Record the temperatures, which jar is the warmest? Are there other variables you can test?

3. Trees grow more during the early spring than they do the rest of the year. Because of this period of dormancy, or lack of growth, each year of growth is marked by a line called a tree ring. You can count the number of rings in the cross section of a tree trunk to show how old the tree is. You can also count the number of rings in a stem to see the age of a stem or branch. One way to measure the rate of growth of a tree is to count the number of rings per inch. Trees with high numbers of rings grow very slowly, depositing many tree rings in a small amount of space with little growth in between. Trees with low numbers of rings grow rapidly, with fewer numbers of rings with rapid growth in between. You can often see growth rings at the ends of lumber. Try measuring the rate of growth for different types of lumber from different tree species. Which species of tree grow the fastest? The slowest? What does this mean for the sustainability of lumber as a building material? Which lumber is best to use for the environment?

The first one will need to be done over a few weeks but the second two can be completed in a couple of days.

I hope that helps!