After comparing models to show how plants grow because of the matter and energy they consume, we came to consensus as a class on the following:
1. Plants take in air and water for the matter they need to grow. This means the amount of air and water around them gets smaller as the plants get bigger. The only way the plant can get bigger in weight is from things that have weight themselves, like air and water, which are made of particles!
2. Plants also take in energy. They can't grow without it. This means that plants have energy inside them, and we know this because when we consume plants, we get energy to move and maintain our body's temperature.
3. All the energy in plants comes from the sun!
We are wondering the following things:
1. What do plant particles really look like, knowing a plant particle is different than a water and air particle?
2. Do the air and water mix and change because of the light energy? (We're thinking this because it's kind of like baking a cake--the flour and eggs used to make a cake look different than a cake itself, and it needs heat energy from the oven to change it into a cake).
1. Plants take in air and water for the matter they need to grow. This means the amount of air and water around them gets smaller as the plants get bigger. The only way the plant can get bigger in weight is from things that have weight themselves, like air and water, which are made of particles!
2. Plants also take in energy. They can't grow without it. This means that plants have energy inside them, and we know this because when we consume plants, we get energy to move and maintain our body's temperature.
3. All the energy in plants comes from the sun!
We are wondering the following things:
1. What do plant particles really look like, knowing a plant particle is different than a water and air particle?
2. Do the air and water mix and change because of the light energy? (We're thinking this because it's kind of like baking a cake--the flour and eggs used to make a cake look different than a cake itself, and it needs heat energy from the oven to change it into a cake).
We've done a lot of heavy lifting in fifth grade in our Roadkill Unit. We've been able to ABSOLUTELY figure out why dead things disappear while simultaneously figuring out why things appear (or grow bigger), too! We'll be building a final model to put all the pieces together from everything we've figured out!