PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 24, 2019
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The ins and outs of plant food
BY LAUREN MURPHY
Of No Adults Allowed
Unlike humans, plants
don’t sit down around
the dinner table and eat
meatloaf while they talk
about their day, so how
do they get their food? The
short answer is, plants eat a
balanced diet of sunshine,
carbon dioxide and water.
Let’s use a fl ower as an
example. The fl ower takes in
the carbon dioxide through
little holes in its leaves.
Plants breathe carbon
dioxide like humans breath
oxygen. Plants breathe
out oxygen and humans
breathe out carbon dioxide.
The roots of the fl ower
suck up water from the soil:
rain water, melted snow, or
in some cases water from
nearby lakes or streams.
Inside the fl ower there
are little cells. These cells
are made up of little
parts,
or
organelles,
that help it function
the way it should. One
of these organelles is
called,
“chloroplast.”
Chloroplast contains
c h l o r o p h y l l .
Chlorophyll is what
traps the sunlight for the
fl ower.
Now that the fl ower
has the sunlight it stores
in a chemical called ATP
(adenosine triphosphate).
The ATP then creates
sugar and other nutritious
things for the fl ower
through a thing called the
Calvin Cycle. The Calvin
Cycle was discovered and
named by Melvin Calvin.
The cycle consists of
three main parts: fi xation,
reduction and regeneration.
In the fi rst step, fi xation,
the fl ower takes the carbon
dioxide it gathered earlier
and attaches it to a sugar
RuPB. This creates a new,
useable, substance for the
plant 3-PGA.
The next step is
reduction. In chemistry
reduction
means
the
atom gained an electron.
Through this process the
How to change the color of
a fl ower in two easy steps
BY LAUREN MURPHY
Of No Adults Allowed
Flowers
absorb
water through their
roots (or if they’ve
been cut they absorb
it through their stems),
but what happens if
the water is colored?
The fl ower will change
color. The color of the
water will combine
with the color of the
fl ower to make it a
new color. To best
illustrate this concept
I used white fl owers
and multiple colors of
food dye.
What to do:
Fill up cups, or
vases with about one
cup of warm water.
Add 10-20 drops
of desired color.
Green, red
and blue work well. Cut
the stems of the fl ower
at an angle so it can
suck up as much water
as possible. Then put
the fl ower in the water
and wait. After a couple
hours the fl ower will
have a slight tint of
the color. Leave it to
soak overnight and the
fl owers will be brighter.
Let them soak until
you have the desired
color and then replace
the colored water with
clear water.
If you want a
multicolored
fl ower,
you can cut the stem
and place it in two
diff erent containers. Be
sure that the containers
are the same height so
it doesn’t fall over.
carbon 3-PGA becomes
G3P. The G3P turns into
sugar again and combines
with ATP to turn back into
RuPB, which is the third
step, regeneration. After this
the Calvin Cycle repeats all
over again.
Why do
potatoes
make good
detectives?
They always
have their
eyes peeled
• Broccoli is actually a
fl ower.
• The world’s most
expensive spice, saff ron,
is made from the crocus
fl ower.
• Sunfl owers can remove
radioacivity from water.
• The world’s smelliest
fl ower, called titan arum,
is said to emit a stink
similar to that of a dead
body.