The Effects of Watering Plants With Microwaved Water

[Beleth]

Day 1.

This is a continuation of this post (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?postid=1637920#post1637920).

Goal:
To determine the effects, if any, of microwaved water on plants.

The setup:
Six identical pots, with potting soil taken from the same container.
Twelve pea seedlings from the same six-pack bought at the local organic food store.
Three different types of water: water straight from the tap, tap water heated to boiling on the stove and allowed to cool, and tap water heated to boiling in the microwave and allowed to cool.

I transplanted two of the seedlings into each pot.
I then labeled the pots A through F.

I took three Mason jars and labeled them 1 to 3.
I then took a Mason jar's worth of water, dumped it into a saucepan, and heated it on the stove until it came to a rolling boil for 2 minutes. This took about 7 minutes total.
I then took another Mason jar's worth of water, dumped it into a Pyrex bowl, and microwaved it until it also came to a rolling boil for 2 minutes. This took exactly 13 minutes.

Attached are two pictures.
One is a picture of the setup right after the boiling. The three jars are in front. The microwaved water bowl is in the back left, cooling, and the stove-heated saucepan is in the back right, also cooling. The microwave, with the door open, is above the stove.

The other is a picture of the pea pots. I know that the plants are not all the same height. That is unfortunate, but to be expected.

Once the heated water had cooled, I poured the microwaved water into one of the Mason jars and the stove-heated water into another. I took the third jar and filled it straight from the tap. I then wrote down which is which and gave the jars to my spouse.

My spouse wrote down which jar will be used to water which two pots. That's the double-blind part. My spouse does not know which jar has which water in it, and I do not know which plants get water from which jar.

Each day, each pot will get 1/3 cup of water from its assigned jar. If we run out of water, I'll just boil some more.

[strathmeyer]

Very nice. I would suggest boiling and microwaving the water in identical containers. (So, they'd probably both need to be glass or corningware.) You never know what kind of harmful effects the metal pot or pyrex glass may have. (Well, we do know... but you know what I mean.)

[Beleth]

Yeah, I know... I don't have any Corningware pans, though, and I didn't think putting Pyrex directly on the stove top was a very good idea.

If the outcome suggests that the container the water was boiled in might have made a difference (i.e. if the plants getting microwaved water and the plants getting stove-heated water end up in different states) then I might run down to the thrift store and buy a beat-up old Corningware pan and re-do the experiment. (Extra credit for anyone that can tell me why I want an old beat-up one, besides that I'm a cheapskate.)

[jimlintott]

Yeah, I know... I don't have any Corningware pans, though, and I didn't think putting Pyrex directly on the stove top was a very good idea.

If the outcome suggests that the container the water was boiled in might have made a difference (i.e. if the plants getting microwaved water and the plants getting stove-heated water end up in different states) then I might run down to the thrift store and buy a beat-up old Corningware pan and re-do the experiment. (Extra credit for anyone that can tell me why I want an old beat-up one, besides that I'm a cheapskate.)

You want an old one in case there are any residual chemicals that might be leetched out of a new one.

Do I get a gold star? Am I like, a science guy now?

I predict that you will notice little to no difference between the three water sources.

[tkingdoll]

Are they all getting equal amounts of light?

[Beleth]

Yes. My backyard gets plenty of both direct and indirect sunlight. They will be left in a place where they will get both, and they will be kept together in that tray they are in in that picture.

[Beleth]

You want an old one in case there are any residual chemicals that might be leetched out of a new one. Good guess, but not what I was thinking. I want an old beat-up one so that there will be plenty of scratches on the bottom for bubbles to form when I'm microwaving the water.

I predict that you will notice little to no difference between the three water sources. I do too. That's why it was so important for me to do it double-blind - so that my biases wouldn't be reflected in the outcome.

[sphenisc]

Yes. My backyard gets plenty of both direct and indirect sunlight. They will be left in a place where they will get both, and they will be kept together in that tray they are in in that picture.

What measurements are you going to take to tell if there's a difference?

[Nick Bogaerts]

Yes. My backyard gets plenty of both direct and indirect sunlight. They will be left in a place where they will get both, and they will be kept together in that tray they are in in that picture.

You probably thought about this already, but if you are keeping them outdoors make sure they don't get any rain.

[Beleth]

I did indeed think of that. If on the off chance it looks like it will rain, I will move the plants inside or in the garage.

But I live in California, and the chance of getting any rain this time of year is very remote.

(The plants are also out of the way of the sprinkler system we have in the back yard.)

[Beleth]

What measurements are you going to take to tell if there's a difference? A difference in the amount of sunlight? Direct visual observation.

The pots will never be more than three feet apart from each other. There is a chance that the shed they will be near will cast a shadow on some of them for longer than it casts a shadow on all of them, so I will rotate the tray 180° once a day.

Excellent question, by the way. It was something that I had sort of half-considered, but hadn't really built a method of dealing with it into the experiment.

[Beleth]

Oh... I should mention this.

In a fit of scientific zeal, my 5-year-old son decided to pour about a half-cup of Sluggo (http://www.pestproducts.com/sluggo.htm) into each of the pots. While this should not have any effect on the health of the plants, I nevertheless removed as much of it as I could.

Anyway, from now on the photos I take might have a few little beige pellets on top of the soil. In the interest of full scientific disclosure, I thought it best to announce this proactively.

Hmmm...
On second thought, maybe I'll put it back. The potential damage to the experiment done by slugs is greater than the potential damage to the experiment done by the Sluggo.

[Zep]

As long as they all get Sluggo equally, the effect should be ... equal?? ;)

[sphenisc]

What measurements are you going to take to tell if there's a difference?

Sorry, my question was unclear; I meant what measurements of the plants will you take to compare the microwave-watered ones with the others?

Are you going to introduce, very simply, the concepts of averages, ranges etc? You've included replicates in your design - so presumably you're thinking along this lines?

[Tirdun]

Your picture backgrounds are completely inadequate. You need to set up some beakers containing various colored liquids and attach a lot of piping. Then add tesla coils and a big metal flip-switch.

ONLY THEN will it truly be SCIENCE! Muahahahahahaaaaa! MAD AM I!? I'll SHOW you MAD!

Otherwise,cool experiment and all.

[BenK]

How's this going?

[pchams]

As long as they all get Sluggo equally, the effect should be ... equal?? ;)
I highly doubt the 'sluggo' amounts were equal.
Is this a joke? If not, there are several more things you should take into account.
Soil pH, and consistancy of mixture of soil (how was this determined)
Rigor of the transplants if any
Proximity of the subjects
Consistancy of later waterings
Abuse by unknown animals (were the plants watched 24/7 for additives/deletions)
ad infinitum

[Alphaba]

Bumped.

Has a term be put on the experiment?

[boooeee]

Bumping again. Any update on the experiment?

[Beleth]

Oh my gosh. I forgot all about this.

I took pics and downloaded them to my other computer. I plan on making a Web page out of them.

To make a long story short - I ended up with six very healthy pea plants, all about a foot tall.