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Science Experiments on Plants Growing With Music

Most people have heard that plants exposed to music grow better, but few have done the scientific legwork to determine whether or not this is actually true. Performing experiments to test this claim not only provides a practical, engaging and hands-on introduction to the scientific method and critical thinking for beginning scientists of all ages, but can also help you have the best garden in town.

Different Genres
- Set up five plants in five different rooms. Make sure they are all the same species of plant and get equal amounts of sun and water. Expose one plant to classical music, another to rock, another to country, and another to tribal music, and keep one in silence as a control.Take pictures and chart the growth of each plant every day for several months to determine whether music effects plant growth, and if so, which genre or genres have the most effect.
Music vs. Noise
- Set up three identical plants in identical conditions in separate rooms. For a set amount of time each day, play music to one plant and white noise to another, while leaving the third one to sit in silence. Monitor the results each day to determine whether melodious music makes any difference for plant growth or whether it is just the effect of the sound waves vibrating on the leaves that spurs growth -- if indeed it is found that exposure to sound makes any difference at all.
Live vs. Recorded
- Set up three identical plants in identical circumstances in three different rooms. Play one genre of recorded music each day for one plant, for another play the same genre live, and leave the third in silence. This means, for example, that if you play the saxophone, you should play it for for the live music plant for an hour each day while you put on an hour-long Kenny G CD for the recorded music plant. Repeat the experiment each day for a month or two and chart your results to determine whether live music has any advantage over recorded for encouraging plant growth .
Time
- Set up five plants in five rooms in identical circumstances. For the first plant, play music for 15 minutes each day; play one hour of the same genre of music daily for the second plant; 6 hours for the third; a constant loop of music for the fourth; and no music at all for the fifth. Monitor the results each day. After a month or so, refine the experiment. For example, if after a month, the plant that has been receiving an hour of music each day is the healthiest, set up a plant that receives 45 minutes of music each day, one that gets 70, one that gets 85 and one that gets 90. Keep refining the experiment until you know the perfect amount of music for fostering plant growth.

Nature