Biology H project

by Cara Brewer
(New Hampshire)

I performed an experiment over the course of 30 days for my 10th grade biology class (I finished one week ago) to test English Ivy growth against (a) classical music, (b) heavy metal and (c) a control sitting in silence. Although these results may be inconclusive, my recorded data showed that the heavy metal plant grew the quickest, though perhaps appeared the unhealthiest. The control showed the smallest amount of plant growth, while the classical stayed in the median. I've done a lot of research that claims either classical music is best for plant growth, or that silence is key. I'm not sure how I obtained such abnormal results. Does anyone have any ideas on how this might have occurred? (Plants were in similar growing environments, exposed to the same amount of water, soil, fertilizer and sunlight.)