Pinecones intelligent weather plan!

EQUIPMENTS:

1. A pinecone (Try a fruit shop!)

2. A bucket full of water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. At first examine the pinecone very closely and  Note the position of any seeds.

2. Record the observation.

3. Now submerge the pinecone in the bucket of water and leave it for an hour.

4. Record if there is any change in its appearance in every fifteen minutes.

5. After one hour remove the pinecone from the bucket of water and place it in a sunny spot.

6. Examine the pinecone in every thirty minutes until it returns to its former condition.

RESULT:

1. When the pinecone was submerged in water its bracts or scales should close.

2. Once out of the water it takes much longer for the pinecones to reopen its bracts or scales than to close them down.

EXPLANATION:

Pine trees use pinecones to protect their seeds. The scales or bracts of the pinecone close around the seeds when the conditions are too harsh or dangerous for the survival of their seeds. The scales are opened to release the seeds when the circumstances are alright. In a rainy weather the ground becomes damp. So there is a very good chance that the seeds of pinecone will rot before they even have a chance to sprout out. Under these circumstances the scales or bracts of the pinecone closes. This was demonstrated in this experiment by submerging the pinecone into the bucket of water. The reason that the pinecone takes longer to reopen than it took to close in the first place also has to do with protecting the seeds. By doing that it actually protects the seeds from excess moisture. By staying closed until the circumstances dry up considerably the pinecone actually makes sure that the seed rotting chances are as minimized as possible. So as you can see there is a very intelligent and efficient mechanism installed inside the pinecone to protect its seeds as well as to protect its future successors!

MORE EXPERIMENTS FOR YOU:

1. Submerge the pinecone in the oil to see what happens (After submerge don’t try to eat it).

2. Submerge the pinecone in salted water to see what happens.

3. Submerge the pinecone in alcohol to see what happens (After submerge don’t try to eat it).

4. Submerge only half of the pinecone in the water and keep the other half out of the water. See if only half of its body scales or bracts have closed or something else happened.