Simulated Hydroponics

By now you should have some experience with setting up a hydroponics system, but if you were heading to Mars you'd be attempting to produce plants on a much larger scale. The first part of this lab is designed to give you some practice with that concept.

Access the Greenhouse Grower from my Favorite Links page or type in: http://puzzling.caret.cam.ac.uk/game.php?game=plants

Read through the instructions before hitting "Start Game". You get to adjust the temperature and amount of water your plant is exposed to over 10 weeks. Keep a record of your choices and their results! Once you find what you think is a good recipe, choose the "grow more plants" option and see how you do. This simulation is based on cost effectiveness, something that must be taken into account given the costs of sending humans to Mars.

Now access Grow Alien Plants from my Favorite Links page or type in:

http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/sims/plants/data.html

If you were to discover a plant on another planet you would need to gather information on what it needs to survive. Now you've met your match. Choose one of the 4 types listed at the top: Zoid, Circ, Rhombi, or Tria. Adjust the three types of plant food to grow the tallest plant you can. Remember what you have learned about the importance of changing one variable at a time!

For homework complete all 3 sections below.

General

Do some research about hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics. Characterize each. How are they similar and different? Would any of these be a better option to provide food for a Mars settlement? Why? What if you wanted a system to grow plants in a zero-g environment, which would be best and why? What changes might you need to make to accommodate no gravity

Greenhouse Grower

What was your most successful trial? List the temperatures and water amounts as well as your profit. What did you notice about plant growing? Was one quantity more fickle or tricky than another? How is this similar and/or different from our hydroponics experience in class?

Grow Alien Plants

Describe what plant you chose and what results you were able to get. How did you do this? What seemed to work best?