SPENCER’S SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

ABSORPTION OF WATER BY PINTO BEANS

VOCABULARY•Volume – the amount of space taken up by an object•Hydrophilic – having an attraction for water•Porous – water can pass through• Imbibition – the process of absorbing water

0 240

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

3.7

6

3.1

8

cup A (water just covering beans) cup B (cup full of water)

Time (hours)

Height of pinto beans in cup (cm)

WATER ABSORPTION BY PINTO BEANS (24 HOURS)

WATER ABSORPTION BY PINTO BEANS(RATE OF ABSORPTION)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 240

2

4

6

8

10

12

Time (hours)

Height of pinto beans in cup (cm)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 24 360

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

2.5

5

6.2 6.46.7

7.27.5

7.98.2

cup 1C (cup full of water)

Start: beans small and hard, can’t scratch seed coat

8 hours: seed bounces back after being squeezed. Scratch in seed coat stayed. Twice the size of bean at start

16 hours: seed bounces back, coat feels thin, scratch bounced back. Bigger than at 8 hours

24 hours: seed feels spongy, seed coat falls off when scratched. Same size as 16 hours

EFFECT OF WEIGHT ON PINTO BEAN WATER ABSORPTION(DIFFERENT WEIGHTS)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 240

2

4

6

8

10

12

Time (hours)

Height of pinto beans in cup (cm)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 24 360

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

2.5

4.2

4.75.1

5.55.8

6.16.4

7.0

2.5

3.53.7 3.8

4.14.4

4.6

5.5

6.1

2.52.7

3.23.5

3.84.0

4.54.7

5.2

2.5

3.8 3.94.2

4.44.6

4.85.0

5.2

2.5

3.23.6

3.84.2

4.44.8

5.0 5.1cup 1cup 2 (+1 cup of sand)cup 3 (+2 cups of sand)Cup 4 (+3 cups of sand)