[freakinwonton (OP)]

I have a question about plant biology.
Two plants are in a race to see which can grow faster under different circumstances. Both are the same type of plant, and both are watered the exact same and contain the exact same amount of soil. However, one is put inside a cupboard, and the other is put into sunlight.
What I want to know is, which would grow faster? And will the one without sunlight grow at all? And if you have the answer, can you state why?

Personally I think the one without sunlight would probably grow, but would lose the race because plants need liek photosynthesis to grow or something. But I don't know, thats why I'm asking.

[Soul Surfer]

It depends on the nature of the plant and the length of time if for example he plant was a bulb or a seed with a store of energy it would grow larger and quicker in the dark because it is trying to reach the light although it would probably grow best if it had a bit if light to tell it which way to grow,  

you can see this by looking at potato tubers in the spring.  their shoots grow long and fast in the farkmness of the cupboard but if you want to plant them out and put them in the light to sprout  they are short fat and relatively slow looking like proper plants.

but if it was a normal plant like a part grown tomato plant and you put it in the dark it might grow for a while but would rapidly fail while the one in the light would grow well.

Learn, create, test and tell
evolution rules in all things
God says so!

[ukmicky]

If the cupboard was totally devoid of light then the plant in their would die as it wouldn't be able to produce any food.
If there was a gap in the door allowing some light to enter, the plant would show a burst of fast growth in the direction of the light producing thin  stems in an attempt to survive however once it has exhausted its reserves of food it would die.





Michael                 HAPPY NEW YEAR                    

[daveshorts]

Even if the cupboard was devoid of light it would have a brief burst of growth as it would assume it was still underground and had to grow up to find the light. If it doesn't find light it would eventually it would exhast itself and die. I think it is common to germinate seeds in a dark warm airing cupboard to simulate warm soil in the spring.

[ukmicky]

quote:Even if the cupboard was devoid of light it would have a brief burst of growth as it would assume it was still underground and had to grow up to find the light.

But would they?

A seedling grows in the soil without light because its genes tell it how to gravitationally sense up from down and what to do,would them genetic instructions carry over into the adult life of the plant.

Michael

[daveshorts]

Yep if you put a plant in the dark it will grow like crazy to get out from under whatever is making it dark, until it runs out of energy and dies.