For our experiment we placed a russet potato in a cup of water. Next we placed on cup of water in a refrigerator and left the other in room temperature of about 70 degrees Celsius. The factor for our experiment is the water temperature, which will determine weather or not the potatoes will grow quickly, slowly, or not at all. The experiment has taken place over a four-week period and has shown decent results. The strangest of the occurrences was that the results fed back to us were not of those that we predicted.

The way that our experiment worked was that the potatoes were expected to sprout roots in at least two weeks, and we were shocked to realize that the potatoes, or rather the room temperature potato, sprouted roots only four days into the experiment. Over the first week we noticed little development. The first potato to grow was the room temperature potato. It sprouted little roots at first, but over a few more days, the potato’s roots measured-out to about a millimeter in length. The refrigerated potato would not yield results until Tuesday of the second week. The roots of the refrigerated potato were not very long and were very thin.

The second week was by far the most productive of the four weeks we conducted our experiment. The reason for this is because the roots of the room temperature potato grew 1.5 millimeters more, and the refrigerated potato grew one millimeter more. The refrigerated potato grew another half inch on Thursday and still remains far more unproductive. We believe that the reason for this stunted growth has both to do with the far colder refrigerator’s artificial coolant, which may posses, an adverse effect on the growth of the potato.

            The third week was steady as the potatoes continued to grow. The room temperature potato’s roots grew another 2mm and the refrigerated potato grew only 1mm. The Fourth week concluded that the potato in Room temperature water grew the best, how could this be? If potatoes are supposed to grow in temperatures from 50 degrees to 70 degrees; then the refrigerated potato should have grow more (see analysis). The potato in refrigerated water grew another millimeter and the room temperature water grew another two millimeters. So in conclusion, the room temperature potato’s roots grew a total 2.5 millimeters and the refrigerated potato grew only 2 millimeters. So the best temperature to grow potatoes in water is at a room temperature of 65 degrees.