Internet version [Naruhodo no Mori] Vol.49

by Yumiko Mori

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Vol. 49     January, 15th, 2000

Count Seeds

Home science experiments for mothers of elementary school children

Next, we decide to count strawberry seeds.
Mom: "Tell me how many seeds are in this strawberry!"
Satoshi: "50!"
Tae: "I go with 100."
Toshi: "150!"
A Strawberry has numerous small seeds on its surface. We have counted the seeds by plucking one by one.
Satoshi: "I want to pluck."
Mom: "They are very tiny,  Can you do it properly?"
Satoshi: "Look!  I plucked one seed."
Mom: "You are doing very well, Satoshi."
Satoshi: "This is fun. Every time I pluck one seed I can hear 'plucking' sound."
Mom: "Really?  Let me try.  Yes, I can hear the sound too."
We pluck one by one and place seeds as a group of 10 on a paper.
It turns out there are 204 seeds on a single strawberry.

Mom: "How about this fruit?"
Mom is holding a kiwi fruit.  Mom cuts the kiwi into halves.
Tae: "Look! There are many more seeds in this fruit."
Mom: "Do you want to try?"
Tae: "Let's try!"
After spending 1 hour for plucking seeds, finally we have placed all the seeds on a paper.
Mom: "At last we finished."
Tae: "I am so exhausted!"
How many seeds do you think we have found in a kiwi fruit?
If you are curious, please count them yourself.

Materials

Apples, strawberries, and/or kiwi fruits

Bell peppers, tomatoes, and/or pumpkins

Okras or the other seed-carrying vegetables/fruits

Toothpicks and a knife (if available, a pair of forceps)

Several sheets of paper (to place seeds for counting)

How to count seeds

• Apples
  
  • Cut an apple horizontally with a knife. Watch its seed pattern!
    
  • Pick all the seeds out and count them.
    

• Bell peppers, kiwi fruits, tomatoes, or pumpkins
  
  • Cut these fruits/vegetables vertically.
    
  • Pick all the seeds out.
    
  • Make groups of 10 seeds and place them on a sheet of paper in order.
    
  • Count all the seeds.
    (For tomatoes, you may want to isolate seeds by sieving juice.)
    

• Strawberries
  
  • As you push each seed with the dull end of a toothpick, count all the seeds.
    
  • For more precise counting, pick all the seeds with a pair of forceps.
    Then place all the seeds on a piece of paper and make groups of ten seeds using toothpicks.
    

• Count seeds from any other fruits or vegetables.

• We have started to grow strawberry seeds
  

  We moistened a piece of cotton pad and placed 10 strawberry seeds.
  

  So far it has been 2 weeks since we placed the seeds.
  

  The seeds look brown, but we can see something similar to roots growing on 5 seeds.
  

  I wonder if we see new buds soon.

   I wonder why some fruits have many seeds, while others have only few seeds. As far as we checked, fruits whose seeds are bigger (such as apples) tend to have fewer numbers of seeds, but fruits whose seeds are smaller (such as strawberries) tend to have larger numbers of seeds. An apple tree produces many apples. Is that the reason why only a few seeds are found in each apple? Anyhow, when I imagine each seed could grow into a new plant, I am marveled at the potential of these tiny seeds.

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