Acorns On The Moon?   

The surface of the moon looks a lot like a desert. It’s dry, rocky, and sandy. There are no plants on the moon. Not even a small cactus.    

In the year 1969, human beings from planet Earth first stepped on the moon. They walked around a bit, and they collected some moon rocks to take back with them. By mistake, they forgot to plant the acorn.    

They had brought an acorn with them, along with a watering can, and some potting soil. They were supposed to plant the acorn a few hundred yards away from the spaceship, but they forgot. They just plain forgot.    

You can’t really blame them though. They had so much else to do. Every minute, of every day, they had something important to do. People from NASA were telling them what to do over the radio.    

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But what if they had remembered to plant the acorn? What if they had dug down a couple of inches in the loose soil, had dropped some sweet-smelling potting soil into the hole, and had gently placed the acorn into its new home?    

What if they had put the acorn under some more sweet-smelling potting soil, and had gently watered it with their watering can?    

An acorn doesn’t need a lot of things to grow. It needs water, it needs soil, it needs sunlight, and it needs carbon dioxide gas. Now, there’s plenty of good soil, and plenty of sunlight, on the moon. But water and carbon dioxide are in extremely short supply. 

That’s why the astronauts brought a watering can with them. They also brought a small plastic greenhouse with them. The plan was to place the greenhouse right over the planted acorn. Then the greenhouse was supposed to be filled with a generous amount of carbon dioxide gas.    

After the acorn sprouted, it would pop up through the soil, right in the middle of the greenhouse. There would be lots of water, soil, sunlight, and carbon dioxide for the small plant to grow tall and strong.    

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Plants both produce and consume carbon dioxide. A plant placed in a closed bottle, with good soil, sunlight, and water, can survive for years without any care from human beings. (If you don’t believe me, you can try this for yourself at home.)   

As the little oak tree grew, it would produce more and more carbon dioxide from its leaves. Its branches would reach out and bump into the walls of the greenhouse. One day, the top of the oak tree would poke its way through the top of the greenhouse.    

When that happened, some of the carbon dioxide and oxygen would escape through this hole. But the strong plant would continue to grow, and continue to produce more of these two gases.    

1. What types of plants grow on the moon? 
   a) acorns
   b) none
   c) many varieties

2. What did the astronauts on the first moonwalk in 1969 forget to do? 
   a) get soil samples
   b) tell NASA they had landed on the moon
   c) plant an acorn

3. The moon could be a good place for growing plants because it has: 
   a) water and carbon dioxide
   b) good soil and sunlight
   c) gardeners and earthworms

4. How could an acorn planted on the moon survive in a small plastic greenhouse? 
   a) someone would have to come water it every day
   b) it would be able to produce its own carbon dioxide
   c) it would need extra fertilizer

5. What would happen if the plant poked through the top of the little greenhouse? 
   a) it would lose some carbon dioxide and oxygen, but it would continue to grow
   b) it would quickly die
   c) it would turn into an alien mutant plant and take over the moon