Do mung beans grow faster in the dark?
Mung beans, like any other green plant, need life to live. Leave them in the dark and they die, since they need light to produce sugars from the carbon dioxide in the air – this process is called photosynthesis: photo means light, synthesis means creating or making. So, this is “making stuff using light”. HOWEVER, if you have two pots of mung bean sprouts, and you put one in full sun and the other in the dark, the plants in the dark might grow taller more quickly, because they are looking for light and the best way to do this in nature is to grow tall so you stick up above other plants and get more light. The young sprouts use the old bean, which forms the first two leaves, for an energy source, giving it a head start in life, over plants which don’t have a fleshy part to their seeds to feed the young plants. So, they might grow taller at first, but if left in the dark they will use up all the energy in the bean and will die after that.
