Acid Rain Lab
Collaborators- Riley, Skippy, and Julia
Abstract- We started off by growing grass in bottles and placed them near the window. Once the grass grew a significant length, we cut them all off at 10 cm. We then feed 1/3 of the grass water and the other 2/3 different concentrations of acid. We measured the length of all the grass for the next 22 days. We noticed that the higher concentration of acid the shorter the grass tended to be.
Problem- How does acid rain affect the growth of Kentucky Fescue?
Hypothesis- The higher concentration of acid the shorter the grass will grow.
Parts of the experiment- The control group is the grass with normal water, the experimental groups are the grass with the acid concentrations, the independent variable is the concentrations of acid, and the dependent variable is the length of the grass.
Materials- 12 bottles planted with fescue, Water, Sulfuric acid (H2SO4), Sunlight
Procedure- Groups A, B, C, E, F, and G will be responsible for watering one day a week in the following methods. Measure the height of each plant in centimeters every Tuesday that the plants are watered.
Group A: Water 100 mL (pH 6)
Group B: Water 100 mL (pH 6)
Group C: Water 10 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 90 mL of Water (pH 3)
Group E: Water 10 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 90 mL of Water (pH 3)
Group F: Water 50 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 50 mL of Water (pH 1)
Group G: Water 50 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 50 mL of Water (pH 1)
Data-
Abstract- We started off by growing grass in bottles and placed them near the window. Once the grass grew a significant length, we cut them all off at 10 cm. We then feed 1/3 of the grass water and the other 2/3 different concentrations of acid. We measured the length of all the grass for the next 22 days. We noticed that the higher concentration of acid the shorter the grass tended to be.
Problem- How does acid rain affect the growth of Kentucky Fescue?
Hypothesis- The higher concentration of acid the shorter the grass will grow.
Parts of the experiment- The control group is the grass with normal water, the experimental groups are the grass with the acid concentrations, the independent variable is the concentrations of acid, and the dependent variable is the length of the grass.
Materials- 12 bottles planted with fescue, Water, Sulfuric acid (H2SO4), Sunlight
Procedure- Groups A, B, C, E, F, and G will be responsible for watering one day a week in the following methods. Measure the height of each plant in centimeters every Tuesday that the plants are watered.
Group A: Water 100 mL (pH 6)
Group B: Water 100 mL (pH 6)
Group C: Water 10 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 90 mL of Water (pH 3)
Group E: Water 10 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 90 mL of Water (pH 3)
Group F: Water 50 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 50 mL of Water (pH 1)
Group G: Water 50 mL of Sulfuric Acid and 50 mL of Water (pH 1)
Data-
Conclusion- All in all, the more acid is concentrated in the water the less the Fescue will grow. In other words, my hypothesis was right. The control grass grew at a normal rate, the 10% acidification grew at a slightly slower rate, and the 50% acidification grew at a much slower rate. It just goes to show what kind of damage acid rain can do to an ecosystem. Notice that the roots are dying before the rest of the plant, and that can cause the whole plant to die in a matter of time. If this were to happen on a large scale then we could be looking at whole ecosystems being destroyed at a time. In the article "Environmental Effects of Acid Rain" it is explained how acid rain may cause damage to plant and marine life. We must stop pollution emissions if we want to stop the acid rain from killing our forests.