Global Harming
Science Fair Project

Katrina
5th Grade - Age 10
Mississippi USA
Name of Project: Global Harming Science Fair Project

Hypothesis:

Does automobile exhaust contain carbon dioxide (CO2)?
My Hypothesis for this Online Science Fair Contest is that burning fossil fuel emits CO2.

Experiment:
1. Get the 5 test tubes; put 10 drops of bromthymol blue in each tube.

2. Fill the balloons: One with Ambient Air (from tire pump), One with Human Exhalation, One with Automobile Exhaust and One with Nearly pure CO2 (from vinegar and baking soda mixture).

3. Let the air from each balloon bubble into its’ labeled tube.

4. Count how many drops of ammonia it takes to change the color back to blue.

The results I got were that the ambient air stayed blue (0 drops).The human exhalation turned a blue-green color (7 drops).The automobile exhaust turned a bright yellow (45 drops).The nearly pure CO2 was a very bright yellow (69 drops).

Materials:
5 test tubes
A graduating cylinder
A funnel straw
A marble sized piece of clay
4 different colored balloons
4 twist ties
A narrow necked bottle
A Dropping bottle of bromthymol blue
A dropping bottle of dilute household ammonia
(1 part ammonia, 50 parts distilled water)
100ml of vinegar
5ml of baking soda
Safety goggles to wear at all times

Conclusion:
Auto exhaust has high levels of CO2. This causes global warming. Alternative fuels should be used to help alleviate the problem. Reforestation also needs to be done. Plus other methods need to be developed to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

What I would do differently next time:
My results were as I expected, Automobile exhaust has very high levels or CO2. This is one of the main causes of global warming. To fix this we need to use alterative fuel cars such as hybrid cars, flex fuel cars, and electric cars. Some alternative fuels are ethanol, biodiesel, natural gas, propane and hydrogen. In future science fair projects, I would like to measure CO2 levels in all alternative fuel vehicles listed above.

Background Info
“5 minutes to midnight” was all the talk on January 17 of 07. The Doomsday clock had been set two minutes closer to midnight. (Midnight is the figurative end of the world.)

The atomic scientists said the earth has two major problems, Nuclear weapons and Climate change.

The green house effect is the name for climate change. Heat gets trapped in the atmosphere because of the CO2 and stops it from floating back into the space. The warmer the earth becomes the ore glaciers will melt in the Arctic and Antarctic. That raises the sea levels and kills the aquatic animals, and the heat makes it to dry in other places. The earth has a fever!! One of the main causes of CO2 pollutions is the Gasoline engine. (Petroleum-fossil fuel)A passenger car emits its weight in CO2 each year.

One solution is alternative fuels. The Federal Government gives tax incentives to Alt. fuel vehicles. Such as:

Ethanol: Made with crops, corn and sugar.
Pros: Less Pollution
Cons: Higher price
Fewer miles per gallon
Less available

Biodesel: Made of vegetable and animal fat.
Natural gas: Fossil fuel.
Propane: Liquid petroleum gas.
Hydrogen: Fossil fuel.
Flex Fuel: Gas + Ethanol
Electric: Rechargeable battery packs 4-8 hours to charge, 150 miles to recharge.

Another thing you could do to help is plant trees which absorb CO2.

Some scientists think global warming does not exist. They say we do not need to take action but if we wait, it maybe too late.

A 25 million dollar prize has been offered by the airline owner Richard Branson for the Person that finds a way to scrub Green house gases out of the atmosphere for 10 years.

Celebrities drove Alt. fuel cars (Toyota Prius, Tesla Roadster) instead of limos to the Oscars.

We are facing a planetary emergency. If we all work together we can keep Doomsday away.