Wheat Grass vs Acid Rain E Fair Ideas for Science Fair Projects

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Name: Katelyn
Grade Level 7th

PURPOSE

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of acid rain on wheat grass.

I became interested in this idea because acid rain has become such a big problem in the US, Canada, Scandinavia, and many other countries.

The information gained from this experiment would help to inform factory owners and operators that acid rain is harmful to forests, crops, and wildlife. They should provide a scrubber to help keep the air cleaner. Also car manufactures should make cars that run on something other than gasoline, which would also keep our air cleaner and would help reduce acid rain.

HYPOTHESIS

My hypothesis was that if vegetation were exposed to acid rain, then it would grow more slowly.

I based my hypothesis on the hypothesis Martin G. Gutnik wrote in his book called “Experiments that Explore Acid Rain. ” 

EXPERIMENT DESIGN

The constants in this study were:
 

• 4 wheat seeds in each pot
• General testing procedure
• Type of acid (diluted sulfuric)
• Size of pot
• Temperature
• Amount and type of soil
• Depth seeds are planted
• Amount of plants are watered
• Amount of acid applied to plants in each group 

The responding variable was growth of the wheat grass.

To measure the responding variable I used a ruler to determine heights.

MATERIALS

PROCEDURES

1. Cut 5 holes in the foil tray.
2. Place another foil tray underneath the first tray.
3. Fill the foil tray with 1000 ml of soil.
4. Spread the soil out evenly.
5. Poke 1 cm holes in the soil with fingertip and make about 20 holes the same size.
6. Place about 5-6 seeds in each hole.
7. Cover up the seeds with soil so surface is even.
8. Water the soil with 250 ml so that the water is spread out evenly.
9. Place both trays underneath a fluorescent light.
10. Water the plants with 250 ml of water once a day for about 4 weeks or when plants start growing.
11. After about 4-6 days pour 125 ml of 5. 5 sulfuric acid in one of the pans that you planted the wheat seeds in.
12. Next pour 125 ml of 4. 5 sulfuric acid in the other pan.
13. Wait for 4 days and then measure the height.  

RESULTS

The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of acid rain on wheat grass.  

The results of the experiment were that diffidently any plant that has been in an acid rain shower/acid snow/acid fog/ect. would die or be severely damaged. I have found out that the lower the pH the more acidic it is. I used only two pH levels of acid (4. 5 and 5. 5) for my experiment and the wheat grass that had the pH level of 4. 5 died faster than the one with the 5. 5 pH, which died, but at a slower pace.  

CONCLUSION

My hypothesis was that if vegetation were exposed to acid rain, then it would grow more slowly.

The results indicate that this hypothesis should be correct because acid rain does damage wheat grass.  

Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if a different plant would die either quicker or slower depending on the plant? What would happen if you put more of the lower pH level of acid and less of the higher pH acid? What would cause more damage? 

If I were to conduct this project again I would probably make the first experiment more controlled so that I would not have to start back over on it. The first time, I took the wheat grass out of the fluorescent light because it was growing too much and I didn’t have the 4. 5 pH and the 5. 5 pH acid on time so that messed up the experiment. Another thing that was wrong with the first experiment is that I did not plant the seeds the right way by planting 5-6 seeds in each hole that I made with my finger. The final thing that I messed up on the first experiment that I did not water the plants with the same amount of water each time I watered them. Abstract

Wheat grass vs acid rain e fair ideas for science fair projects continues at wheat grass topics for science fair projects.