oops!

I just realised that i didn't actually put up my whole intro yet so here it is( from the beginning)
Soil pollution is when the pollutants in soil are above a certain level causing the soil to lose one or more of its functions (EUROPA, 16/6/2010). Soil pollution may also be thought of as the presence of manmade chemicals or any other modifications in the natural environment (EUROPA, 16/6/2010). The most common chemicals causing soil pollution are: petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, lead used in cars and house paint and other heavy metals (EUROPA, 16/6/2010) (SAFER SOLUTIONS, N.D). The occurrence of this manifestation is linked with industrialisation and the intensity of chemical usage (EUROPA, 16/6/2010). Soil pollution is widespread in all areas and is often the outcome of years of planned or unintentional emission of pollutants (SAFER SOLUTIONS, N.D).
The aim of the experiment is to investigate which soil absorbs the greatest amount of pollutants in the environment. The two main components that control the storage and the movement of liquids in rocks and sediments are porosity and permeability (enotes, N.D). Porosity is the ratio of the volume of pores or openings to the total volume of the rock sediment (enotes, N.D). It is usually expressed as a percentage. Basically, the porosity of a rock is the spaces in between the grains (enotes, N.D). Therefore, if the grains are tightly packed, it sediment has a lower porosity (enotes, N.D). Permeability is how easily liquids flow through a porous sediment. Even if sediment has a high porosity, if the voids are not interconnecting properly, the liquid may not move through (enotes, N.D). Like in porosity, how tightly packed the grains are and the shape of the grains determine how permeable a certain sediment is (enotes, N.D).
The experiment will help determine whether the hypothesis, a soil type with more porosity will have more space for the pollutant to fill and therefore it will absorb more of the pollutant, is true or not.
The experiment involves: white sand, potting mix and common soil from the garden. The soil from the garden consisted of dead roots, leaves, small branches and rocks. Whereas the potting mix consisted of Wettasoil granular soil wetter, base fertiliser and BioActive compost coir dust. Coir dust is a spongy like residue from the husks of coconut. Coir dust is also hydrophilic which means it attracts water and strongly absorbs liquids and gasses Cresswell, Geof. N.D. p.2). This should therefore make the potting mix the most absorbent. Sand is made of sandstone and the porosity of sandstone is 5-30% (SEED, N.D). The porosity of typical soil is 55% and the porosity of the potting mix is unknown (SEED, N.D).
...this is the actual thing... if you didn't realise..
bye

conclusion

The aim of the experiment was to investigate which soil absorbs the greatest amount of pollutants in the environment using the mediums: white sand, potting mix and soil from a garden. The pollutants involved in the experiment were, vegetable oil, petrol and engine coolant. The potting mix, which has the greatest porosity, absorbed the most amount of the pollutant and the hypothesis was therefore supported.
like EVERYTHINGELSE i've done.. simple and sweet!
ABSTRACT:
Soil pollution is widespread in all areas and is often the outcome of years of planned or unintentional emission of pollutants (SAFER SOLUTIONS, N.D). The aim of the experiment was to investigate which soil absorbs the greatest amount of pollutants in the environment using the mediums: white sand, potting mix and soil from a garden. The pollutants involved in the experiment were, vegetable oil, petrol and engine coolant. The hypothesis is that a soil type with more porosity will have absorbed more of the pollutants. The potting mix, which has the greatest porosity, absorbed the most amount of the pollutant and the hypothesis was therefore supported.

Discussion

So after a lot of though i have finished my discussion... howeever, it's not too long. hopefully the quality-quantity thing works for me here...
The hypothesis was that a soil type with more porosity will have more space for the pollutant to fill and therefore it will absorb more of the pollutant. Sand has a porosity of 5-30%, sandstone (made up of sand) has a porosity of 55% and the porosity of potting mix is unknown. However, since the potting mix had coir dust in it, it can be assumed that it has a higher porosity than the typical soil found in a garden. If this is assumed, then the results from the experiment support the hypothesis and the experiment was successful as the aim of the experiment, to investigate which soil absorbs the greatest amount of pollutants in the environment, was fulfilled.
From the experiment, it was found that the potting mix absorbed the most amount of liquid in total, followed by the soil from the garden. The white sand absorbed the least. However, when it came to the experiments involving petrol, potting mix absorbed the least amount of the pollutant. It absorbed 26millilitres less than the white sand and 6 millilitres less than the soil from the garden. The reason for this is due to the pollutants’ viscosity. Viscosity is a liquid’s resistance to flow. A liquid that has a high viscosity will resist flowing more than a liquid that has a low viscosity. Oil has the highest viscosity out of the three pollutants followed by the diluted engine coolant. It was observed that the oil and engine coolant sat on top of the soils for a while when they had been poured on. This now can be concluded that this was because they both had higher viscosities. Petrol has a low viscosity; it has a lower viscosity than water. Potting mix is very porous and has very large void spaces, whereas the void spaces of the white sand and the soil from the garden are smaller and more compacted. This meant that the petrol passed through the potting mix much faster than it did for the white sand and the soil from the garden. After the 60 seconds had passed, the petrol may have only gotten half way through the white sand when it would have come through in the potting mix. Since the method used does not take into account the porosity of the pollutants, the method is not entirely reliable. However, the hypothesis can still be supported by the experiment as it still proves that a soil type with more porosity will absorb more of the pollutant.
well I think it's ok...i guess...

Results

An observation made during the experiment was that when the vegetable oil and engine coolant were poured on each of the soil types, the vegetable oil would not pass through straight away. The vegetable oil and engine coolant would sit on the soils and then after about 15 seconds it would pass through.

yay!

I have FINALLY finished my experiment and am ready and bothered to put the pictures up so here they are:



pretty cool huh?
so now that i've done everything, i shall put up my method in "prose and passive past tense".
Method:
A table (as shown below in table 1) was drawn up so that the results could be recorded on. A metal drainer was placed on a dish and 250 grams of sand was measured and placed in the drainer. 250 millilitres of oil was then measured out and poured onto the sand. The oil was left to filter for 60 seconds and the amount of oil that resided in the dish was then subtracted from 250 millilitres to find out how much oil was actually absorbed by the sand. The experiment was then repeated the next day with oil and potting mix and oil and healthy soil from the garden. The day after that, the experiment was repeated except with petrol instead of oil and the day after that, it was repeated with engine coolant instead of oil. A week of analysis was then left in between and the entire experiment was repeated again for reliable results.
BTW: Table 1 is non- existent at the moment...

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dharani is like totally glad that she just posted in on time that she feels like SRPing...
Soil pollution is when the pollutants in soil are above a certain level causing the soil to lose one or more of its functions. Soil pollution may also be thought of as the presence of manmade chemicals or any other modifications in the natural environment. The most common chemicals causing soil pollution are: petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, lead used in cars and house paint and other heavy metals. The occurrence of this manifestation is linked with industrialisation and the intensity of chemical usage. Soil pollution is widespread in all areas and is often the outcome of years of planned or unintentional emission of pollutants.
NOW! how does THAT sound for a 1st paragraph?
(WOW)
So, what is porosity?
The percentage of pore volume or void space, or that volume within rock that can contain fluids.
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=porosity
(i will reference this properly when i figure out how to)

Climate graph

so here's my climate graph...

hehe...yeah i know it kinda looks like my graph has been trampled on by a herd of elephants but it wasn't my fault i made it in the holidays... ummmm... yeh...enjoy?

Method...

1. Place a filter on a cup(making sure it won't fall off)

2. Put 250 mg of sand in the filter

3. Measure out 250 mL of oil in the measuring cup

4. Pour the oil onto the sand and let the oil be filtered for 60 seconds

5. Remove the filter from the cup after 60 seconds of filteration

6. Record the amount of oil in the cup on a table

7. Subtract this amount from 250 to find out how much of the oil is actually absorbed by the sand

8. Record this number on the table as well

9. Repeat steps 1 to 8 with oil and clay instead of sand

10. After one week, repeat steps 1 to 9 but instead of oil use petrol

11. After another week, repeat steps 1 to 9 but instead of oil use engine coolant

INTRODUCTION OF MY EXPERIMENT

So this experiment idea was inspired by this girl in another country, one day she found that the soil around a creek was polluted by saturated oil. If the oil had travelled downstream, the whole river would have been polluted.

Now, the experiment is now to help demonstrate us see which soil is the most absorbant and whether the more viscous pollutant will be more absorbant.

I think the soil type with more pososity will have more space for the pollutant to fill.

qwerty :)

Hi!
i have finished by climate graph!yay!
but i don't feel like putting it up at the moment :(
so yeah....

A graph about climate (reminds me of 'hakuna matata' for some weird reason...)

okay, so dharani knows she has better things to do but she googled "good jokes on graphs" and this is what she got:

"Good graphs are like good jokes (they don't need to be explained)"
ha ha... pretty funny huh?

Anyways.. dharani just wanted to say that she is going to do her climate graph NOW...now!...okay fine...NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*guess what?...you can feed the fish at the bottom by clicking anywhere in their "tank"(WARNING:This can also be adicting)and just in case you don't realise youself, the fish follow the cursor!

okay byeeee : )
ha ha blogging is fun... and addicting!

this IS the LAST time i'm going to do this!

I, dharani nadarajah have heard from a reliable source that ALL fruits/veggies have even the tiniest amout of acid and therefore, she cannot do her experiment because all of the fruits/veggies will conduct electricity even if it is a very very small amout. So, dharani shall change her idea for the 4th time :(
The experiment is to determine which soil is the most absorbant and that the more viscous(meaning: having a reletively high resistance to flow) pollutant would be most absorbant.

Equipment: Soils (sand and clay), pollutants (oil, petrol and engine coolant), 30 plastic cups, plastic filter, measuring cup and stopwatch.

Method: Place the plastic filter on the cup making sure that it won't fall off. Put 250 mg of sand in the filter and measure out 250 mL of oil in the measuring cup. Then pour oil onto the sand and let the oil be filtered for 60 seconds. When 60 seconds is over remove the filter and record the amount of oil is in the cup on a table then subtract this number by 250 mL to find out how much of the oil is actually absorbed by the sand. Record this number on the table as well. Repeat these steps with petrol and sand and again with engine coolant and sand. Now, repeat the steps with clay. After, repeat all the steps above twice to make sure the results are acurate. (This may be a little time consuming...)

The independent variable are the pollutants and the types of soil
The dependent variable is the amount of absorption
The constants are the filter used, the amont of soil, the amounof pollutant, how long the soil will be filtered for and the temperature of the pollutants (room temperature)

I have got to control myself and not change my mind about this experiment (ha ha! get it CONTROL!)
hope this gets approved... good luck dharani
love dharani (off to email Ms. Zhang!)

I think i should stop changing my idea but i just WON'T listen to myself!

Oh my gosh... i can't believe i am doing this again but here i go. I am going to change my experiment once again. There. I've said it. I want to change it to my fist idea from my previous blog. The one about seeing which fruits conduct electricity.

Equipment : an orange, a potato, a lemon, a cucumber, a banana, a light bulb, a few aligator clips and two metal electrodes.

Method: Insert the two metal electrodes parallel to and about 1cm away from each other. Then connect one electrode to a light bulb with an aligator clip. Next connect the light bulb to a battery and the battery to the other electrode. Repeat these steps with the potato, lemon, banana and cucumber.

The independent variable is the fruit/vegetable that is included in the circuit.
The dependent variable is the whether or not the light bulb lights up or not.
The controlled variables are how far apart the two electrodes are situated, the type of battery being used and the light bulb being used.

Hopefully this experiment will get approved because i REALLY want to do it

waiting in hope...dharani

Hmmmm.......

dharani is not sure she should do this but she will follow her heart? After alot of thought, (seriously like three days non-stop) she wants to change her experiment because she doesn't know how to get conclusive results. She actually has more ideas than the ones she had before and they are:

1. To see whether a few fruits and veggies conduct electricity
2. To investigate whether the shell of an egg dissolves when the egg is put in vinegar
3. To see whether a potato grows inside of a closed shoebox with a hole on one side
4. To see which solvents are better preservatives

I have chosen to do the fourth option. To do this i will need: four clear drinking glasses, water, a chicken bouillon cube, salt, white vinegar, sugar, a measuring cup and a measuring spoon.

I am planning to dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in a cup of hot water and then dividing the solution equally into the three clear glasses. I will then put one teaspoon of salt into one of the glasses, one teaspoon of vinegar in another glass and a teaspoon of sugar in the third glass. The glass with nothing extra in it will be my control as it doesn't have any preservatives in it. I will then leave each of the glasses in a warm spot for a week, noting the observations i make daily so i can see how much the solutions have changed.

Th independent variable is the preservative that i put in the chicken bouillon-water solvent.

The dependent variable is the how 'cloudy' the solution becomes over the week.

The controlled variables are the amount of chicken bouillon-water solvent, how much of each preservative i use, where i put the glasses and how long the glasses are kept out.

I really, really, really hope that Ms Zhang approves my experiment... finger, toes, arms, legs, hair, body... basically everthing crossed that she does... or else dharani is in real trouble.

well..good luck dharani!

thinking...

So... i have gotten approval to do my experiment but it won't give conclusive results... dharani is sad and is thinking about srp during the holidays... dharani does not like this :( but will think of a way to make her experiment better

Dharani's Plan

Okay... i have decided to go with my second idea! I want to find out what solvents preserve a fruit or vegetable better and why.

To do this, i am going to put a sample of a fruit or veg. in each solvent. I am planning to have a celery stick in water, a celery stick in vinegar, a celery stick in a sugar-water solvent, a celery stick in a oil and a celery stick at room temperature. After two weeks i shall see which fruits have been preseved the most. I will also do the same with a tomato as well and see whether the results vary.

My independent variable is the type of solvent there is in each sample.
My dependent variable is how much of the fruit or vegetable is preserved.
My controlled variables are how much solvent is kept in each sample, the time each fruit is kept in a solvent and how large or heavy each fruit is.

okay dharani is now officially excited about science! ( i know, this is a REALLY weird feeling)
well then...until my next blog... bye!
I'll miss you bloggy :(

Ideas

okay people... dharani has ideas! (some original and some from science experiment websites)
idea 1. have a vegetable in different temperatures (independent variable) e.g. freezer, fridge and room temperature and see whether the fruit becomes heavier(dependent variable).
idea 2. put a fruit in different solvents(independent variable) and see if this preserves the fruit(dependent variable).
idea 3. Put different fruit (independent) that you are not allowed to put in aeroplane jelly, in aeroplane jelly and see what happens and why(dependent variable).
okay then that's all for now!

SRP

''Hello World"