Pollutants and Plants
By Roy Urwin
CBC Boksburg
Life Science
Declaration of Authenticity and Plagiarism check
I, Roy Urwin, declare that
1. The contents of this document, except where otherwise stated is my own original work.
2. This document does not contain other persons’ data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons with a letter of consent from that person
3. This document does not contain other persons' writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers.
5. This document does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the document and in the References sections.
_____________________________ Student signature
_______________________________ Date
Table of Content
1. Introduction
Containing the Research Question; Hypothesis; Aim and Motivation for the experiment.
2. Review of Literature
3. Methodology
4. Results
Containing tables and graphs used to represent important data gathered throughout the experiment.
5. Photographs
6. Analysis and Discussion of results
7. Conclusion
8. Reference List and Plagiarism Check
9. Appendix
Containing the all raw data collected from the experiment as well as all the rough work for the experiment.
Note that for the entirety of this document the following table will be used when discussing the various plants in the experiment.
Plants Group Letter
Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) A
Flat-leaved parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum) B
Pansy (Viola tricolor var. hortensis) C
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) D
Number Pollutant
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 No pollutant
Biology research proposal (final Draft)
1. Introduction
Investigative Question
How do human household waste products in the soil affect different types of plants?
Aim
To determine how various house hold items affect plant growth and health when introduced into the soil as a pollutant.
Hypothesis
All of the groups of plant will be most affected by the motor oil and gasoline as they are more toxic pollutants.
Motivations
To create an experiment which is easy to understand and to make it easier for people in informal settlements and those without the education to understand the effects pollutants can have on the environment. This will help the community understand the dangers common pollutants can cause and why they must be removed from the environment. This experiments purpose is to also show people living informal settlements or any person the effect practice such as illegal dumping, dumping wastes in water sources or simply not deposing of wastes (throwing it on the ground or not removing wastes from the environment) appropriately can have on the environment and to further show the importance and far reaching effect of recycling and disposing of wastes effectively.
2. Literature review
Soil is essential to life on earth as all plants and animals depend on it to survive. If pollutants are present in the soil this could cause huge effects on the environment and can cause exponential damage to it. Research shows that pollutants that enter the soil can have numerous effects on plants such as damaging the cells of a plant and preventing them from obtaining the necessary nutrients to survive (Greentumble Editorial Team.28 January 2017.). If these pollutants are absorbed by the plant it can cause serious health problems to those who consume said plants, health problems such as kidney or liver damage and many types of cancers(George Tsiattalos 20 November). However most of the research done of soil pollutions and its effects are many based on large scale pollutants such as oil spills, land fills and illegal dumping (Editorial Team.28 January 2017).
While a large portion of pollution is done on a small scale and this is how this experiment will contribute to this research it allow give some clarity on how small scale soil pollution will affect plants and the environment they live in.
3. Methodology (the experiment will run for 30 days)
You will need:
• 10Kg of potting soil
• 1 small spade
• 40 small temporary pots
• 60 litres of water
• 10 Spekboom (Portulacaria afra)
• 10 Flat-leaved parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum)
• 10 Pansy (Viola tricolor var. hortensis)
• 10 Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
• 1.2 litres of gasoline
• 1.2 litres of liquid dish soap
• 1.2 litres of concentrated sodium chloride solution
• 1.2 litres of bleach (NaOH)
• 1.2 litres of motor oil
• 1.2 litres of cooking oil
• 1.2 litres of liquid detergent
• 1.2 litres of alcohol
• 1.2 litres of deodorant
• 9 syringes
• 1 measuring cylinder
• Measuring scale with measuring bowl
• Marking pen
• 10 Small cups
• Universal Indicator
Method
1. Divide 40 temporary pots into 4 groups of 10 pots and label each group A, B, C and D.
2. Then in group A label each pot 1 though to 10.
3. Repeat this process for groups B, C and D.
4. For group A place 1 Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) into each pot.
5. For group B place 1 Flat-leaved parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum) into each pot.
6. For group C place 1 Pansy (Viola tricolor var. hortensis) into each pot.
7. For group D place 1 Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) into each pot.
8. Using a measuring scale and bowl, measure out 250g of potting soil for each plant.
9. Fill all 40 pots with the 250g of potting soil with a small spade. Placing the soil around the plants inside the pots and press down lightly on the soil.
10. Add 50ml of water (using a measuring cylinder) to each pot.
11. Place all the pots in an area that is a semi-shade area.
12. For each of the following steps 13-21 use one syringe for each step.
13. For the pots labelled 1 add 10ml of gasoline.
14. For the pots labelled 2 add 10ml of liquid dish soap.
15. For the pots labelled 3 add 10ml of deodorant.
16. For the pots labelled 4 add 10ml of bleach.
17. For the pots labelled 5 add 10ml of Brine.
18. For the pots labelled 6 add 10ml of motor oil.
19. For the pots labelled 7add 10ml of cooking oil.
20. For the pots labelled 8 add 10ml of alcohol.
21. For the pots labelled 9 add 10ml of liquid detergent.
22. For the pots labelled 10 add no pollutant.
23. Repeat steps 13-22 and step 10 for 30 days without skipping a single day.
24. Throughout the 30 days document the height and width of each plant as well as the general health of each plant.
25. After the 30 days compare the results.
26. Then after the 30 days measure 50g (using a measuring scale) of soil from the 1 of each of the pots labelled 1-10.
27. Place each 50g soil sample to into a small cup and label the cup 1-10 accord to the source the sample was taken from.
28. Using a measuring cylinder measure 100ml of water and add to one of the small cups.
29. Retreat this for every cup with a soil sample in it.
30. Then place Universal Indicator in each of the cup to measure the pH.
31. After this document results and compare them to each other.
4. Results
Soil pH
Height change in plants
Table of plants
Table showing the number of days each plant survived during the experiment.
Pollutant Number Plant Species
A B C D
1 30 11 5 30
2 30 30 14 25
3 30 30 25 30
4 30 25 11 30
5 30 28 10 22
6 30 30 30 30
7 30 30 24 30
8 30 16 9 22
9 30 30 11 30
10 30 30 30 30
Table showing the number of days taken for each plant to show the first signs of being affected by the pollutant during the experiment.
Pollutant Number Plant Species
A B C D
1 3 2 2 6
2 9 2 2 9
3 9 9 3 30
4 6 2 6 11
5 11` 3 2 8
6 30 20 7 11
7 30 9 6 30
8 20 4 4 11
9 22 7 2 6
10 30 30 30 30
5. Photographs
Plant C1 on days 3
Plant C1 on day 4
Plant C9 on day 4
Plant C9 on day 6
Plant C8 on day 7
Plant C7 on day 7
Plant C6 on day 7
Plant C4 on day 7
Plant C5 on day 7
Plant C3 on day 7
Plant C2 on day 2
Plant C2 on day 7
Plant B2 on day 4
Plant B2 on day 4
Plant B5 on day 7
Plant C1 on day
Plant B8 on day 9
Plant A1 on day 4
Plant A1 on day 4 (close up)
Plant A1 on day 7
Plant A1 on day 7 (close up)
Plant A4 on day 7
Plant D2 on day 9
Plant D5 on day 16
Plant D8 on day 12
List of references
George Tsiattalos 20 November 2013 Soil Pollution http://www.everythingconnects.org/soil-pollution.html
Greentumble Editorial Team.28 January 2017. Effect of pollution on plants.
https://greentumble.com/effect-of-pollution-on-plants/