Writing two labs

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#LAB 1

Introduction

For this laboratory we will be conducting an experiment on the pH levels of soil. The level of acidity in soil can affect plant health. Research has shown that increased human activity can increase soil pH, as well as decrease soil fertility. Archaeological research has indicated that human activities also affected soil pH, with food preparation increasing soil pH. In fact, there is a theory that the ancient Mesopotamians started brewing beer after switching to barley production because the soil pH became too alkaline (basic) for other grains.

In addition, the addition of water to the soil MAY change the pH of the soil. Many problems with home gardens are caused by poor soil physical conditions.

Symptoms of poor soil quality include the following.

  • The soil is dried and cracked in summer.
  • Digging holes in the soil is difficult, whether it is wet or dry.
  • Leaves on shrubs turn yellow and have brown, dead sections on them, particularly on the south side of the plant.
  • Water tends to pool on the soil surface and to drain slowly, or it runs off the surface.

In this experiment, we will test the pH of soil using common household items!

Hypothesis: soil pH will change due to addition of household liquids. An acidic liquid should cause the soil pH to decrease; an alkaline (basic) solution should cause the soil pH to increase.

Experiment

Materials per group:

1 cup of dirt

Baking Soda and 1 cup of water (mix together)

Vinegar

2 spoons

2 Small cups

pH paper

Clock, timer, or stopwatch (phone or iPad)

Duct tape

Coffee filters 2

The steps of the experiment are as follows:

  1. The students will break up into four equally numbered groups. Each group will get 1 cup of dirt with a known pH which Dr. Watson will give you.
  2. When you are ready to start testing your samples, fill one of the small containers or cups with about 4 cm of your chosen liquid. Use pH paper to measure the pH of the liquid, and record that value in your notebook.
    1. Dip the piece of pH paper in the liquid, and then compare the color of the pH paper with the color scale on the packaging. Find the closest match to the color of the pH paper; the pH value associated with that color is the pH of your water sample.
    2. Then discard the liquid
  3. Note: You are investigating how the pH of the liquid changes as it interacts with soil. To know how the soil changes the pH of a liquid, you have to know the pH of the water before it mixes with the soil. Dr. Watson will give you the pH of the soil itself.
  4. Now you will investigate how the pH of your liquid changes after it interacts with the soil samples for 45 minutes. First, add the soil to the liquids. Use a CLEAN spoon (or the spoon you used in that liquid before-do not mix up the two!) and stir the soil and liquid together vigorously.
  5. Warning: The muddy mixture of soil and liquid will make a big mess if it escapes the cup. So, mix the soil vigorously, but cautiously.
  6. Note the time you finish mixing. You will come back to these samples in 45 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, prepare two runoff-filtering containers.
  8. Put a coffee filter on top of each of the two, empty cups.
  9. For each container, fold the edges of the coffee filter over the edges of the container and tape the folded-over edges to the container with duct tape. Make sure to leave the top surface of the filter un-taped.
  10. After the sediment tubes have sat for 45 minutes, slowly and carefully pour the water from the cups onto the filters over the runoff-filtering containers. The water from each sediment cup should go into its own container, and you should keep track of which runoff samples are in which runoff-filtering containers. It is okay if some soil comes out while you are pouring off the liquid—that is why the filter is there! Let the liquid percolate though the filter.
  11. Carefully remove the filter paper from the runoff-filtering containers by removing the tape and holding the filter by its edges, being careful not to allow soil or unfiltered liquid to fall into the filtered liquid.
  12. Use pH paper to measure and record the pH of the filtered run-off liquid. Record the pH values being sure to note which values correspond to which soil samples. Rinse out the containers when you are done.
  13. Calculate the difference in the pH of the liquid you measured in step 5 and the pH of each runoff you measured in step 14. This is how much the pH of the water changed after mixing with the soil for 45 minutes. Record the difference.

Report

Students will write a 1-2 page report describing lab 2. The report should be in APA style, a template for which is already attached to this post. The report should have the following components:

  • 1 paragraph introduction that includes the inspiration for the study (why Dr. Watson wanted to conduct the study) and her hypothesis (given in this document).
  • 1 paragraph describing the experiment; this paragraph should describe what every group did in the experiment, not just the group that the student participated in. In this paragraph the student should also identify the independent and dependent variable.
  • 1-2 paragraphs describing the results of the experiment; this should include the results of all the groups, not just the group that the student participated in.
  • 1 paragraph that contains a discussion. In the discussion the student should explain whether the hypothesis was supported or not, and should suggest an experiment Dr. Watson could conduct that would build on this experiment.

The report will be graded using the Dialogues of Learning Written Communication Rubric. Your TurnItIn score must be below 20 for this assignment.

Note:

* make sure you avoid plagiarism

*APA st

here is the experiment that I did in class

The materials that used in this experiment were 2 cups of vinegar and Baking soda. The PH level for the vinegar was 3 and for baking soda was 8. After that we mixed them with the soil and leave them for 45 minutes. We used 2 empty cups and Put a coffee filter on the top of each cup. After 45 minutes, we poured the vinegar and baking soda into the filter. Then we tested the pH level for both. THE VINEGAR WAS 3 AND BAKING SODA WAS 9.

In case you needed a little help with lab #2/the results confused you a bit: The question is, do common household liquids affect soil pH? hypothesis: the pH of the liquid will affect the soil pH So at the start of the lab, our soil pH was 7 Our vinegar pH was 3 Our baking soda and pure water was 9 After mixing the soil with the vinegar and with the baking soda/water, we tested the soil/liquid mixture. The vinegar/soil mixture was 3 The baking soda/water/soil mixture was 9. the question was do household liquids change the pH of the soil? Did it? The pH of each liquid did not change, but certainly the pH of the soil changes. It is now the pH of the liquid (and if we left it longer we might see those numbers change)

#LAB 2


Introduction

For this laboratory we will be conducting an experiment on the pH levels of soil. The level of acidity in soil can affect plant health. Research has shown that increased human activity can increase soil pH, as well as decrease soil fertility. Archaeological research has indicated that human activities also affected soil pH, with food preparation increasing soil pH. In fact, there is a theory that the ancient Mesopotamians started brewing beer after switching to barley production because the soil pH became too alkaline (basic) for other grains.

In addition, the addition of water to the soil MAY change the pH of the soil. Many problems with home gardens are caused by poor soil physical conditions.

Symptoms of poor soil quality include the following.

• The soil is dried and cracked in summer.

• Digging holes in the soil is difficult, whether it is wet or dry.

• Leaves on shrubs turn yellow and have brown, dead sections on them, particularly on the south side of the plant.

• Water tends to pool on the soil surface and to drain slowly, or it runs off the surface.

In this experiment, we will be testing the effects of different liquids on the pH of soil, simulating the effects of contaminates/activities of humans. YOU will choose within your group a liquid to test for your soil. You can choose any non-toxic common household liquid, but here are some examples:

I CHOSE ORANGE JUICE

Hypothesis: soil pH will interact with common household items; human activity affects soil pH

Experiment

Materials per group:

1 soil samples

1 spoon

2 Small cups

pH paper

Clock, timer, or stopwatch (phone or iPad)

Duct tape

Coffee filters 1

The steps of the experiment are as follows:

1. The students will break up into four equally numbered groups. Each group will get 1 soil sample with a known pH which Dr. Watson will give you.

2. When you are ready to start testing your samples, fill one of the small containers or cups with about 4 cm of your chosen liquid. Use pH paper to measure the pH of the liquid, and record that value in your notebook.

a. Dip the piece of pH paper in the liquid, and then compare the color of the pH paper with the color scale on the packaging. Find the closest match to the color of the pH paper; the pH value associated with that color is the pH of your water sample.

b. Then discard the liquid

3. Note: You are investigating how the pH of the liquid changes as it interacts with soil. To know how the soil changes the pH of water, you have to know the pH of the water before it mixes with the soil. Dr. Watson will give you the pH of the soil itself.

4. Now you will investigate how the pH of water changes after it interacts with the soil samples for 45 minutes. First, add the liquid to the soil samples, until the soil is completely saturated and a layer of water about 1 cm deep forms above the surface of the soil.

5. Use your spoon to stir the soil and liquid together vigorously

6. Warning: The muddy mixture of soil and water will make a big mess if it escapes the cup. So, stir the mixture vigorously, but cautiously. It may be best to do this step outside.

7. Write the time down in your notes. You will come back to these samples in 45 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, prepare a runoff-filtering container.

9. Put a coffee filter on top of the empty cup.

10. For each container, fold the edges of the coffee filter over the edges of the container and tape the folded-over edges to the container with duct tape. Make sure to leave the top surface of the filter un-taped.

11. After the dirt has sat for 45 minutes, slowly and carefully pour the water from the cuponto the filters over the runoff-filtering containers. It is okay if some soil comes out while you are pouring off the water—that is why the filter is there! Let the water percolate though the filter.

12. Once most of the water from the soil in the cup has been filtered, carefully remove the filter paper from the runoff-filtering containers by removing the tape and holding the filter by its edges, being careful not to allow soil or unfiltered water to fall into the filtered water.

13. Use pH paper to measure and record the pH of the filtered run-off water. Record the pH values in your lab notebook.

14. Calculate the difference in the pH of the tap water you measured in step 5 and the pH of each runoff you measured in step 14. This is how much the pH of the water changed after mixing with the soil for 45 minutes. Record the difference in the data table in your lab notebook.


Notes:

Here is the experiment that I did in class in this lab


The pH level of the orange juice is 4 and the soil pH is 7.

We mixed the juice with the soil and leave it for 45 minutes.

We used an empty container and we closed it from the top. We put some of the liquid in the filter cup and the pH level was 4.

 
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