The Effect of Different Water Pollutants on Corn

Researched by Brian V. 
2003-04

PURPOSE

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of different water pollutants on corn.

I became interested in this idea when I noticed that all the plants my mother watered with tap water died very quickly.

The information gained from this experiment could benefit farmers, botanists, gardeners, and anyone who works with plants.


HYPOTHESIS

My hypothesis was that antifreeze would be more damaging than deicer. 

My second hypothesis was that soap would be the least damaging. 

I based my hypothesis on a statement made by the national health association in an article about pollution danger, “Every year, between 1 and 10 billion tons of oil are spilt, killing many species and destroying the ecosystem in the area.”


EXPERIMENT DESIGN

The constants in this study were:
* The time the plants were planted
* The size the plants were when the experiment treatment began
* The amount of light the plants received
* The amount of water the plants received 
* The amount of potential pollutants the plants received 
* The trays the plants were grown in
* The type and amount of soil that was used 
* The planting depth

The manipulated variable was the type of potential pollutant that was given to the plants.

The responding variable was the biomass of the plants in each group.

To measure the responding variable I measured the biomass in grams with a thriple-beam balance


MATERIALS


QUANTITY ITEM DESCRIPTION
40 small plastic cups
1/2 gallon of soap, deicer, antifreeze
10 gallons of distilled water 
1 triple-beam balance
100 sweet corn seeds
1 sun lamps
1 ruler
25 pounds of potting soil
1 black marker
4 individual beakers
1 100 mL graduated cylinder


PROCEDURES

1. Prepare you workspace.
* Find a workspace that is away from pets, children, and other animals.
* Remove all foreign objects from your work area.
* Place 4x5 piece of clear plastic over your workspace
2. To prepare the trays divide the trays into 4 groups and label one group control and the label the rest 1-3.
* Create a key that shows that 1= antifreeze 2=deicer 3=soap.
3. Fill the trays to 2 inches below the lip.
* Place five rows of five “sweet” corn seeds in each tray exactly 2 inches apart from each other and fill the cup with soil to 1 inch below the lip.
4. Next water each tray with 100 mL of distilled water.
* Repeat step four every other day until plants are exactly 4 inches tall.
5. Then once the plants are 4 inches tall mix in a beaker 30 mL of deicer and 270 mL of distilled water then label it mix one 
* Water group one with the beaker of mixture one
6. Repeat step 5 using antifreeze and soap for each corresponding group
7. Repeat step 5 and six for 3 weeks.
* After three weeks measure plants (in all groups) for biomass.
* Record data and compute. 
8. Clean workspace thoroughly and carefully.
* All contaminated soil and excess liquid must be handled appropriately.


RESULTS

The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of different water pollutants on corn.

I results of the experiment were the control group had a biomass of 31.8 grams. The deicer group was 43.2 grams. The biomass of the antifreeze group was 15.9 grams. The Soap group was 19.4 grams.

See the table and graph below.


CONCLUSION

My first hypothesis was that antifreeze would be more damaging than deicer. The results indicate that I should accept my hypothesis. 

My second hypothesis was that soap would be the least damaging.

The results indicate that my second hypothesis should be rejected. 

Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if a different type of soap would have the same effect on the plants. I also wonder if the Ethylene glycol would be more harmful than Propylene glycol.

If I were to conduct this project again I would test wheat as well as corn and I would use more plants in my tests. I would also try to replicate this experiment after I had gotten my original results to be sure of my data.


RESEARCH REPORT

Intro

Humans need plants to survive. They provide food, materials for building, and a small percentage of our oxygen. We have relied on cultivated plants since the late caveman days and we still do. There are people today who eat only plants so they rely on plants even more than the people who eat meat as well as plants. One of the more important crops today is corn.

Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the largest industries in the world. Over half of the worlds’ population is employed in agriculture. We can get a lot from agriculture like paint, food, clothing, and we also get many jobs. Agriculture provides food for our animals and us. Agriculture provides plants like corn, wheat and apples. This is a huge source of revenue for the agricultural world. 

Plants

Plants grow everywhere even in deserts. Plants can be as big as the 300-foot tall redwoods or as small as the microscopic plants called plankton, which drift in both fresh and salt-water bodies. Plants are living organisms that cannot voluntarily move. Plants have the ability to synthesize food in a process called photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is a food making process that occurs in green plants. Photosynthesis is the chief function of leaves. The word photosynthesis means to put together with light. Green plants store energy from the sun in a green pigment called chlorophyll. All of the leaves in plants contain chlorophyll. Plants use energy from the sun to combined carbon dioxide and water to make food. The chemical formula for this is CO6=H2O
Corn

Corn is one of the largest products of agriculture. It is used to make cereal, corn oil, corn syrup, and cornstarch. There are three types of corn: “popcorn”, “feeder corn”, and “sweet corn” Humans eat both “popcorn” and “sweet corn” we use feeder corn to feed livestock. Sweet corn is what we use to make cereal, corn syrup, and cornstarch. Corn grows in conditions that are relatively easy to produce. All it needs is sunlight and warm, moist soil and it will grow. Corn grows to about 6 feet tall and can have up to 10 ears of corn per stalk. 

Water Pollutants

Pollutants can kill plants relatively easily depending on the plant and the amount of that pollutant. A few of the more notable toxins are oil, antifreeze, deicer, and factory runoff that gets dumped into the water supply. Antifreeze is especially dangerous because it is a strong pollutant and it is water-soluble. Deicer is also water-soluble and can be a very strong pollutant. Soap is generally not a very strong pollutant, but detergents are known to be harmful to some organisms

Summary

We need plants to survive. Humans realize this and utilize plants in the form of agriculture. Pollution is a threat to plants so it becomes a threat to agriculture and can become a threat to us. It is important to know what different pollutants can do to important crops like corn.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dimichele, William A.  "Plants,” World Book Encyclopedia, 1999.

Chertrow, Marian R.  “Environmental pollution” World book encyclopedia, 1999.

Hershey, David R.  Plant Biology selah schools, science project, SIS science, S.I.S.

“Major Pollutants” Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2001 

Washer, David H. “Photosynthesis” World Book Encyclopedia, 1995 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people for helping make my project possible:
* My parents for all of their support and time that they gave up to help me.
* My friends for putting up with my postponing of events to work on this project
* My science teachers for their time and effort to help me complete this project. 

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