Skip to main content

Kids Projects at Home

Simple Kids Crafts is a video blog dedicated to reviving the old art of handicrafts for people of all ages. How do oil spills affect aquatic plants? A Miniature Solar Panel Fire Water Balloon Make Clouds in a Bottle Secret Messages Make a Rocket Make a Hovercraft Make an Anemometer Make a Sundial Make a Radio Make an Electroscope Make a Stethoscope Make a Telescope Make a Periscope Make a Camera Bending a stream of water with a comb Lighting a bulb without electricity Simple Motor Cotton Ball Rocks? Salt-Absorbing Art and Science Color Changing Glue Art Baking Soda Clay Oil Sun Catcher Grow a Pineapple Plant! Bead Bowls Wow, what an Air-Gun Funny Diver ! Water boils without fire Ice with Boiling Water Water that boils instantly Water boils in a Paper Pot Soap-driven Boat Pulse Moves Pin Pretty Garden—without Plants Picture made by Fire Magic Pictures Dancing Doll Smoke Goes Down The Dancing Coupl The Umbrella Dance Magic Butterfly Colorful ...
1 comment

How do oil spills affect aquatic plants?


Topic Information :  Effects of oil spills 

This science fair project was performed to find out how oil spills will affect aquatic plants. Testing was done using hydrilla plants in water with and without a layer of oil covering the surface.

Oil is an organic fluid that has a lower density than water. When oil is spilled on water, it will float on the water surface and form a thin layer. Oil is not soluble in water. This thin layer of oil on the water surface is called sheen and it can kill the aquatic animals and plants that live beneath the water if it is not removed quickly.

The presence of oil on the water surface will blocks sunlight and prevents air from reaching the plants that live in the water. This will prevent the plants from producing food through photosynthesis. Without photosynthesis, the plants will not be able to grow, germinate and produce oxygen. If this condition persists, the plants will eventually die.

Aquatic animals are also not spared by oil spills. They are affected through physical contact, inhalation, ingestion and absorption of oil. The oil also contaminates the algae, plankton, fish eggs and larvae that are food for the smaller fishes. These smaller fishes are eventually eaten by the bigger fishes, birds, other animals and humans. The food chain becomes contaminated and everyone becomes affected.



Organic fluid: made up of two or more parts or ingredients
Density: A measure of the amount of matter contained by a given volume. 
Soluble: Able to be dissolved
Sheen: Brightness; splendor; glitter. 
Photosynthesis: is a process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight.

Hypothesis

The plant living in the beaker with a layer of oil on the surface will not be able to perform photosynthesis, and will hence stop producing oxygen.

Materials

The materials required for this science fair project: 

-    2 hydrilla plants (of approximately equal size) 
-    2 beakers
-    2 test tubes
-    2 funnels
-    1 liter of water
-    1 ruler (measuring 150mm long) 
-    10ml of engine oil

Variables

For this science fair project, the independent variable is whether or not there is a layer of oil on the surface of the water. The dependent variable is the amount of oxygen collected in the test tube.

Controls

The amount of water that the two plants have.
The amount of oil---------------

Procedure

1.  This is determined by measuring the length of the air trapped in the test tube with the ruler. The constants (control variables) are the size of the hydrilla plant, the size of the beaker, the amount of water and the size of the test tube used for air collection.

2.  Fill each of the 2 beakers with 300ml of water and place one hydrilla plant inside each beaker. Next, invert the funnels and place them over the hydrilla plants in the beakers. The plant should be positioned inside the inverted funnel as shown in Figure 1 below. 

3.  Fill 2 test tubes with water and place them over the outlet of the funnels, as shown in Figure 1. There should not be any air inside the inverted test tubes before the start of the experiment. 

4.  Pour 10ml of engine oil into one of the beakers. The oil will spread evenly to form a thin layer. 

5.  Observe the amount of air collected in the test tubes to determine the level of  oxygen produced by the hydrilla plants. Using a ruler, measure the height of the oxygen in the test tubes. Record your observations every hour for the next 5 hour.

Result

The hydrilla plant in the beaker with a layer of oil stopped producing oxygen after 3 hours, while the plant in the beaker without the oil continued to produce oxygen even after 5 hours.


References

 How does oil affect the growth of an aquatic plant? http://www.ehow.com/about_6127348_oil-affect-growth-aquatic-plant_.html

The detrimental effects of oil spills on our environment - http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/the-detrimental-effects-of-oil-spills-on-our-environment-1043176.html

The effects of oil spills on aquatic life and the environment - http://pollution-control.suite101.com/article.cfm/the-effects-of-oil-spills-on-aquatic-life-and-environments.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grow a Gummy Bear

This is a neat and easy science project for younger children. All you need is a package of gummy bears, some small see-through containers, water, and a marker. The time frame for this project can vary depending on how much time your child is given for the project. The project can be done in as little as a week (7 days) or it can be stretched out over a couple of months. Here are the basics: Take the small containers and the marker. Label the containers for the number of days your child is going to do the project. (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc.) I recommend empty baby food jars with lids since the day can be written on the lid. Fill the containers about half full of water – cold or room temperature, not hot. For each day of the project, drop a single gummy bear into one jar and close the lid. I sorted my gummies by color, but this is optional.) Store containers in a cool space so that the water in the container does not get too warm and melt the gummy bear. (I stored the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fooling Your Brain with a Mirror

Aim: To prove that what we see is often affected by what we expect to see with the help of the mirror image experiment. Materials required: 1. Mirrors – 2 in number, square in shape, 12 inches (30 cm) a side, could be either made out of plastic or glass. 2. Epoxy glue and duct tapes. 3. Wooden dowels – 2 in number with diameter as 1 inch (2.5 cm) and 12 inches (30 cm) long. Procedure: 1.      Stick the mirrors together by pasting their backs. If you have a glass mirror then for safety, tape their edges using the duct tapes to seal the sharp edges. Take the two wooden dowels and paste them right in the centre of the mirrors vertically. 2.      Hold the dowels with each hand and as you look at one side of the mirror move the hand which is on the other side. What do you actually see? What happens? Your brain expects the image in the mirror to move as it is fooled to believe that the image it sees is actually your othe...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mathematics of Sympathetic Vibrations

Objectives/Goals  Which notes on a piano can induce sympathetic vibrations on an open string? Mathematical relationships between test note and open string frequencies will be used to predict which notes cause sympathetic vibrations. I predict the three test notes in my sample that are harmonics of the open string will resonate the longest. Methods/Materials  Materials used were: a piano, a stopwatch, a frequency chart, and a helper. I depressed a piano key, the damper lifted and the string was "open," or free to vibrate. I played all the notes in one octave higher than the open string. My helper timed the durations of the tone coming from the open string. I averaged and graphed the results.  Results  The thirteen test keys in each sample caused the open string to resonate. Seven test keys caused brief resonance; the vibration inside the sound box caused the open strings to produce a tone.  Three test keys produced tones of intermedi...
Post a Comment
Read more