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The Effect of Acid Rain on Wheat Grass

Booth Id:
PLNT039

Category:
Plant Sciences

Year:
2018

Finalist Names:
Johnson, Alicia (School: Wilbur-Creston High School)

Abstract:
With the advancement of the world, pollution has caused detrimental harm to the Earth such as global warming, and some smaller issues, such as acid rain. Acid rain generally measures at a pH level of 4, normal rain measures at a pH level of 5.0 to 5.5 (Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). The hypothesis for this project stated that acid rain will negatively affect the wheat grass plants by reducing the weight of the plants as well as qualitatively through root damage. This experiment required wheat grass seeds to be grown in the same kind and amount of dirt and watered with the same amount of water each day. For the first two weeks, the plants were watered with 150 mL of distilled water and then the plants were watered with 150 mL of mock acidic rain for one week. One plant was left as the control with distilled water, and others with a pH of 3.0, pH 4.0, and pH of 5.0. After the testing was finished, each of the plants were shaken free of as much dirt as possible and weighed. The control plant was 92.3 g overall, pH 4 plant followed with 89.1 g, followed by pH 3 with 86.9 g, and lastly pH 5 with 86.7 g. Due to the fact that the data showed no apparent correlation, the hypothesis was rejected because some of the plants with the higher acidity levels showed to be healthier than plants with lower acidity levels, in correlation to mass.