I FINALLY PRESENTED!!!!!

I am so relieved and today I presented at 8:00. I was so nervous but once I got it over with all I felt was relief and I was so proud of myself. I had worked so hard and finally it was over. During the presentation it was not as nerve wrecking as I thought it would be I barely even stuttered or messed up during the actual presentation. I will admit for some of the questions asked by the teachers dumbfounded me but in the end I was happy and all my worries from the past few months were lifted off my shoulders.

I handed in my Presentation

Today at around noon I handed in my power point presentation. At first I was relieved but I was like "wait did I remember everything." But I am pretty sure that I remembered all of the requirements. I checked it with the rubric and I think it's perfect. Tonight I am going to continue to practice and I will do the same over the weekend. SO on tuesday when I present I will be 100% ready.

Power Point

I am almost finished with my power point now. It has lots of pictures and details and I wrote a scrip in the noes portion of power point so I can expand on each of my slides. I am now adding effects to my presentation. But tonight I plan on practicing and timing my self while going thorough the presentation so I can see if I am over the time limit or under it. As of now I have 28 slides but technically I have 23 slides that have text on it. My presentation is really colorful and pretty to the eye. So I hope while presenting none of the little forth graders will get bored like I did when I was there age watching the presentation. It will be ready to be turned in tomorrow.

It's time to start my presentation

Today in class Ms. Minn gave us all the criteria for our presentations. Tonight I plan on starting my power point. I am still a little bit confused on what I will have to include so when I make it I'm going to have to keep the rubric next to me during the entire process so I follow all the directions. We were also told when we would be presenting. I will be presenting on G day first thing in the morning at 8:00 a.m. I have exactly one week to do my presentation everyone is handing them in on April 14 ant 3:00 p.m. We also were told how we would all have one host each and Savannah and I decided that I'm going to be her host and she's going to be mine! I am scared for my presentation but at the same time I just want to get it over with.

Lab Report (without data tables and graphs)

Lab Report

I. Experimental Question & Hypothesis

           

Purpose: What is the effect of acid rain on the oxygen production of primroses and is it influenced by the presence of flowers on the plant?

Hypothesis: If different pH levels of acid are given to plants, then the oxygen production of the plants will be different depending on the pH of the acid.

II. Experimental Design

 Independent Variables:

The pH level of the acid rain

 Dependent Variable:

The oxygen production of the primrose

Materials:

1. 6 Primrose Plants

2. 420 ml of Acid pH 3

3. 420 ml Acid pH 4

4. Oxygen probe

5. 1 Syringe

6. 6 stoppers

7. 420 ml Tap water

8. Goggles

9. Apron

10. Duck tape

11. 6 Plastic containers

Procedure:

1. Remove the flowers off of three of the primrose plants

2. Put the primrose plants with flowers in three separate plastic container

3. Put the primroses with no flowers in three separate containers

4. Tape every container shut and stick the stoppers in the hole

5. Put 35 ml of tap water into the syringe

6. Quickly take the stopper out the container with the primrose without flowers

7. Stick the syringe into the hole in the container

8. Squeeze out the tap water into the soil of the primrose

9. Quickly take the syringe out the container, and then put the stopper back in it

10. Put 35 ml of tap water into the same syringe

11. Quickly take the stopper out the container with the primroses with flowers

12. Stick the syringe in the hole in the container

13. Squeeze the tap water out into the soil of the primrose

14. Take the syringe out and put the stopper back in the container

15. Take one of the containers with a primrose with no flowers

16. Put 35 ml of acid rain with a pH of 4 in a different syringe

17. Quickly take the stopper out the container

18. Squeeze the acid rain into the soil of the primrose

19. Take the syringe out of the container and put the stopper back in

20. Get the container of primroses with flowers

21. Put 35 ml of acid rain with a pH of 4 in a different syringe

22. Take the stopper out the container

23. Squeeze the acid rain out into the soil of the primrose

24. Quickly take the syringe out of the container and put the stopper back in

25. Repeat steps 15-24 exactly but water the primroses with acid rain that has a pH 3of 3 instead of 4

26. Take a picture of the setup

27. The next day test the oxygen production using an oxygen probe

28. Stick the oxygen probe into the hole in the container

29.  Open data studio

30. Calibrate the oxygen probe

31. Wait three minutes while the data is collected

32. Remove the probe from the container and put the stopper back into the whole

33. Repeat for each container

  

Observations

            Throughout the entire experiment the primroses with and without flowers watered with tap water pH 7 survived. The flower petals stayed bright pink and flawless, the leaves were green and each day 2 to 3 small new buds started forming underneath the leaves near the stems. The primroses without flowers watered with acid rain grew new flowers after two days into the experiment.  The flowers lasted for two more days after that they then started molding. They stated turning completely brown with only small traces of pink. Before they were completely destroyed the flower petals became a really light pink, slightly white and translucent. There were four brown flowers that had white fuzz forming on the center. The sepals of each flower started to wilt and fall over; they were also starting to turn brown and contained a small layer of green and brown mold on each of them. The leaves are mostly green but two of them had about half of the leaf moist and brown and yellow. They then wilted and started seeping into the leaves. The reactions to acid that had occurred were consistent with all the primroses that were watered with acid. There physical appearances were similar. The leaves had browned around the edges; holes were forming through them, they were slightly webbed and only a little bit of leaves left. The primroses with flowers watered with acid rain started falling apart. The petals are brown and falling off onto the stem is tilting over and the buds that had started to form have white fuzz all over the surface.  The flowers are now formless and folding.

IV. Experimental Results

            The purpose of this experiment was to establish the effect that different pH levels of acid rain had on the oxygen production of Primroses. This would indicate the rate of photosynthesis of the plants. This experiment also focused on the influence of flowers on the primroses oxygen production. The extent of the experiment was twenty days long. Throughout the experiment twelve days of data was recorded. The purpose of this experiment was to find if different pH levels of acid rain would cause the plants to produce different amounts of oxygen. Moreover, plants with flowers would be affected by acid rain differently than those without flowers. With this in mind, the expected results would be that over time, the plants would generally deteriorate in health due to acid rain except for the plants that were watered with tap water.

            From analyzing the data it was found that plants with no flowers produced more oxygen than the plants with flowers. At pH 7 the primroses with flowers had an average oxygen production of 17.1%, while as those without flowers had an average of 20.0%. Furthermore, the primroses without flowers were found to produce less oxygen when watered with acidic water. Of the primroses with no flowers the average oxygen production at pH 7 was 20.0% while as the average at pH 3 was 17.3%. Plants with flowers produced more oxygen when watered with acidic water. When watered with pH 7, they had an average of 17.1% while at pH 3 the primrose had an average of 19.1%.  However, it was observed that flowers on these plants died or had gone bad over the experiment period. The oxygen production of the plants with dead flowers had increased after the flowers had died. This shows that the presence of flowers is a factor that affects the oxygen production of a plant.

            According to the data analyzed, the flowered primroses were found to have an opposite reaction to acid rain from the non-flowered primroses. The mean oxygen production at pH 7 was 17.1%, pH 4 was 18.3%, and at pH 3 it was 19.1% while as that of the non-flowering plants was 20.0% at pH 7, 18.2% at pH 4 and 17.3% at pH 3. The primroses with flowers watered with pH 7 during the beginning of the experiment started out producing nearly the same amount of oxygen as the primroses with acid. The primrose with pH 7 oxygen productions was 18.9, pH 4 was 19.1, and pH 3 was 19.3. During the majority of the experiment the lower the pH of acid the more oxygen was produced. This continued until the final four days of the experiment. The primroses with no flowers oxygen production of the plants started out fairly close to each other. Though throughout the experiment it became opposite to the primroses with flowers, the higher the pH the more oxygen produced. During the last four days of this experiment this pattern changed as well.

            The data indicates two different reactions to the acid rain, which was determined by the presence of flowers or the absence of flowers on a plant. There was a direct correlation between acid rain and the level of oxygen production in flowering plants but an inverse correlation between acid rain and the oxygen production in non-flowering primroses. The data shows that when the primroses were watered with more acidic water, the flowering plants produced more oxygen.  However, the primroses with no flowers produced less oxygen.

V. Conclusion

            These results show contrasting effects of acid rain on plants based on the presence or the absence of flowers. Photosynthesis is affected by many other factors such as light, and carbon dioxide. My hypothesis may have had an insufficient amount of data to support it. The data would have been more comprehensive if this experiment was longer and had more plants to test and a winder range of pH levels. Since non-flowering plants produced more oxygen than flowering plants even at pH 7 it shows that the presence of flowers affected the level of oxygen measured and this could have caused the data to be inconsistent.

            Though the appearance of the plants watered with acidic water was inferior to the plants watered with tap water, in the case of flowering plants, the acid rain enhanced the oxygen production of the primroses. This indicates that acidic rain improved the photosynthesis of the flowering plants but it was not beneficial to the actual flowers as the flowers wilted. From this it can be concluded that the oxygen production level may not have been the right variable to choose to measure the effect of acid rain on plants. It is also possible that if the oxygen production was going to be measured it may have been better if a different tool was used for this experiment. 

            This experiment may have also been affected by the days that data was not collected and the primroses plants were not watered due to snow days and weekends. It is evident that acid rain has negative effects on flowers since all flowers wilted when the plants were watered with acidic water. The results discovered during this experiment shows that acid rain can negatively impact our environment by destroying the flowers, which in turn causes less pollination resulting in poor food production. This would also affect the food pyramid as different species of insects rely on flowers for food. It proves that fossil fuels and pollution do affect plant life. From this study, it may be concluded that acid rain is not beneficial to the environment and its causes must be prevented.

Finishing my Lab report

Last night I finished my whole lab report but today I have just been looking over it and editing. In class i have been comparing it to the rubric to make sure I have included all the details. I want to make sure that it is complete before I turn it in later tonight. I plan to go to Ms. Minn during IL or CWP so she can read over my conclusion. I worked on my analysis yesterday to make it perfect and I edited it with Savannah we read each others lab reports. I have had a peer review for both my conclusion and analysis.

Data Analysis

Today I have been trying to work on my data analysis. It's really hard for me and frustrating because I don't know how to explain everything that has happened in my experiment, and I don't think I have a logical explanation for all the data I have collected. So far I have been writing multiple paragraphs and just cutting them down more and more since they I'm not sure if they are saying what they should. I plan to go after school to get help.

The Last of my Primroses =(

The last of my primroses before I took them home or threw them out.

                              

This is my primrose with flowers watered with tap water

This is my primrose with the flowers removed watered with tap water

This is my primrose with flowers watered with pH 4

This is my primrose with flowers watered with pH 4

                                         

This is my primrose with the flowers removed watered with pH 4

                                         

This is my primrose with the flowers removed watered with pH 3

Data Analysis

Today I continued to work on my data analysis. I got to the more complicated part where I have to focus on all my data and compare it to the other data. After I did that for my first three days before there was a gap for the weekend I tried to figure out why each thing had happened during my experiment. That part was the hard part, I was sort of getting frustrated because the drops and rising in my data had happened after either a long weekend or one of the snow days. I feel like if I repeat that constantly in my analysis it will seem sort of like an excuse. Tomorrow I'm going to go back and try to figure out vita reasons why each thing happened not including the days we had off.

My Experiment is Over!

Today was the last day of my experiment. In class I measured the oxygen production of my primroses for the last time. I also threw out my primrose, I couldn't keep them like I had originally planned i because the ones with acid were in terrible shape and all of them had small fruit flies on there leaves and on there flowers. The ones with acid smelled awful and there petals were sticky and soggy so I had to throw them out quickly. I then cleaned my containers took off the blue tape and put my containers away. I'm sort of sad that my experiments done, it's going to be weird not going to the lab everyday after school and watering my primroses. =(

Finishing up my Table

So tonight I made sure my graph was perfect I had everyone in my family look at it to see if they found any mistakes. I edited the title so that it actually described my data, I added the pH of tap water to both of the columns. I took all the percents off of the data, so it is now just at the top part. I deleted the empty spaces under March 5 so that my graph looked complete, though this week I'll continue to take data and add onto my graph. But here is my graph so far.

What I did today

Today I mostly worked on my table and graph. I tried to redo my graph on excel like Ms. Z had said to try. Since my graph has two rows on top, with six more rows under it couldn't format correctly in excel. So I'm just going to print it out form word and make a simpler version in excel. I also worked on making my title more descriptive since it was to simple and didn't say my independent variable. I also started to organize my observations. I also tried to edit my hypothesis since it was week. I started moving the things from my experimental design to my lab report, like my hypothesis, materials and procedure. So after I come back from spring break it will be almost done.

My Graph So Far

Today since we didn't have class I went during Independent Learning and after school to collect data and to take observations. When I went to the workshop yesterday my graph didn't come out right all the points went down to 0. Ms. Z wasn't able to help me individually since there were so many students there, ad she had to show everyone the basic steps to making a general graph on excel. I went to her after school and she tried to help me figure out why my graph wasn't turning out correctly it had to do with my table. So tonight I re-did my table in excel before I made the graph again and it worked! So I made my graph today. This one is just a ruff draft I'm still editing it, ill make it perfect by Wednesday but so far heres what I have.

The Primrose Physically

The primroses with acid rain physically are doing horrible, the flowers are all brown and some of them have become formless. Most of the leaves are soggy, falling apart, and shriveled. The ones watered with acid rain however are in great shape the, over the weekend the ones with flowers wasn't doing so well it was brown and loosing its flowers but now its finally recovering and going back to its original state. The primrose that I removed the flowers from is doing well it has grown back all its flowers also.

                                                 Primrose watered with tap water with flowers

After the long weekend there brown and brittle and there is only a little pink left on each flower.

They started to recover and only have two flowers now with brown the others are healthy again but have a tiny bit of brown around the edges of them,

Today thy are almost fully recovered the petals are no longer brown but around the tips there still limp.

The primroses with and without flowers that were watered with pH for are all brown and have white fuzz coating them, they are drooping and really week. They did well over the long weekend but since I watered them with acid rain they have been crippling.

These primroses are shriveled and the flowers that had started to grow back all died or became mush. The leaves are dropping and the acid is eating through them and making holes all over.

The primroses watered with tap water that I removed the flowers from have all grown back now there are 7 flowers and 5 mall buds that are blooming under the leaves. 

What I did today

Today in class I measured the oxygen production of my primroses.  I now have seven days of data due to the snow days but I think by the end of the week I will have enough to start graphing. I think that I'm getting good results the primroses watered with acid rain physically are in terrible shape but the acid rain hasn't seemed to change the oxygen production quite as much as I had expected. Today after school I watered my primroses. On the primrose without flowers watered with pH 3 some the acid rain went to the bottom of the container instead of going to the soil, so I pretty sure it got a little less acid then the other. Over all I think that my experiment is gong well so far.

Today in Class

I was very scared when I came into class today I thought that my primroses would be dead and I would have to start over but they weren't. They weren't in the best shape but they were still living. I got good results from the primroses with flowers. The primrose watered with tap water has two flowers that are half brown and half pink, four flowers that are completely brown and the petals are soggy and falling down. There is one flower that looks like it’s recovering. The leaves are all green except for one that has brown on the center and is wilted. The primrose watered with pH 4 flowers are dark brown and formless with, they all look soggy and are falling apart. There are three leaves that are green but one of the leaves is decomposing and has four wholes in the dark brown area in the center. Some pieces of a leaf fell of and are lying on the soil brown and mushy. All the buds that had starting blooming now are brown and bending over. The primrose watered with pH 3 has one flower petal that is a really light pink, slightly white and translucent. There are four brown flowers that have white fuzz forming on the center. There are also our sepals that are wilted and falling over, one bud is forming and has a small pink flower coming out of it. The leaves are mostly green but two of tem have about half of the leaf moist and brown and yellow.

Starting Over

I think after the four day weekend that my primroses will be dead. =( So just incase I went out today with my mom to get new primroses. Its much easier to get them on the weekend then during the week. I might have to start my experiment over when we get back to school on monday just to be safe I wanted to be prepared. I wonder if since this was a long weekend we might get another few days to do our experiment I really hope so. Good luck to my primroses at school!

My Primroses are doomed=(

I don't think my primroses are going to last this four day weekend, they most likely will die. My mom and I are going to school today to see if anyone is there and can let us into the science room so i can water my primroses. If they don't die from lack of water then there going to freeze I wish I had taken them home on wednesday but I had figured we wouldn't have a snowday until today. Lets hope that I can get into school. If not I'll have to start all over again because my primroses are doomed if they stay there. My experiment is going so well already. =(

Data Feb 23

Today the oxygen production of the primroses with flowers watered with tap water is 18.2% that is about 3% more then before. The oxygen production of the primroses with flowers watered with acid rain pH 4 was 20.3% which is 2% less. The oxygen production of the primroses with flowers watered with acid rain pH 3 is 21.2% 1 less then before. The oxygen production of the primroses with flowers that were removed was watered with tap water 21.9%. The oxygen production of the primroses with flowers that were removed watered with pH 4 was 19.9% almost 2% less. The oxygen production of the primroses with flowers that were removed watered with acid rain pH 3 was 16.5% about 3% less.

Today in Class

Today in class I took data for my primrose but mostly I wrote observations instead of adding all my observations to the blog every day I have been writing them on a separate word document so today I'm going to write my observations from today.

Primroses with flowers

The primroses watered with tap water flowers are mostly normal and pink, but there are two with half the petals wilted, brown an soggy, and one with one petal all brown yellow. The leaves are all still green and aren’t tattered but the ones that were yellow when I bought it are brown at the top and are crinkled. The Primroses watered with pH 4 are in bad shape. All the flowers are brown and have only a little bit of pink left over on them. There is white fuzz on three of the petals. Surprisingly the leaves are ok considering the flowers are nearly dead. They are all green except for a bit of brown at the edge of two of the leaves. The primroses watered with pH 3 are doing much better then the primroses with pH 4. 5 of the flowers are still pink one of them is now sort of light purple and then one of them are all brown and drooping.

 Primroses with Removed Flowers

The primroses watered with tap water are doing really well the leaves are green and aren’t brittle or breaking. There are three full-grown flowers, two that are blooming, there are 5 little tiny buds that are still sealed shut, and two big tall buds that are beginning to open. The primroses with acid rain pH 4 have 3 flowers that are orange and slightly red. There are 4 sepals that flowers haven’t grown back into, on of them is brown and soggy in one section; one of them is growing white fuzz. Two of the leaves are brown and dark brown on the top of the edges, and another leave is splitting and has wholes in it. The one watered with pH 3 all the flowers that were here yesterday are all wilted and brown they are flopped over, limped and shriveled. The petals are really soggy and mushy. One flower is completely brown and it has white fuzz all up the top of the stem and on the petals. This primrose has tree tiny buds under all the leaves.

Data Feb 22

The oxygen production of the primrose with flowers watered with tap water was 15.6% it went down 1.1%. But since it was after the weekend and it hadn't had water in a few days it makes sense. The oxygen production of the primrose with flowers watered with pH 4 was 22.4%, it almost went up 5%. Since it was over the weekend and it had no acid rain it did a lot better. The oxygen production of the primrose with flowers watered with pH 3 went up also, it was 22.8% so it went up about 4%. The oxygen production of the primroses without flowers watered with tap water did well over the weekend, it was 22.8% also. so it went up almost 5%. The oxygen production of the primroses without flowers watered with pH 4 went up to 21.4% which is about 4%. The oxygen production of the primroses without flowers watered with pH 3 also went up, it is now 19.3%. Every single primrose with acid oxygen production went up over the weekend.

Data Feb 19

Friday I took my second day of data for my experiment. The oxygen production of primroses with flowers watered with tap water was 16.7%. This plant went down 2.2% from yesterday. The oxygen production of primroses with flowers watered with acid rain pH 4 was 17.8%. This primrose went down 1.3% in from yesterday. The oxygen production of primroses with flowers watered with acid rain pH 3 was 18.1%. This primrose went down  1.2 %. The oxygen production of the primrose with out flowers watered with tap water was 17.7%. The oxygen production of the primrose with out flowers watered with acid rain pH 4 was 17.1. The oxygen production of the primrose with out flowers watered with acid rain pH 3 was 17.4. All of the primroses without flowers had a percentage i the 17's. They all went down about 2%.

My Experimental Setup

These are pictures of my experimental setup. All the primroses are in there containers sealed shut and plugged up with the stopper. I also included two of my primrose, on of the primrose with flowers and the other without flowers.

This is a primrose that still has the flowers

This is a primrose that I removed the flower from

This is my entire set up, each primrose is sealed in there containers. This was right before I started testing my actual experiment.

First day of Collecting Data =)

Today we didn't have class but I came in during recess to check on my little babies and they were alive yeah. After school today I went to the lab right after homeroom and collected data for the first time. I thought it was fun using the oxygen probe but my data was a little bit unusual. The primrose with no flowers watered with tap water had 19.7% concentration, the primrose with flowers watered with tap water has 18.9% concentration. So for my first set of primroses the oxygen production was less for the primrose with flowers because flowers take up more energy to maintain. The Primrose with no flower watered with acid rain pH 4 had a 19.2% concentration. The Primrose with flowers watered with acid rain pH 4 had a 19.1%. So this set wasn't much less then the primrose watered with tap water but its still early in the experiment so maybe the acid rain just hasn't been fully absorbed by the primroses yet. The Primrose with no flower watered with acid rain pH 3 had a 19.3% concentrate. The Primrose with flowers watered with acid rain pH 3 had a 19.0% concentrate. This set was still not that much lower but as I add acid rain I know the oxygen production will eventually decrease.

Blog Check #2

Sophia,
You've been posting consistently, keeping all of your trials and tribulations of being a "primrose-mom" on your blog.  I'm glad you finally started putting acid on them today!
Grade:  5/5

The Start of My Experiment

Today in class I started my experiment! I was so happy I didn't actually get to water my primroses with the acid rain and tap water but I got to number ten on my procedure. So I threw out my poor dead primroses today and put out my new ones before I started. In class when there was only about ten minutes left I didn't want to start watering my primrose because I would only be able to water about two of them before I would have to leave to go to my next class and I didn't want some primroses to have there acid rain or tap water before the others. I did get to remove the flowers off of half of my primroses, seal them in the containers, I just taped my containers up really tight, labeled the ones with and without flowers and wrote the pH on the top. So then I came at three right after school to start watering them. I then put on my super cool pink googles, and apron. Dr. Wright gave me acid rain with a pH of 3 and 4 which I put right next to my container. I watered my primroses with it for the first time. Tomorrow during class I will take my data for the first time, pretty exciting right?

Third Times the Charm

Today was a rough day, when I came into the class room this morning during recess my primroses were all dead. The leaves were green but the flowers were all dried up the six day weekend was hard for my poor primroses if I tried I could probably get them back to health but I need to start my experiment or I will fall so far behind. So tonight I kind of ran my Mom around with me looking for new primroses. I went to the metropolitan plant and flower exchange and they hadn't been there all weekend also because of the snow and because primroses are so delicate the primroses at the Metropolitan plant and flower exchange were all dead and dried also. So I went to the West Orange Shop Rite and they had only three primroses and they were all different sizes. We then went to the Shop Rite in Livingston and they had the primrose there they had three primroses that were pink which I bought and then I bought red ones also which I plan on taking the flowers off of for my experiment. No that I have living primroses and I am all ready to start my experiment. I'll wish for the best and hope that this set of primroses won't die like the other two sets I had purchased. But third times the charm.

Start from Scratch

This morning when I came into the lab to see if over the weekend my primrose plants had recovered they were all dead. The flowers were dried up and shriveled I was so upset. So tonight my Dad took me to the Metropolitan Plant and Flower exchange and they ran out of primroses, they only two left! The lady said that we should try to look in the plant section at shop rite so we went there next and they didn't have any primroses. I have no idea what I am going to do I can't do my experiment without them and I have to start it soon. It is really frustrating running around looking for these plants, and I don't know where else I can buy them. I guess I just have to start from scratch in my search for my primroses. =(

My Poor Primroses =(

Today when I came into the classroom my primrose plants were all soggy, mushy there green, yellow and not pink anymore. I talked to Ms. Weissman and she said that I put too much water in my primroses, she said that there summer plants that can survive without a lot of water. I also have to keep in mind that the primrose plants are all in closes containers so the moister is locked in and goes back into the plants and circulates around the container. I really want to get new primroses but I'll see if they can recover over the weekend, and I'll check them on monday morning. If there not better I'm going to go back tho the Metropolitan plant and Flower Exchange and get new primrose plants.

The primrose plant that has to much moisture and soggy

Editing My Experimental Design

Today I'm going to start my experiment right after I finnish editing my experimental design. I also learned how to use and oxygen probe, and I read all the criteria for data studio. Tonight I am going to finnish editing my experimental design. I already fixed my hypothesis, it didn't have my independent and dependent variables all I included was my variables. My hypothesis was also too much like a prediction, it included too much of what I thought was going to happen. I changed it from, "If you water the primrose with acid rain, it will slow down the oxygen production of the primrose." No my hypothesis is, "If the primrose plants are watered with different pH levels of acid, then it will change the oxygen production of the primrose plant." I also Made a new data table and tried to make my procedure more specific.

What I'm Doing Today

Today I went and watered all my plants, I don't want them to dye even before I start my experiment. I was really grossed out when I found a bunch of little fruit flies in my primrose they must have been attracted to my flowers but I really hate bugs. Tonight I worked on editing my experimental design. I'm trying to find ways to improve my hypothesis but I'm not quite sure where to start. Also I didn't know I had to include an empty data table in my design so I am also making that now.

Today in class

Today in class I set up my whole project. I went to the janitor and they drilled wholes in all six of my containers. The i searched through the draw in the science room for stoppers for each container. I put my primroses in the containers and put the lid on. I put blue tape on all the containers and wrote my name on them. I then took out the stopper and stuck the syringe into the whole, to make sure that it would fit in the whole and I would be able to water my primroses. When I get back my experimental design and edit it, I will be all ready to start my experiment.

Yesterday

Yesterday I couldn't blog because my laptop was at the apple store getting my battery fixed. Yesterday I went on a wild goose chase for all my materials. I went to the Metropolitan Plant and Flower Exchange I had a huge problem, my primroses didn't fit in the twizzler containers I had bought. I went to lows to find containers like Laynie said to, there were no containers that were the write sizes, I then went to Target, Walmart, Home depot, and Staples. My parents were ready to kill me for all the running around we had to do so we went to Shop Rite and bought 6 plastic pretzel containers so now I have a years worth or pretzels. I tried to soak each container ton get the Lutz Pretzel Sticks sticker off but it didn't really work so I only did it to two of them. I then put the primroses in a Staples box and put all the pretzels in zip lock bags.

Experimental Design First draft

Last night I completely finished my experimental design first draft. So this morning I put my first draft up on turnitin.com. 

Experimental Design

Purpose: What is the affect of acid rain on the photosynthesis rate of primroses?

Hypothesis: If you water the primrose with acid then it will slow down the oxygen production of the primrose.

Materials:

1. 6 Primroses

2. Acid rain

3. 6 Plastic containers

4. Oxygen probe

5. 2 Syringes

6. 6 stopper

7. Plain water

8. Goggles

9. Apron

Independent Variables:

The ph level of the acid rain

Dependent Variable:

The oxygen production of the primrose

Procedure:

1. Remove the flowers off of three of the primroses

2. Put the primroses with flowers in three separate plastic container

3. Put the primroses with no flowers in three separate containers

4. Tape every container shut and stick the stoppers in the hole

5. Put 100 ml of plain water into the syringe

6. Quickly take the stopper out the container with the primrose without flowers

7. Stick the syringe into the hole in the container

8. Squeeze out the water into the soil of the primrose

9. Quickly take the syringe out the container, and then put the stopper back in it

10. Put 100 ml of water into the same syringe

11. Quickly take the stopper out the container with the primroses with flowers

12. Stick the syringe in the hole in the container

13. Squeeze the water out into the soil of the primrose

14. Take the syringe out and put the stopper back in the container

15. Take one of the containers with a primrose with no flowers

16. Put 100 ml of acid rain with a pH of 4 in a different syringe

17. Quickly take the stopper out the container

18. Squeeze the acid rain into the soil of the primrose

19. Take the syringe out of the container and put the stopper back in

20. Get the container of primroses with flowers

21. Put 100 ml of acid rain with a pH of 4 in a different syringe

22. Take the stopper out the container

23. Squeeze the acid rain out into the soil of the primrose

24. Quickly take the syringe out of the container and put the stopper back in

25. Repeat steps 15-24 exactly but water the primroses with acid rain that has a pH of 3 instead of 4

26. Take a picture of the setup

27. After 24 hours test the oxygen production using a oxygen probe

28. Stick the oxygen probe into the hole in the container

29. Remove the oxygen probe from the container after it collects the data

30. Stick the oxygen probe into the computer and open data studio

31. Repeat everyday for 2 weeks

Getting Everything I need

Today I am going to finnish writing my experimental design. After school I'm going to go tho the super market and get plastic containers to keep my primroses in. I am also going to the Metropolitan Plant and flower exchange to pick up my primroses. I'm going to get 6 primroses and then 6 containers then Ms. Minn is going to make me acid rain. I am planning on starting my experiment as soon as i can.

Blog Check #1

Sophia,
You've done a very nice job posting consistently on what you've worked on and your draft of research paper.
Grade 5/5

Research Paper First Draft

Research Paper

            In my experiment I’m going to test the affect acid rain has on the photosynthesis rate of primroses. I’m also going to see if acid rains affect on the primroses change if I test it with and without flowers. Primroses and acid rain are both important. Acid rain is one of the many different water pollutants that are destroying our environment. Acid rain is very harmful and dangerous and is killing off many plants in different ecosystems. Flowering plants like the primrose affect so many insects. Primroses are a flowering plant that many insects and some birds need to survive. They all need their nectar from the flower, and they take the pollen and spread it. My independent variable is the ph level of the acid rain. My dependent variable is the oxygen produced by the primrose. Acid rain and primroses are related because if acid rain destroys all of the flowering plants then the whole food chain will be jumbled. Primroses and acid rain are related

             Acid rain weakens many different plants in our environment. It can completely ruin the plants photosynthesis, slowing it down until it stops and the plant eventually dies. Acid rain is made up of pollutants from our atmosphere; it’s made up of different gases and pollutants gathered up in the air. The gases released from the factories, and from vehicles, and they get absorbed by the rain clouds, then mix with the precipitation, and form acid rain. Some of the acidic gasses in acid rain are sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone. (Think Quest, 2002). Acid rain is all from things that humans do, industrial buildings and factories that are giving off fuels or waist, and car exhaust. Acid rain is not only in big cities and urban areas it can also be in rural areas, the pollutants can go really high into the atmosphere by the wind mix with the rain clouds before it rains down. Everything in acid rain destroys vegetation and ecosystems (Water Science For Schools, n.d.). Acid rain is measured on a pH scale; there are different ph levels of acid rain. The lower the ph level the more acidic the rain is. The level of acidity is measured on a pH scale, the lower it is the more acidic. Pure water is pH=7 anything lower is considered acid. Acid rain is harmful to many species of plants; it stops the nutrients from getting to the plant. (Ophardt, 2003)

            The primrose flower is a quaint flowering plant. Primroses are in the primula family. The primula family has over five hundred different kind of plants, a small portion of them flowering. Primroses are mostly found in Europe. Primroses can grow in many different environments; they grow wild, in gardens and in greenhouses. In flowering plants photosynthesis occurs, so primroses still take out carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen for us to breath. (Encyclopedia Britannica 2010) Pollination is important to our environment, so flowering plant need to be preserved also. Insects take the nectar from the flowers then pollinate the flower. Some bugs like bees turn the nectar into honey for us to eat. Flowers are nutritious for birds and bugs, it’s there food source. Flowering plants benefit our environment in different ways than other non flowering plants can. Insects can only get their food from a flowering plant (The Pollinator Partnership, n.d.). Without flowers many ecosystems would completely fail. Plants with flowers have a different group of wildlife that they affect; that non flowering plants do nothing for. Without flowers bugs like bees, butterflies, or moths that need nectar from the flowers to survive will all die off.

            Acid rain is a threat to our environment and the different wildlife in each ecosystem. It’s made up of gathered pollutants from factories or car exhaust; they all go into the atmosphere and mix together with the rain clouds. The acidity of acid rain is measured by its pH. The lower the acid rain is on the pH scale the more acidic it is. Acid rain slows down the photosynthesis rate of the plant until it eventually dies. Acid rain is not only in city’s it’s brought by the wind in the atmosphere into rural areas also. This dangerous pollutant affects all sorts of different environments. Acid rain is really dangerous and harmful to different organisms such as the primrose (Water Science For Schools, n.d.)

            Primroses are small flowering plants. They are members of the primula family. Primroses are common flowers, there mostly found in Europe. Primroses can be grown in different habitats; they can be grown in a garden, in the wild, or in a greenhouse (Encyclopedia Britannica 2010). Photosynthesis occur in primroses like any other plant, but a flowering plant like the primrose has different advantages that don’t occur with non flowering plants. In flowering plants pollination can occur. Flowering plants are a food source for insects that need nectar to survive and some small birds like the hummingbird. Flowering plants provide nutrients to bugs and bird by depositing pollen. Pollination is very important to the environment and without flowers pollination can’t take place (Plant Guide, 2004).

            In my experiment I’m going to find out how much acid rain both a flowering plant and a non flowering plant can have until its photosynthesis stops working. I’m going to figure out what affects acid rain will have on the photosynthesis rate of the primroses over time.  I’m also going to see how removing the flowers off of half of the primrose I’ll be testing will affect the oxygen production. I’m going to have 6 primroses in three different sets of one flowering and one non-flowering. One set of primroses with flowers watered with normal water and primroses with no flowers watered with normal water. Another set of primroses with flowers watered with acid rain and a primrose with no flowers watered with acid rain. This set of primroses acid rain will have a ph level of 4. The last set will have primroses with flowers watered with acid rain and a primrose with no flowers watered with acid rain. The ph level of its acid rain will be 3. Testing primroses with and without flowers will test if the flowers affect the photosynthesis rate. Each primrose will get 150 ml per day of the type of water. I’m going to put each primrose in a closed container, and then I will measure the amount of oxygen in the container using an oxygen probe to determine the photosynthesis rate. Every day I’ll take pictures and write observations.

            The importance of the investigation I’m going to do is since acid rain is killing off so many flowering plants, I’m going to show how long the flowering plants will last before they die. Acid rain affects many plants; the primrose is representing the whole plant family. When the plant absorbs the acid rain it’s taking in different gases. When the flowers take in toxins and they die, birds, bees, beetles, and moths all loose their food source. Then the small animals that ate the birds or bugs don’t have any food. Then in the end the whole food cycle will be at a loss. We need to preserve the flowering plants because pollination is very important for our environment, and you can’t get it unless you have a flowering plant. Flowers are the starting point for a whole different cycle. Without flowers bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds would have no other way of getting food, they cant get pollen from a plain green non flowering plant they need a flowering one so they can get the nectar. Acid rains effect on the primrose is important to Global Environmental Agency because flowering plants are a huge part of our environment. I’m going to show how dangerous the acid rain is to the flowering plants, how it completely destroys its photosynthesis. The water that flowering plants are absorbing contains different water pollutants, like car exhaust or factory or industrial gases. When acid rain kills the flowering plants it’s destroying the food source for beetles, moths, butterflies, and bees, which then gets rid of food for small animals that we eat. Loss of all these resources might result in a food shortage for everyone.  In the end it’s reducing the amount of oxygen production that is going into the air.

Finishing up the Paper

Today I worked almost all day in just finishing the research paper. I have the required amount of words, in text citations and it meets all the criteria. My paper is ready to be turned in on monday, I read over it so many times. I'm so happy I'm finally done with it I was stressed out earlier this week now I'm grateful I'm done with the first draft. =)

Things I need

I have been researching things I will need for the project. I have to distinguish the things I will provide and the things that Ms. Minn will have to get for me. I am going to get the primroses from Metropolitan Plant and Flower Exchange and the peanut containers I'm going to get from the supermarket.

 -Acid rain (Ms. Minn gets)
-Primroses (I get)
-Plastic peanut containers (i get)
-Oxygen probe (Ms. Minn gets)
-Stopper (Ms. Minn gets)

Working on my Research Paper

Tonight I wrote about the importance of my investigation, the last paragraph. I said how my experiment would be important for GEA, and he relationship between primroses and acid rain i said how acid rain and the primrose are related because when acid rain gets into the primrose and destroys their photosynthesis it eventually kills them. Acid rain affects many plants; the primrose is representing the whole plant family. When the plant absorbs the acid rain it’s taking in different gasses. When the flowers take in toxins and they die, insects and birds loose their food source. Then the small animals that ate the birds or bugs don’t have any food. Then in the end the whole food cycle will be at a loss. We need to preserve the flowering plants because pollination is important for our environment. and you can’t get it unless you have a flowering plant. Flowers are the starting point for a whole different cycle. Without flowers bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds would have no other way of getting food, they cant get pollen from a plain green plant they need a nice flowering one. Acid rains effect on the primrose is important to GEA because plants are a huge part of our environment. The water that our environment absorbs is different water pollution like highway runoff or factory gases. When acid rain kills the flowering plants it’s reducing the amount of oxygen in the air.

Today in class

I'm really upset now and confused I don't know what to write for some parts of the research paper. I thought I was almost don't and now I have to re-right a part of it and it is really frustrating. In class I continued to research acid rain and primroses because I didn't have enough words that fit the requirements about them. It's hard to find out a lot about primrose because the websites i've found all have the same information. I also worked on adding all the sources I have so far to my bibliography.

References

Acid Rain. (n.d.). Young People’s Trust for the Environment. Retrieved from http://www.ypte.org.uk/‌environmental/‌acid-rain/‌1

Acid Rain. (2002). Think Quest. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from Environmental Issues Novi Meadows Elementary website: http://library.thinkquest.org/‌CR0215471/‌acid_rain.htm

Acid Rain: Do you need to start wearing a rainhat? (n.d.). Water Science for Schools. Retrieved January 13, 2010, from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/‌edu/‌acidrain.html

Primrose. (2010). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved January 8, 2010, from http://www.britannica.com/‌EBchecked/‌topic/‌476569/‌primrose

Primrose Flower. (2004). Plant Guide. Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.plantguide.org/‌primrose.html

Today in class

Today I had to fix the paragraphs in my research paper that is a summery of my variables and proposed research. I was a little bit frustrated because I spent a lot of time over the weekend working on it and now I have to start those two paragraphs over again. I also go over everything and add in text citations for the entire essay. I have to look over the sheet because I'm not sure if we have to do them the same way we did earlier in the year in history.

Final Touches

Today I mostly just finished editing the proposal I plan on putting it on turn it in tomorrow. I added a better argument on why a flower is better then a no flowering plant. I double checked that everything fit the criteria given in the packet. I then read it over. I also today worked on my research paper I'm really nervous. I have no idea how I'm going to write so much about primroses and acid rain. I feel like if I write as much that is required I'll just be repeating myself over and over again.

Editing My Application

Today I was trying to finnish editing my application so I can put it on turnitin.com by tomorrow. I have to work on my hypothesis more, make it clearer how I'm going to measure the photosynthesis rate, make a make a more convincing argument on why I should use a flowering plant for my experiment. I also have to figure out if the flowers on the primrose will affect the photosynthesis rate. I have to make my variables more specific.

Research Paper

Today I tried to start writing my research paper. I hit a wall while trying to come up with ideas. I could think of how I was going to write that much about primroses and acid rain. So tonight i just wrote the introduction which tomorrow i'll probably just get rid of, because it was basically just jumbled thoughts in sentences. I'll attempt the paper again tomorrow for now I'm just going to get my intro and ideas down.

Proposal

Today I finished my intern application. It took me nearly all weekend to write and but tonight i checked it over a million times and I'm ready to turn it in. I'll probably still add a few finishing touches after I show it to Ms. Minn tomorrow in class. Here are the questions

B.  Please describe of the topic you wish to study.  Include a complete description of the 2 variables you plan to study and how these two variables are related to one another.  You may complete this on a separate page and attach it or may use additional space.

            The topic I’m going to study is the effect acid rain has on the photosynthesis rate of primroses. The two variables I will study are primroses and acid rain. I chose primroses to represent land plants and acid rain is the different water pollutants. Acid rain is a very harmful and dangerous pollutant in our environment. Acid rain hurts many different plants. When the plant absorbs the acid rain it’s taking in more gas instead of water. This can ruin the plants photosynthesis, slowing it down until it stops and the plant dies. Acid rain is made up of different gases in the air. Gasses with acid travel from the factories through the sky and get absorbed by the rain clouds to form acid rain. Some of the acidic gasses in acid rain are sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone. There are different ph levels of acid rain, the lower the ph level the more acidic the rain is.

             The primrose flower is a small common flower. Primroses are mostly found in Europe. Primroses are in the primula family. The primula family has over five hundred different kind of plants, a small portion of them flower. Primroses grow everywhere, they grow wild, and in gardens. Why a flower? Why not a normal plant? Flowers just like any other plant has photosynthesis, so it’s still producing oxygen for us to breath. I chose the primrose partially because I like flowers and they are aesthetically pleasing. But flowers also benefit our environment in different ways then other plants can. Plants with flowers have a different group of wildlife that they affect. Without flowers bugs that need pollen to survive will die-off. Pollination is important and you can’t get it unless you have a flowering plant. Flowers are the starting point for a whole different cycle. Without flowers bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds would have no other way of getting food, they cant get pollen from a plain green plant they need a nice flowering one.

            The relationship between acid rain and the primrose is many different plants are affected by acid rain. The water that our environment absorbs is different water pollution like highway runoff or factory gases. When the flowers take in toxins and they then die insects and birds loose there food source. Then the small animals that ate the birds or bugs don’t have any food. Then in the end the whole food cycle will be at a loss.

C.  Please include your experimental question and the hypothesis you have formulated to answer the question.  Identify the independent and dependent variable.

My experimental question is will acid rain affect the photosynthesis rate of primroses? My hypothesis is if you add acid rain to primroses then it will slow down the photosynthesis rate of the primrose. My independent variable is the acid rain. My dependent variable is the primrose.

D.  Explain what you predict the results will be from your experiment.  Include a brief explanation as to why you are making this prediction.

I predict that the acid rain will slow down the photosynthesis rate of the primroses. The primrose that is watered with plain water photosynthesis rate will be quicker then the primroses being watered with the acid rain. This will result in more oxygen in the closed container of the primrose watered with plain water. I predict this because pollution and toxins that are gathered by plants aren’t a substitution for water. If the plant is getting less water with chemicals it will stutter the rate of the plants photosynthesis.

E.  Describe the experimental procedure that you think you will need to conduct to find your results. 

In my experiment I am going to find out how much acid rain the plant can have until its photosynthesis stops working. I’m am trying to figure out what affect acid rain will have on the primroses over time. I’m going to have 5 primroses. Each primrose will have a higher ph level of acid. The 1st primrose I’ll water it with plain water, the 2^nd one I’ll put ph 4, the 3^rd one ill put ph 3 in it, 4^th one ill put ph 2. Each primrose will get 150 ml of the acidic water. I’m going to put each primrose in a closed container, and then I will measure the amount of oxygen in the container using an oxygen probe. Every day I’ll take pictures and observations every day.

Acid Rain

Today before finishing writing my intern application I researched acid rain. I learned about the cycle of acid rain. It starts at the factories, goes through the air, mixes with the rain, and then falls onto the ground.

http://www.save-motherearth.com/img/acid_rain.gif

Possible Flowers

Today I went to the Metropolitan Plant and Flower exchange and went to there green house. I looked at there small flowering plants. I narrowed down all the plants I looked at to four. The four flowers i chose were the African violet, the primrose, the calandiva, and the kalanchoe. After researching each flower, I finally decided I'm going to use the primrose.

The Primrose

The African Violet

The Calandiva

The Kalanchoe

Possible Topics and Experimental Questions

Tonight I started brainstorming some topics I might like to research. I also started thinking about what I would experiment. I already know I want to have flowers in my project. So tonight I researched some flowers that grow quickly since we have three weeks for the experiment. The majority of the flowers I looked for took months to grow. I had to really search for flowers that would grow within the given time frame. I also want to use acid because it does destroy our environment and I think it will be useful to the GEA.

Possible Topics:
The affect acid rain has on impatiens
The affect of acid rain on Convolvulus
The affect acid rain has on zinnias
The affect acid rain has on cosmos
The affect acid rain has on nasturtium
The affect of acid rain on marigolds

Possible Experimental Questions:
How does acid rain affect the growth of impatiens?
How does acid rain affect the photosynthesis of impatiens?
How does acid rain affect the growth of Convolvulus?
How does acid rain affect the photosynthesis Convolvulus?
How does acid rain affect the growth of Zinnias?
How does acid rain affect the photosynthesis of Zinnias?

What are some abiotic factors or biotic factor?

Abiotic Factors:
"Factors that are not living"
temperature
atmosphere
UV rays
acid rain
water
salinity
soil content
"growing mediums"
amount of moisture in the  air
density
light exposure
weather condition
atmospheric pressure
amount of asses in the air

Biotic Factors:
"Living things, or products of living thing, relating to"
Relating to Photosynthesis
amount of oxygen produced during photosynthesis
growth rate- how do you measure it? -weight, hight something that can be measured - how green the plant is, the diameter of the stems, number, width of the leaves, glucose content
amount of carbon dioxide
population size
size of the roots (how big, how thick)
birth rate- how will you measure it?
number of eggs being produced
life span
amount of food and water needed to grow

Setting up my Blog

Today I set up my blog during class. Everyday were going to blog about our progress. I know that I want my topic to have something to do with flowers but I'm not sure how yet to incorporate it into this project.

Question for getting started:
What do I want to try to find out?
How will my topic relate to the goals of GEA?
What topic do I really want to learn well?
How will I manage my time wisely?

Questions for the Research:
Why am I interested in this topic?
What can be accomplished by choosing this topic?
What kind of resources are available?
So what? Why does the GEA care about this topic?
How can I benefit from learning this topic?
Is there a problem with X?
If so, what causes the problem? How can we fix it?
Is my topic testable?

Once you've picked an experimental question, what other questions do we need too ask?