The Effect of Acid Rain on Plants

1. The Effect of Acid Rain on Plants Susan Base, Jessica Best, Amy Crook, and Tya Dawson

2. Materials • Soil • Digital camera - to record appearance • Rulers to record growth (height in cm) of the plants • greenhouse • 5 half flats • 180 bean seeds • Acids of varying pHs • Distilled water - to serve as a control

3. Research Questions 1. How will different concentrations of acid affect the growth and appearance of bean plants? 2. At what rate will each group of plants deteriorate? 3. What is the ideal acidity of liquid for the bean plants to thrive? 4. How does this relate to acid rain in our environment?

4. Research Questions 1.The lower the pH level the more damage caused to the plants.

5. Research Questions 2. Deterioration: the decline in the health and growth of the plants in the specified tray. Control: most successful pH-1: least successful of the acid groups Nitric: most successful of the acid groups

6. Research Questions 3. The ideal acidity would contain pH levels between 5 and 7, similar to that of water.

7. Research Questions 4. Serves as a model to acid rain to our because the higher acid concentration the less likely plants would be able to survive

8. The Five Groups of Plants

9. Control Group: Tray 1Distilled WaterBEFORE

10. Control Group: Tray 1Distilled WaterAFTER

11. pH -1 : Tray 2BEFORE

12. pH -1 : Tray 2AFTER

13. pH 1 : Tray 3BEFORE

14. pH 1 : Tray 3AFTER

15. pH 4 : Tray 4BEFORE

16. pH 4 : Tray 4AFTER

17. pH5 : Tray 5BEFORE

18. pH5 : Tray 5 AFTER

19. Descriptive Statisticsby solution

20. Bar Chart of Solution and Appearance

21. Final Appearance

22. Final Height Measurements

23. Watered/Measured on November 12th,16th,19th,22nd Solutions measured in designated squirt bottles Same person measured her designated tray. Only one person took photographs to ensure appearance accuracy We will first calculate the amount of acid to add to the distilled water to obtain the desired pH. Methods/Process

24. Hypothesis based on our process • The concentration of the acid used to water the plant will be inversely proportionate to the height of plant growth • The higher concentrations of acid will cause the leaves to turn yellow or be smaller than the leaves of the plants that have been treated with lower concentrations of acid. • The plants' rate of deterioration will depend on the concentration of the acid within water • The plants treated with the higher acidic pH levels will deteriorate more quickly than those with lower pH levels.

25. Acid Rain on a larger scale • acid rain is a huge contributing factor to the harm of ecosystems. • Acid rain is generally made up of acidic gases that have dissolved in rain- water. • Rain-water usually has a pH level of about 5 • Acid Rain usually has an average pH level of 4.4, but it can be lowered to 4 or even 3 due to the acidic gases in the environment. • These gases are generally the pollutants of energy companies and other highly polluting sources in our environment.

26. Acid Rain Prevention • SO2 emissions from power stations can be reduced • Alternative energy sources such as hydroelectric, wind, solar, and geothermal powers can be used instead of burning fossil fuels • Anything that consumes less energy overall should be used