My hypothesis is if the concentration of water in a soil sample is high, then the speed of chemical decomposition of a carrot will be greater than a soil sample with a damp environment.
2. Identify the dependent (produced), independent (manipulated) and control variables in your hypothesis.
The dependent variable is water exposure. The independent variable is the mass of the carrot. The control variables are the amount of soil in each ZipLoc bag and the size of the (5 inch) carrot.
3. What is the connection between your science fair project and your senior project EQ?
The connection between my science fair project and my senior project EQ is that my senior project EQ deals with determining the most important factor of a skeletal remain in a criminal investigation, which are most often found with soil. My science fair project will be able to describe the role of a decompose organism in nutrient recycling and their importance and relevance to physical conditions they can play on organisms. With the evidence provided from the soil in the science fair project I can associate my observations and studies to my senior project and know what the effects would be on skeletal remains since it's an essential component in a criminal investigation.
4. How will you perform the experiment? Include the equipment you plan on using.
I will be performing my experiment by testing the effects of different environmental conditions on the decomposition of an organic substance, such as a carrot. The plastic ZipLoc bags will act as decomposition chambers; one will be the experimental and the other the control chamber. Carrots will be used since they are a relatively low concentrated water content vegetable that will have the least amount of soil sticking into them and reduce the factor of error. I will be relating each bag through various temperature, water content, and concentrations of soil in order to have a large overlook of the analysis.
In my first bag I will be testing the effects of cold temperatures on decomposition, thus refrigerating the carrots and observe and analyze the effects of the mass and other details. In the second bag I will be saturating the soil with water and also study the effects. In the third bag I will be placing the bag in a sunlight exposed, dry soil bag in order to study another variation of environmental decomposition. Finally, on the fourth bag I will be having the carrot in normal room temperature without any outside factors such as heat, cold, sun exposure, or damp water. Most importantly, these week-long experimental proceedings will be compared for scientific analysis.
The equipment I plan to use includes:
- Science Journal
- Electronic balance
- 4 ZipLoc bags
- 10 pounds of potting soil
- Garden trowel
- 12 Carrots (Medium sized - 5 inches)
- Paint brushes
- Refrigerator space
- Thermometer
- 10ml of water
5. Which category will your project be listed under? (For a full list of categories, go to the iPoly Physics webpage, then to the Science Fair tab.)
My project will be listed under Chemistry since I will be analyzing organic products, in this case carrots, undergoing decomposition.
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