Bubble Protocol

Title: The Effect of the Composition of Water on Absorption of Carbon Dioxide Topic Introduction: Ocean Acidification has been an on going problem since the Industrial period in the 1800s. Levels of carbon dioxide have been rising creating carbonic acid (H2CO3) in the ocean. This acid is very harmful it breaks down molecules so critters can't build their shells. Carbonic acid affects coral ref as well it is said that this may be the last decade for it. Because the acidity is destroying coral ref once it's all broken down it'll leave hundreds of organisms homeless. About one fourth of carbon dioxide has been exposed to the ocean which is then soaked up from the atmosphere where all the carbon we dispose of goes to. The fossil fuels being burned by the second is a big help to such a high carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere and if it continues like this the carbon will be so high the acidity level will double by the end of the century. Experimental Question: What will happen when the carbon dioxide (CO2) is put into water? Pre-Lab Questions: 1. What gas are you blowing into the water? The gas being put into the water would be carbon dioxide (CO2) 2. What happens to the gas when you blow it into the water? The water is absorbing the carbon dioxide so it begins to create bubbles. 3. How are you measuring change in the water during this lab? A couple of drops of universal indicator was added to the water so if the pH did change the color of the water would as well. 4. What does measuring the pH of the water tell us? Measuring the pH of the water tells us how high the acidity level is on the 1 to 13 pH scale. 5. After studying the reactions above, how do you think carbonic acid will affect the pH of salt water? Carbonic acid (H2CO3) will lower the pH to a more acidic level which would be between 1 and 6. Hypothesis: If you introduce carbon dioxide into the sea water then the acidity level will increase. Protocols: Controlled ExperimentFor this experiment you will need a group of three. Each member will be assigned individual jobs, timer, recorder, and the blower. Once the jobs have been assigned get your materials. You will need to fill a 200 mL beaker with 100mL of salt water, to that you want to add a few drops of universal indicator about 6 or 7 until you can see color, and once that is done you want to cover your beaker tightly with plastic wrap, take a straw and insert it into the beaker. From there your timer will set the clock to 2 minutes and the blower will begin to blow into the beaker at a steady pace. Everything 30 seconds you want to analyze the color change (if any) of the water in the beaker and the recorder will write down the acidity level. Experimental Experiments: A. Room Temperature tap water B. Cold salt water

C. Hot salt water A. Room Temperature tap water For this experiment all you had to do is add 100mL of tap water in a 200mL beaker and repeat the procedure done for the controlled experiment. B. Cold Salt Water Add 100mL of cold water into a 200mL beaker and let the beaker sit in a bigger beaker full of ice water for about 2 minutes and proceed to the steps done in the controlled experiment. C. Hot Salt Water Add 100mL of hot salt water into a 200mL beaker and place the beaker like the cold water into a bigger beaker, but this time have it filled with hot water. Let the 200mL beaker sit for about 2 minutes and proceed to the steps done in the controlled experiment. Variables: Constant The amount of water used for each experiment stayed constant, 100mL each time. Independent is the type of water used for each experiment. Cold saltwater, hot saltwater, room temperature water and the regular sea water. Dependent The level of pH in the water. How basic and acidic was each experiment. Data Table: Control (Saltwater) pH Color Tap Water pH Color Cold Saltwater pH Color Hot Saltwater pH Color 7.5 Greenish Yellow 7.5 Greenish Yellow 7 Greenish Yellow 6.5 Yellow 6.5 Yellow 7.5 Greenish Yellow 7.3 Greenish Yellow 6.5 Greenish Yellow 6.5 Yellow 6.5 Yellow 7.5 Greenish Yellow 6.5 Yellow 6 Yellow 6 Yellow 6 Yellow 0 seconds 7.5 Green 30 seconds 6.5 Greenish Yellow 1 minute 6.3 Greenish Yellow 1 minute 30 seconds 6.2 Greenish Yellow 2 minutes 6.15 Greenish Yellow

Graph:

Data Analysis: 1. As you blew through the straw, what were you adding to the water and how did that change the pH? Carbon dioxide was being added as the straw was being blown. The carbon dioxide distributed changed the pH by making the waters more acidic. 2. What did the universal indicator tell us about the water? The universal indicator told us the level of pH the water was. Whether it stayed basic or turned acidic. 3. What does this tell us about the effects of carbonic acid in ocean water? That the carbonic acid turns the water acidic making sea life harder for calcifying organisms. 4. Based on the results of your experimental protocol, which factor affects the pH of the water most, temperature or salt? The factor I see affected the pH the most is salt. Using just tap water the pH stayed constant from beginning to end and the hot salt water changed in pH within the first minute. Conclusion: My original hypothesis was if carbon dioxide was introduced into the sea water then the pH level of the sea water would decrease. After conducting a series of experiments involving tap water, cold sea water, hot sea water, and sea water, it was proven that carbon dioxide does effect the acidity level in water. For the data of each experiment at some point before the timer hit 2 minutes the acidity level began to drop either one unit or half a unit. If this is happening in a small experiment then imagine what's going on in the ocean. The levels of pH are decreasing creating the waters more acidic and less suitable to live in. If things continue the way the are now within a few decades sea life will start becoming extinct if it's not already. It is said that this is the last decade for coral ref which holds hundreds of fish species.

Shell Protocol
Title: The Dissolving of Shells Due to High Rate of CO2 Central Questions: How does a decrease in the pH of seawater affect the calcium carbonate shells of animals? Overview of Experiment: For most sea organisms many of them have shells that use calcium carbonate (CaCo3) in order to construct their protection. When acidity levels rise the carbon dioxide have a reaction to begin dissolving calcium carbon making it extremely difficult for calcifying organisms to create their shells. Without their shells they're defenseless and open for attack. Student Pre lab Questions: 1. How do organisms make their shells? What are shells made of? Organisms make their shells by combining calcium and carbon making calcium carbonate to create their shells. Calcifying organism's shells are made of calcium and carbon. 2. What do you expect to happen to the shell in an acidic solution such as vinegar? I expect the shells to dissolve a lot faster than it would if it were in the sea. Since vinegar is a very acidic acid with a pH of about 2 to 3 it will break down the shell a lot faster. 3. What are sources of carbon dioxide and which of these sources are most likely to affect ocean pH? Carbon dioxide when it's released rises up to the atmosphere it is later absorbed from the atmosphere straight to the ocean. So a couple of sources that help create carbon dioxide is one exhaling, each time we exhale we let out carbon dioxide hence the reason why we blew into a straw for the Bubble Protocol Lab. And two (in my opinion the biggest reason) is the burning of fossil fuels. Everyday we burn tons and tons of fossil fuels which rise up to the atmosphere. Because the amount is so high the species haven't been able to adjust creating this situation very dangerous for sea life. Hypothesis: If a shell is placed in vinegar then it will deteriorate faster than a shell placed in just sea water. Protocol: For this experiment they're will be two different types of experiments done. A controlled experiment and an experimental. Before you begin you want to weigh your shells and set up your equipment. With weighing simple place both shells on the scale and record their weight. For the equipment start with two beakers one with 150mL of vinegar and the other with 150mL of salt water and make sure you have a timer. Once you have that done you should have 2 untreated shells and 2 treated shells in a bag (you'll know which ones have been treated because they are labeled high and low). With the untreated shells label one with an E for experimental and the other with a C for control your controlled experiment is the beaker filled with salt water and your experimental is the breaker filled with vinegar. Once you have your materials set up you want to place the control shell into it's beaker and the experimental shell with it's beaker let them sit there for 20 minutes observing them at the start and 5 minutes before the time is completely over. Between observing your shells there should be 2 more shells in your bag that have already been treated. Observe them and write down what you see make sure you weigh them as well. Once your 20 minutes are up carefully take out your shells, dry them off, weigh them again and observe. Make sure you record your weight and observations.

Data: Shells Lab Control (sea water)

Observations Before: -not much activity -very little to no bubbling After: -ring of foam bubbles rising -the water is turning a yellowish color - the shell felt the same maybe a tad bit more brittle, but not much Before: -bubbling around the ring of the beaker -a lot of bubbling After: -water is turning yellowish -small bubbles bubbling at the bottom - the shell felt fragile - the outer shell is peeling - it feels very brittle -there is no black along the edges - minimal peeling - feels a bit fragile

Initial Mass (g) 4.2 g

Final Mass (g) 4.2 g

Difference (g) 0g

Experimental (vinegar)

4.3 g

4.2 g

0.1 g

High

3.4 g

Low

3.9 g

Data Analysis: 1. When you immersed the shells in vinegar how did you know that a reaction was happening? Once the shell was placed in vinegar I knew a reaction was happening because immediately the shell began bubbling. 2. How did observing the shells in vinegar relate to how animals are affected by a lower pH of ocean water?

By observing the shell and seeing how the vinegar affected the shells gave a good idea of how the oceans acidity levels react to the shells of animals. It's probably worse for them because they live in there and since the shells are slowly deteriorating it is harder for them to protect themselves or grow new ones. 3. How would shelled organisms be affected by a lower pH of ocean water? Shelled organisms will be affect by the lower of pH by the way their calcium carbonate shells react to the acidity level. Since low pH levels dissolve calcium carbonate the shells will then dissolve making it harder for those organisms to grow or protect themselves. 4. What are the primary functions of shell for these animals? The primary functions of the shells is to protect the animals from predators. 5. Does it cost the animal energy to rebuild or repair their shells? Yes, it does cost the animals to rebuild or repair their shells. Why? Because it's hard to repair something that keeps getting destroyed because of the environment you're living in. Conclusion: Looking at the data above, it clearly shows that having the shells exposed to an acidic substance (vinegar) they become very fragile and brittle. Because of this my hypothesis is: If a shell is placed in vinegar, it will deteriorate faster than a shell placed in ordinary sea water. This experiment proves that if the pH of sea water is very low it will harm the sea life, especially that which is made up of calcifying organisms. If they begin to die off the organisms that rely on them will also start dying off and before you know it the sea life will no longer exist. For the experiment it surprised me that the shell loss is 0.1 g of mass. I began to wonder why and figured out that maybe the possible cause of that is that the acidity took out a lot of the nutrients and structure from the shell, making it more brittle and less solid. Final Conclusion for Bubble Protocol and Shell Protocol: Over all these experiments done above were a great way to understand ocean acidification and too, see how serious it really is. With these experiments you not only get background information about the problem, but you get to test it and see with your own eyes what ocean acidification really is and how it can effect sea life. Honestly, I had a lot of fun doing this. I learned a good handful of things. So in conclusion let's be more aware of how much carbon dioxide we throw out into our atmosphere. We may think we're only affecting ourselves, but that's not the case. We are affect the sea life as well, it's natural beauties and it's useful resources.