Acid Rain and its Effect on Plants Essay

Question: What effect does the different water sources appear to be having on the plant cuttings? What do expect will happen by the end of this project in Unit 9? Are your results supporting your original hypotheses? If so, how? If not, create a newly revised hypothesis? Answer: Introduction Acid rain is a term used to describe all kind of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog that are acidic in nature. The common term used is Acid deposition. Acid rain causes due to mainly due to mainly burning of fossils fuels by coal burning in power plants, automobiles and factories. When the fossils fuels are burned then the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released in the atmosphere (Agrios, 2005). These gases mix with water, oxygen and other substances and forms sulphuric acid and nitric acid solutions. Acid rain is spread across the atmosphere by winds. When this acid rain enters the earth then it flows across the runoff water surface, water system and sinks into the soil (Somerville, 2008). Acid rain has different bad effects. It kills the aquatic life, damage crops and other vegetarian, damages monuments and building and causes the toxic metals to leach into the underground drinking water sources etc. It affects the biotic and abiotic organisms. The research was conducted to see the effect of acid rain on the plants (Beers, 2007). The research was conducted to see how acid rain can affect the growth of the plant. It also shows the growth of the plant roots can be affected by the acid rain. The research shows the effect of the acid rain effect on the colour and growth of the leaves of the plants. Research Questions What are the different water sources on the growth and development of the cuttings at the end of two weeks? Which water source serves as your control and why? What effect does the different water sources appear to be having on the plant cuttings? What will be the result? Are the results supporting the original hypotheses? If so, then how? If not, then to create a new revised hypothesis. Hypothesis Experiment shows the effect of the different water solution on the different plant cuttings. Experiment shows how the different water solution affects the roots length of the plant, number of leaves cutting and the colour of the leaves, appearance of the leaves and other effects over the plant. Requirements ITEM DESCRIPTION QUANTITY Plant cuttings 4 to 6 Bottled water 16.9 Small cups 4 Other materials required: Tap water, rain water, white vinegar, sedum plant. Procedure Sedum plant was selected. Then it was cutted 2 inch long from the stem, in such way that it has at least 2 leaves. Each stem cutting of the sedum plant was placed separately in a small cup with enough tap water to cover one inch of the bottom of the cutting. Then the stem cutting was grown for 1 week. Observation was recorded of the stem cutting After the end of the first week, an acid water solution was prepared by addition of teaspoon white vinegar to one 16.9 oz bottled water. 4 cups were numbered. Water was replaced from each cup with the tap water, bottled water, acid water. Water was poured in such a way, that it should cover at least one or more inch of the cuttings. So the roots does not dry (Brimblecombe, 2007). Water should be maintained every the time so the root does not dry Water Source Different water solution chosen is the tap water, bottled water, acid water and the rainwater after the second week. Here the tap water is considered as the control. It is considered as the control as pure form of water compare to the other form of water solution. Results Observations were recorded on the below table Initial Observations: End of Week 1 Water Source Roots Visible? Length of Roots? Number of Leaves on Cutting? Color of Leaves? Appearance of Leaves (Healthy, Dry, Wrinkled, Discolored, etc.)? Other Observations? Tap Water 6 5 3 Yellow Healthy Bottled Water 5 4 3 Yellow Healthy Acid Water (White Vinegar Solution) 6 5 4 Yellow Healthy Rain Water 4 4 3 yellow Healthy Table 1: it represents the initial observation after 1st week Week Two Observations Water Source Roots Visible? Length of Roots? Number of Leaves on Cutting? Color of Leaves? Appearance of Leaves (Healthy, Dry, Wrinkled, Discolored, etc.)? Other Observations? Tap Water 5 5 3 Yellow Healthy Bottled Water 5 4 3 Yellow Dry Acid Water (White Vinegar Solution) 5 4 3 Yellow Dry Rain Water 4 4 3 yellow Healthy Week Three Observations: Water Source Roots Visible? Length of Roots? Number of Leaves on Cutting? Color of Leaves? Appearance of Leaves (Healthy, Dry, Wrinkled, Discolored, etc.)? Other Observations? Tap Water 5 5 3 Yellow Healthy Bottled Water 5 4 3 Yellow Dry Acid Water (White Vinegar Solution) 4 3 3 Yellow Dry Rain Water 4 4 3 yellow dry Week Four Observations: Water Source Roots Visible? Length of Roots? Number of Leaves on Cutting? Color of Leaves? Appearance of Leaves (Healthy, Dry, Wrinkled, Discolored, etc.)? Other Observations? Tap Water 4 5 3 Yellow Healthy Bottled Water 4 4 3 Yellow Dry Acid Water (White Vinegar Solution) 3 3 2 Yellow Wrinkled Rain Water 4 4 3 yellow dry Final Observations (Week Six): Water Source Roots Visible? Length of Roots? Number of Leaves on Cutting? Color of Leaves? Appearance of Leaves (Healthy, Dry, Wrinkled, Discolored, etc.)? Other Observations? Tap Water 4 5 3 Yellow Healthy Bottled Water 4 4 3 Yellow wrinkled Acid Water (White Vinegar Solution) 0 2 1 Yellow discolour Rain Water 4 4 3 yellow wrinkled Week Five Observations: Water Source Roots Visible? Length of Roots? Number of Leaves on Cutting? Color of Leaves? Appearance of Leaves (Healthy, Dry, Wrinkled, Discolored, etc.)? Other Observations? Tap Water 4 5 3 Yellow Healthy Bottled Water 4 4 3 Yellow Dry Acid Water (White Vinegar Solution) 2 2 2 Yellow Wrinkled Rain Water 4 4 3 yellow wrinkled Picture Of The Observation Discussion and Conclusion Acid rain is a broad term that refers the wet and dry deposited material from the atmosphere, which contains nitric acid and sulphuric acids (Gusta, Wisniewski and Tanino, 2009). Acid rain results from the natural sources such as volcanoes and the vegetation decaying and the man made sources, which occurs from fossil fuel combination. When this acidic water falls on the ground, it affects a variety of plants and animals. Effect of acid rain depends on various factors such as water acidity, soil chemistry and its buffering property and type of fish, trees and the living things. The process by which acid rain damage the plant is very delicate. The acidic water alters the pH of the soil where the plant are growing, dissolving minerals and carrying them. Due to the drop of soil pH plant will suffer (Mardini, 2010). Above experiment shows effect of the different water solution on the different plant cuttings. .Experiment shows how the different water solution affects the roots length of the plant, number of leaves cutting and the colour of the leaves, appearance of the leaves and other effects over the plant (Parks, 2006). Sedum plant is selected for the experiment. Experiment shows that the height of the stem cutting decreased of the acid water solution compare to the other solution. The colour of the leaves of the stem cutting of the acid water solution was decoloured compare to the other water solutions (Simblet, 2010) The results show that how acid water affects the plants growth, compare to the tap water, bottle water and the rainwater. The research concludes the bad effect of acid rain on the plants. 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