THE EFFECT OF MINERALS/IONS, TEMPERATURE, AND AIR CIRCULATION ON THE TURBIDITY DUE TO ALGAE GROWTH
In general, temperature, air circulation and minerals/ions greatly affect the quality of a body of water, by changing the productivity. We designed an experiment to determine whether these factors did indeed change the productivity, or living material growth, of a water sample. We also wanted to know if these factors interacted in any way. We set up a 3-factor D.O.E. for the three variables, using 9 tanks with either distilled or tap water, high or low temperature and an air pump or no air pump. We calculated the turbidity due to algae growth, murkiness in the water, for each tank. After performing our analysis, we found that minerals/ions decreased algae growth and turbidity, temperature increased turbidity and air circulation increased turbidity. Our 2-factor interactions were not significant according to our data.
Research Done By:
Tim Pieniazek
Cousino High School
Carrie Zechmeister
Lake Shore High School
Warren Consolidated Schools