Acid Rain Lab

This experiment was conducted to represent the effects of acid rain on agriculture. Acid Rain was represented by Apple cider vinegar which has a pH of 2.9. Rain is considered acid rain when the pH is below pH 4. Therefore apple cider vinegar is capable of representing acid rain as its pH is below 4. In this experiment the germination, growth, and growth rate of Vigna Radiata (Mung beans) were collected and calculated when watered with a solution made of 100 mL of water and, the independent variable, different amounts (X mL) of apple cider vinegar. There were 6 trials in the experiment with varying concentrations of apple cider vinegar. Each trial contained 5 mung bean seeds put into a folded napkin and then placed into a plastic container.

The first trial was a control trial, containing only 100 mL of water. This serves as a baseline of how Mung beans would grow under normal circumstances. This will then be compared to the 5 other trials, representing acid rain, given both (0.5, 1, 2, 5, and 10 mL) of apple cider vinegar and 100 mL of water. The experiment was tested for a duration of 5 days. Each day the seedlings were observed and qualitative data was logged down such as the color of the seedlings, water color, scent, etc. The quantitative data collected was the length of the seedlings in millimeters and the number of seeds germinated each day. A string was measured to the same size as the mung bean sprout and from there the length of the string was measured. This was to make a more accurate measurement of the sprout length and to reduce error in the

However, after calculating the class average rates for each trial and plotting it on a line graph, it was interesting to see a similar trend in all trials of the experiment. As seen on the time line graph titled Average growth rate of seeds vs time, Each trial decreased in growth rate each day. In the control trial the growth rate started at 5.4 mm/day on day 1, it then it substantially decreased by .6 mm/day on day 2 to 4.3 mm/day. On day 3 it slightly decreased to 3.933 mm/day, then it slightly decreased again to 3.9 mm/day on day 4, and 3.84 mm/day on the final day, day 5. The graph showed the trend of how as experiment time increased the growth rate of the seeds also decreased. In the apple cider vinegar trials, the germinated seedlings decreased in growth rate and recorded lower mung bean sprout lengths. This proves that as the concentration of apple cider vinegar increased the growth rate of mung bean sprouts and length of mung bean sprouts also