Draft 3 The effects of household chemicals on plants

Introduction

The purpose of our lab is test the effects of two common house-hold chemicals on the development of young plants. Specifically, we will be using glass cleaner and dish soap. We hypothesize that these chemicals will negatively affect development, and result in abnormal coloration and smaller size. We also hypothesize that the ammonia in the glass cleaner will have a stronger effect than the dish soap. Through our studies we plan to see how the chemicals affects the plants.

This study is relevant because many common chemicals such as these are frequently disposed of by pouring them down drains, which could allow these chemicals to seep into the ground. We will try to find if the disposal of household chemicals might have a strong negative effect on plant development. We find this research interesting because we are using chemicals that are used everyday and they are disposed of without any consideration to if they might be harmful to nature.

Materials and Methods

The following are materials we will use: Styrofoam beverage cups, soil, seeds, Dawn liquid dish soap, Windex glass cleaner, and water. The experiment will be conducted in the greenhouse adjacent to Boyd Hall.

We decided that it would be best to grow the plants from seeds. We will purchase a large quantity of seeds, and distribute them among 80 Styrofoam cups. 20 of these cups will contain the control group of plants, which will receive 20 ml of ordinary water. 30 total will receive 20 ml of a solution containing water and dish soap. For 15 of these, the solution will be .5 ml of dish soap and 19.5 ml of water. The other 15 will receive 1 ml of dish soap and 19 ml of water. The remaining 30 cups will receive 20 ml of a solution containing water and glass cleaner. For 15 of these, the solution will be .5 ml of glass cleaner and 19.5 ml of water. The other 15 will receive 1 ml of glass cleaner and 19 ml of water.

The plants will be watered on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. Watering will begin when the seeds to sprout from the soil.

We will include the class by having them discuss the possible effects that harmful chemicals in these household cleaners could have on the plants. We will also bring them out to the greenhouse to show them our plants, which would be unlabeled. The class will have to guess which plants have been watered with what.

We plan on testing these plants beginning this week, and through 12-2. We feel that we can get an accurate reading of how the plants were developmentally effected in this time span.

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