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P&D

Students noticed the river water was white after a cement plant and hypothesized its calcium oxide waste was reducing water clarity. They designed an experiment using a turbidity tube to measure water heights from locations before, at, and after the plant. Water samples would be filled in the tube and heights recorded in a table, expecting lower heights after the plant. Heights would then be converted to turbidity values to test if turbidity was higher downstream, disproving the claim the plant wasn't negatively affecting the environment.

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Riaz Jokan
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143 views2 pages

P&D

Students noticed the river water was white after a cement plant and hypothesized its calcium oxide waste was reducing water clarity. They designed an experiment using a turbidity tube to measure water heights from locations before, at, and after the plant. Water samples would be filled in the tube and heights recorded in a table, expecting lower heights after the plant. Heights would then be converted to turbidity values to test if turbidity was higher downstream, disproving the claim the plant wasn't negatively affecting the environment.

Uploaded by

Riaz Jokan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Plan and Design

Problem Statement: Students on a field trip to a cement plant noticed that the water in
the river just after the cement plant was white. The students thought that the calcium
oxide (the main waste product of the plant) was causing this effect on the river. The
students were told that the river was already foggy so the group II solid was not causing
any negative effect on the flora and fauna downstream. Plan and design an experiment
to investigate this claim in a fast, effective and cheap way.

Hypothesis: The clarity of the water after the cement plant is less than the clarity of the
water before the cement plant.

Aim: To investigate the clarity of the water at different locations around the cement plant
by comparing the heights of water in a turbidity tube at each location.

Apparatus:

1. Water sample at each location 2. Long glass tube 4. Metric tape measure

3. Beakers 5. Secchi disc

6. Stopper

7. Tables of conversion
Diagram:

Figure 1: Diagram of Turbidity Tube


Method:

1. 3 samples of 1000 cm3 each of water from 20 meters upstream before the cement
plant (Samples A1, A2, A3), at the runoff point (Samples B1, B2, B3), and at 20 meters
downstream after the cement plant (Samples C1, C2, C3) were collected.
2. Set up turbidity tube as shown in the diagram above.
3. Fill turbidity tube with sample A1 until Secchi disc is no longer visible.
4. Record height of the water sample at eye level in a table.
5. Repeat steps 3 to 4 with all remaining samples.

Done By: Riaz Jokan, Sachin Bahadoorsingh, Kyla Lakheeram, Dylan Kowlessar and Kheeran Mahabir
Teacher: Mr. Phagoo
Group #: 1
Plan and Design
Variables.

Controlled Variable – Amount of water samples

Manipulated Variable – Locations that water was taken from.

Responding Variable – The height of the water in the turbidity tube.

Expected Results

Table showing heights and averages of each sample:

It is expected that the height value of the samples taken after the factory (Samples C1,
C2, C3) will be lower than that of the samples taken before (Samples A1, A2, A3)

Treatment of Data:

Formula relating height (average depth in centimetres) to turbidity in NTU

Average Depth in Centimetres = 244.13 x (Turbidity in NTU)-0.662

The height values will be used to find the corresponding turbidity values. The turbidity
value after the factory is expected to be higher than the value before the factory.

Precautions:

1. Read depth at eye level.


2. When filling tube, view from directly above.

Assumptions:

1. All the impurities that causes the turbidity in the water comes from the factory’s
output.
2. No obstructions in the path of the particles in the water (hence holding back
sediments).

Limitations:

1. Turbidity tube used cannot measure less than 5 NTU.


2. The turbidity tube does not account for colourless dissolved pollutants which may
have been released from the cement plant. This could affect the flora and fauna
downstream.

Done By: Riaz Jokan, Sachin Bahadoorsingh, Kyla Lakheeram, Dylan Kowlessar and Kheeran Mahabir
Teacher: Mr. Phagoo
Group #: 1

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