Environmental Systems and Societies

Topic 6: Atmospheric Systems and Societies

Research Question: How do different pH levels in bodies

of water affect aquatic plant activity, in terms of oxygen
output amount?

Word Count: 1861

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Table of Contents
Context ........................................................................................................................................ 3

Planning....................................................................................................................................... 4

Hypotheses............................................................................................................................... 4
Method: in-lab experiment ..................................................................................................... 4
Risk Assessment ................................................................................................................... 5
Justification of Method Used ................................................................................................... 5
Results......................................................................................................................................... 5

Analysis and Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 9

Discussion and Evaluation .......................................................................................................... 10

Application ................................................................................................................................ 10

Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 12

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Context
This report will discuss the significance of pH levels in water, specifically lakes, and its

impact on plants in bodies of water. This will be discussed based on the question:

How do different pH levels in bodies of water affect aquatic plant activity, in terms of

oxygen output amount?

The industrial revolution is a significant historical and global even that changed the

manufacturing process for humans. It allowed for a shift from handmaking goods to using

machinery instead, resulting in a more rapid way to produce goods and led to the increase in

number and size of factories using new energy sources like coal and petroleum, with the

leaders being the United States and Europe.1 However, the use of these non-renewable energy

sources has detrimental effects on the environment as when used combustion processes, they

release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which in turn result in the formation of acid rain.

This acid precipitation may then fall into bodies of water such as lakes and streams and this

was seen in the 1900s North America where high acidity of rivers and lakes was noted with

some having a low pH of 4, which resulted in the loss of biodiversity of both animals and

plants.2 This is bound to have somewhat of an effect on living organisms in the water which

is what this report is centred on.

1
Matthias, M. (2024) Industrial revolution, Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

2
Likens, G.E. and Butler, T.J. (no date) Effects on lakes and rivers, Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/science/acid-rain/Effects-on-lakes-and-rivers (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

3
Planning
Hypotheses
The expected outcome is that the higher the pH level, the less oxygen the plant will produce.

Method: in-lab experiment

List of materials:
5 clear containers of the same size
Aquatic plants: Elodea
pH probe
Oxygen probe
Light meter
Acidic solution: vinegar (for adjusting pH)
Ruler
Knife
Cutting board
Lamp
beaker
Lab attire: lab coat, safety goggles, gloves

Steps :
1. Use the knife and cutting board to cut 25 elodea plants into uniform lengths of 4.5 cm
2. Fill 1 litre of water in a large beaker and adjust the pH of the solution using vinegar
and test the pH level using the pH probe
3. Fill 5 individual containers with the solution
4. Measure oxygen amount using the oxygen probe in each container and not down the
figure
5. Place one Elodea plant into each container and fill with the remaining solution up to
the brim to remove excess air in the container, the tightly close the containers
6. Place each container 100cm from the lamp and leave for 1 hour
7. After, measure the oxygen amount in each container using the oxygen probe and
immediately note down
8. Repeat, but now adjusting the solution to the next pH level intended (pH levels used:
7, 6.5, 6, 5, 4)
Independent Variables: Distance of containers to the lamp(100cm) with uniform light
intensity of , pH level of the water solution, plant type (Elodea), length of the plant (4.5cm)
Dependent Variables: oxygen output amount in mg/L

4
Risk Assessment

Safety precautions must be taken into consideration when conducting experiments to avoid

any harm on the person conducting it. The use of lab attire including safety goggles, a lab

coat and gloves is essential to ensure safety. Ensuring safety in this experiment is necessary

as the person conducting the experiment is at risk of the vinegar going into their eyes and

onto their hands. A lab coat will also stop the vinegar from contacting the skin and clothes of

the person conducting the experiment.

Justification of Method Used

A lab experiment was used as it allowed a controlled environment to be created, making the

results more reliable as no external factors could interfere. 5 samples from 5 different pH

levels were also used to further increase the reliability of the results as any calculations were

done using the average values.

Results

Qualitative Data
The plant used for the experiment was, Elodea, which is commonly used in school

experiments due their rapid growth, high oxygen production, and fast adaptability in aquatic

conditions3. This made it the perfect plant to use as the experiment was conducted in a school

lab with limited time, so their high oxygen production allowed for the resting period to be

3
Petruzzello, M. (no date) Elodea, Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/plant/Elodea (Accessed: 17 October 2024).

5
only an hour. Before the experiment, each Elodea was assessed to ensure they were of a

acceptable health by observing the colour of the leaves and any leaf transparency.

Throughout, observations of the colour of the plant leaves were taken, to check if the pH

level had any effect. The Elodea plants used were all taken from a nutrient filled

environment, to ensure they were of uniform and acceptable health. The Elodea plant used in

each sample was also ensured to be of the same length and to also be the tip of the shoot, to

increase the fairness of the experiment by ensure each plant looked similar.

Quantitative Data

Figure 1: Quantitative raw data collected from 5 samples

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Figure 2: Clustered column chart showing the initial against the after oxygen amount for
each sample

Elodea Oxygen Level Changes

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6 6.3
6.12 6.18
5.8
5 5.42 5.46
5.24 5.3 5.16
4.92
Oxygen in mg/L

0
7 6.5 6 5 4
initial 4.92 5.24 5.46 6.12 5.3
after 5.42 5.8 6.3 6.18 5.16
pH value

Figure 3: Bar chart shing the differences (after - initial) per sample

differences
1

0.84
0.8

0.6 0.56
0.5
Oxygen in mg/L

0.4

0.2
0.06

0
7 6.5 6 5 4

-0.2 -0.14
pH value

7
Figure 4: XY Scatter plot showing the difference in oxygen levels in each sample

differences
1.2

0.84
0.8
Oxygen in mg/L

0.6
0.56
0.5
0.4

0.2

0.06
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
-0.14
-0.2

-0.4
pH value

Figure 5: unpaired t-test results from https://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/ttest2/4

4
T test calculator. (date accessed:26 October 2024). https://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/ttest2/

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Analysis and Conclusion
The bar chart in figure 2 clearly shows that each sample underwent a change in the oxygen

output amount. It also shows that of all the samples, the sample with a pH of appears to have

had the smallest difference in the oxygen amount. This is solidified in figure 3 in which the

bar chart shows this as well. However, figure 3 also shows that the sample with the biggest

oxygen output amount difference is sample 6, where the plant produced the highest amount

of oxygen after being left for an hour. This was surprising as the plant didn’t produce as much

oxygen at the optimal level of pH 7, which is the sample that is expected to have the highest

oxygen output according to the hypothesis. This is why pH level 6.5 was used, to test whether

the plant would show better results in a pH level between 7 and 6 as we would expect it to

perform worse in a lower pH level than 6 due to the increased acidity. However, figure 3 also

exhibits that the plants oxygen productivity did not perform as well, but remained it’s best at

pH level 6. However, Figure 4 then presents the differences in oxygen levels in each sample

as an XY scatter plot including the error bars which show that there is little difference

between the oxygen output amount in the 3 pH levels 6, 6.5 and 7. A t-test is used to compare

the two samples at pH levels 6.5 and 6 to see whether there is truly no difference between

them. The null hypothesis would be that there is no difference between the two samples and

the alternative hypothesis would claim that there is a difference between them. Figure 5

displays the results from the test that claims for the difference to be “statistically significant”

and shows the evidence results in the rejection of the null hypothesis; there is a difference

between the plants’ performance in the two different pH levels. Overall, the results are

evidence against the hypothesis set before the experiment which said “that the higher the pH

level, the less oxygen the plant will produce”, but only to a certain extent. This is due to the

sudden decrease in the oxygen output for plants which were put in water of pH levels lower

than 6. The error bars in figure 4 also solidify that there is a definite difference between the

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samples in pH levels of 5 and 4 in comparison to the sample of pH 6. This shows that aquatic

plants may function better in slightly acidic conditions, but not too acidic.

Discussion and Evaluation

The conclusion drawn that plants do require an extent of acidity for their functions sheds

some light on the human activities of manufacturing in factories as they increase acidity in

water due to the emission of gases during combustion processes. However, the problem lies

in the over-acidification of the bodies of water due to the surplus in the toxic gases released.

The detrimental effects of high acidity were exhibited in the experiment where there was a

drastic difference in the oxygen output of plants that were in a pH of 6 in comparison to those

in a pH of 5. Too much acidity caused the plants productivity to decrease.

Conducting an in-lab experiment was a good method for obtaining data on the effects of pH

levels on aquatic plants as it provided a controlled environment where the pH can be

adjusted, thus allowing comparisons between different pH levels. This makes the results more

reliable as no external factors can disturb the experiment. However, a limitation is that the

data collected is only taken from one type of plant, and the effects may have been observed to

be very different for different plant types. To come to a more reliable conclusion, different

types of aquatic plants could have been used to see if they all have similar or different

reactions. Also, the experiment could have been made more reliable if the containers were left

for days instead of just one hour, thus allowing possible qualitative data (e.g. the colour

changes of the leaves) to have been noted as well.

Application
Due to the importance of production industries in today’s world, the solution of stopping all

factory operations is impossible. Alternative solutions that could be used which would allow

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for operations to continue while reducing the negative impact on the environment are

increasing regulations and ensuring scrubbers are installed in factories. Increasing regulations

is bound to be an effective solution as it is justified by a previous law, the Clean Air Act

(CAA) of 1970, which “reduced air pollution in the United States by 70%”5. By increasing

regulations on emission sources as was done in the CAA, the amount of toxic gas released

into the atmosphere would decrease, resulting in optimal pH levels of lakes. The installation

of industrial scrubbers would be a good solution as well as they remove toxic substances

from the gas before it is emitted into the atmosphere. Both solutions are good options as they

target the problem of rising acidity in water from a specific source: factories.

5
Gardiner, B. (2020, December 29). This landmark law saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
Environment. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/clean-air-act-saved-millions-of-
lives-trillions-of-dollars Date accesed: 26 october 2024

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Bibliography
Matthias, M. (2024) Industrial revolution, Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Likens, G.E. and Butler, T.J. (no date) Effects on lakes and rivers, Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/science/acid-rain/Effects-on-lakes-and-rivers (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Petruzzello, M. (no date) Elodea, Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at:

https://www.britannica.com/plant/Elodea (Accessed: 17 October 2024).

T test calculator. (date accessed:26 October 2024). https://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/ttest2/

Gardiner, B. (2020, December 29). This landmark law saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
Environment. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/clean-air-act-saved-millions-of-
lives-trillions-of-dollars Date accesed: 26 october 2024

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