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Water Pollution Science Fair Project

Elodea Plants and Oil Spill Cleanup

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Elodea Plants and Oil Spill Cleanup | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Can a common aquarium plant remove oil from water? You place Elodea plants in measuring cylinders filled with water and top each one with a different oil: gasoline, engine oil, corn oil, or kerosene. A fifth cylinder with no oil serves as the control. After seven days, you check the oil levels. The Elodea plants do not reduce the oil in any cylinder. By the fourth day, the plants begin to yellow and die. The oil layer blocks light and suffocates the plants instead of being absorbed.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that the Elodea plant will be able to remove oil from water.

Method & Materials

You will place Elodea plants in measuring cylinders filled with water and different types of oil, and observe the level of oil in the cylinders after 7 days.
You will need 5 Elodea plants, 5 measuring cylinders, a bottle of gasoline, a bottle of engine oil, a bottle of corn oil, a bottle of kerosene, and 1 liter of water.

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Results

The results of the experiment showed that the Elodea plants were not able to lower the level of oil in the measuring cylinders. After the 4th day, the leaves of the Elodea plants started to yellow and the plants began to die.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting because it explores the potential of using plants to clean up oil spills, which can cause serious damage to the environment.

Also Consider

Variations of this project could include using other plants like Brassica Rapa to determine if the plant is effective in absorbing oil in water, or using microorganisms or bacteria to remove oil from the water.

Full project details

Additional information and source material for this project are available below.

Related videos

These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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