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General Medicine & Health Science Fair Project

Turmeric as an Antioxidant in Daphnia

Hard
Turmeric as an Antioxidant in Daphnia | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Can turmeric juice reverse the stress caused by a harmful chemical in tiny water creatures? Daphnia (water fleas) are small enough to watch under a microscope. Their hearts beat fast enough to count. You expose groups of daphnia to three strengths of perchlorate (an oxidant). You count their heart rate before any treatment. You count again after adding perchlorate. Then you count once more after adding turmeric juice. You discover whether turmeric brings the elevated heart rate back down.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that turmeric juice is able to counter the effects of exposing daphnia to perclorate solution.

Method & Materials

You will mix different concentrations of perchlorate solution into 3 beakers, separate the daphnia onto 3 slides, and add perchlorate and turmeric juice to the slides.
You will need 15 daphnia, 3 beakers, a bottle of perchlorate, a bottle of turmeric juice, a microscope, 3 glass slides, a digital weighing scale, a stopwatch, 300ml distilled water, a measuring cylinder, and a bottle of eye drops.

Results

The results showed that adding perchlorate increased the heart rates of the daphnia while introducing the turmeric subsequently reduced their heart rates. This proves that our hypothesis was correct.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting because it explores the medicinal properties of turmeric, which has been used for centuries in traditional medicine.

Also Consider

Consider repeating the experiment with different types of herbs like garlic or ginger, or varying the room temperature.

Full project details

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

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