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Air Pollution Science Fair Project

Acid Rain's Effects on Soil, Stone, and Living Things

Hard
Acid Rain's Effects on Soil, Stone, and Living Things | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
What does acid rain do to a limestone chip, a green leaf, and a piece of fish? You set up side-by-side experiments to find out. One set gets diluted sulfuric acid. The other gets plain water. You prepare petri dishes with soil and stone, a leaf, and raw fish. Half are treated with acid solution and half with distilled water. Over several days you compare how each material changes. For a longer experiment, you place a potted plant under a bell jar with a dish of sulfuric acid. You also suspend a marble chip above acid solution in a sealed bottle. Control setups use water only. Over time the differences show how acid rain damages natural materials.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that acid rain has a negative effect on our environment.

Method & Materials

You will prepare Petri dishes with soil and stone, leaf, and raw fish. One set will be watered with distilled water, the other with sulfuric acid. You will also draw a mural about our environment and discuss how acid rain is formed. Finally, you will set up long-term experiments to observe the effects of acid rain.
You will need 6 Petri dishes, pipette, large bell jar or similar item, sulfuric acid, two 2-liter soft drink containers, 4 small pieces of marble or limestone, continuous strip of chart paper approximately 3 ft by 6 ft, pastel crayons or markers, small growing plant, 4 small pieces of raw fish, 2 green leaves, small amount of soil.

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Results

Through this experiment, we can observe the effects of acid rain on our environment. We can see how it affects soil/stone, plant, and animal materials compared to the items in plain water.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting and unique because it allows students to explore the effects of acid rain in a creative and hands-on way.

Also Consider

Experiment variations to consider include testing different concentrations of sulfuric acid and observing the effects of acid rain on different types of plants and animals.

Full project details

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