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Soil Pollution Science Fair Project

Deicers and Radish Survival

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Deicers and Radish Survival | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Does road deicer kill plants growing nearby? You grow four groups of radishes under the same conditions. One group gets plain water. The other three get water mixed with rock salt, calcium chloride, or magnesium sulfate. After two weeks you count how many radishes survive in each group. The control group kept all ten plants alive. The deicer groups lost nearly every plant. Magnesium sulfate did the most damage, followed by salt, then calcium chloride. The results show which common deicer does the least harm to nearby soil and plants.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that the amount of living radishes will be less if any deicer is applied to them.

Method & Materials

You will need to gather materials, conduct the experiment, and record the results.
You will need 40 containers, 3 packages of radishes, 1 bag of potting soil, 50 grams of rock salt, 50 grams of calcium chloride, 50 grams of magnesium sulfate, a graduated cylinder, a triple beam balance, a fluorescent light with a timer, and 3000mL of tap water.

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Results

The results of the experiment showed that magnesium sulfate was the deicer that had the most negative affect on the radishes, followed by salt, being the second most harmful, and then calcium chloride, being the least damaging. The control group still had all 10 radishes standing by the time the experiment was over.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting because it can help farmers and gardeners to select the deicer least harmful to their plants.

Also Consider

Variations to consider include using more deicers, more plants, and repeating the experiment multiple times.

Full project details

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