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Air Pollution Science Fair Project

Urban Air Pollution by Location

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Urban Air Pollution by Location | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
How does air quality differ between a busy bus station and a quiet city park? You place sticky collection boards at eight urban locations and leave them for three days. Each board traps airborne particles from the surrounding air. After three days, you examine the boards under a microscope. You count the trapped particles per square centimeter on each board. The bus station collected the most particles. The hospital and market followed close behind. The board on a building rooftop collected the fewest particles of all.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that areas that have a high level of activity and traffic have a higher pollution level than areas that have a low level of traffic.

Method & Materials

You will need to build collection boards, place them in different locations, and observe the number of particles that the boards trap.
You will need cardboard, scissors, masking tape, wood, nails, a hammer, a measuring tape, a ruler, a microscope, a marker pen, and a sheet of graph paper.

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Results

The board placed at the city bus station had the most particles per square centimeter, followed by the hospital and the market. The board placed on top of the building had the least number of particles. The hypothesis holds true: areas that have a high level of activity and traffic have a higher pollution level than areas that have a low level of traffic.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting because it allows us to explore how different levels of activity and traffic affect the pollution levels in urban areas.

Also Consider

Consider conducting the experiment in other locations, such as by a highway, at a construction site, or at a factory. Place more collection boards at the same locations. Also, consider if there is a difference in the quality of air in the vicinity of a suburban home versus one within the city center.

Full project details

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

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