
Water Temperature and Spirogyra Color
Hard
Does warmer water make algae greener? Spirogyra is a type of algae that forms bright green strands in ponds and lakes. You grow spirogyra samples in water at five different temperatures. Each group starts at 35 degrees Celsius and drops by 5 degrees.
After eight days you measure the color intensity. You use a colorimeter (a device that reads how much color a sample contains). The algae growing at 35 degrees had the most color. The group at 25 degrees had the least.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that the algae will grow better in water at about 20 degrees Celsius.
Method & Materials
You will order algae plants, gather materials, fill containers with water at different temperatures, let the plants grow for 8 days, measure the amount of color in the plants, and filter the plants from the water.
You will need 8 Spirogyra plants, 1 container, 1 thermometer, 1 colorimeter, 4 liters of water, 1 vacuum flask, 6 glass fiber filters, 1 magnetic stir bar, 1 magnetic stirrer, and 1 funnel.
Results
The results showed that the plants growing in water at about 35 degrees Celsius had the most color in them, while the plants that were growing in water at about 25 degrees Celsius had the least color in them. This suggests that all algae plants may grow best in water around 35 degrees.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it can help people who grow and use algae to know how warm or cold the algae should be growing in.
Also Consider
Experiment variations to consider include using distilled water instead of tap water, and trying to keep the water temperature the same.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related video
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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