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General Environmental Science Science Fair Project

Soil Burial and Biodegradable Materials

Easy
Soil Burial and Biodegradable Materials | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Which breaks down faster when buried in soil: a scrap of paper or a piece of plastic? Some materials decompose naturally over time. Others stay unchanged for years. You fill six plastic bottles halfway with soil. Each bottle gets a different material: - vegetable scraps - plastic - wood - metal - paper - styrofoam Cover the materials with more soil and sprinkle water on top. Check the bottles every few weeks. Record what has changed in each one. Some materials shrink and crumble while others look exactly the same.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that biodegradable materials will break down faster than non-biodegradable materials.

Method & Materials

You will separate into groups, fill bottles with soil, add materials, cover with soil, and sprinkle with water. You will also record initial observations and make guesses about which materials will break down first and last.
You will need six 2 liter plastic bottles with tops partially cut off, soil, water, scraps of vegetables, plastic, wood, metal, paper, styrofoam, labels for each category, and tape.

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Results

After completing the experiment, it was found that biodegradable materials broke down faster than non-biodegradable materials. This observation stands out because it shows that separating biodegradable materials to allow those to degrade, while minimizing non-biodegradable materials, will minimize the trash generated.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting and unique because it allows students to observe the breakdown of different materials in a controlled environment.

Also Consider

Experiment variations to consider include testing different types of biodegradable materials, such as food scraps, and testing different types of non-biodegradable materials, such as glass or rubber.

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.
Learn about biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials!
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