Ocean Acidification Lab

Collaborator: Habiba

Introduction: Every day the ocean absorbs more than one million metric tons of carbon dioxide every hour. Carbon Dioxide is a gas that is usually in our atmosphere and is very vital in maintaining a healthy climate. Too much carbon dioxide is being produced from human sources like the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels. All this carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean and makes it more acidic. This affects a whole myriad of things, like the creation of skeletons for some organisms to the destruction of fisheries.

Problem: How does carbon dioxide affect the pH of water?

Hypothesis: If a high concentration of carbon dioxide is dissolved into water, then the pH of water will decrease into a more acidic number.

Parts of the Experiment:

Control group: Both the ocean water and distilled water were experimented with.

Experimental group: Ocean water and distilled water

Independent variable: Carbon dioxide, time

Dependent variable: pH of the ocean and distilled water

Controlled variable: amount of water and universal indicator

Materials: 2 test tubes, universal indicator, ocean water, distilled water, straw

Procedures: *Found on Ocean Acidification Lab sheet

Data

 

 

 

Data Analysis: The pH of the ocean and distilled started off neutral or relatively neutral but after the carbon dioxide was added, it decreased to highly acidic. Then, after the calcium carbonate was added, the pH quickly changed from a neutral 6 to a high bade of 10 or 11.

Conclusions:

• The most common pH of surface ocean water is 8.2-8.1

• The pH of my ocean was one point more neutral, possibly because it absorbed some of the carbon dioxide in the air while it was sitting out.

• No, both the stilled water and ocean water became acidic. They both went from a pH of around 7 to a pH of 0 and 1.

• When calcium carbonate was added to the water samples, they briefly turned back to neutral but then immediately after they became strong bases.

• Yes, I do. We puff our carbon dioxide into a balloon, which is the same thing in the air.

Citations:

"Ocean News | Issue 7 | Climate Change." Ocean News | Issue 7 | Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2014.