Name ___________________________________________ Block ____________
Effects of Ocean Acidification:
A Look at Controlled Experiments
The world’s oceans are in trouble. Every day, 22 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from factories,
cars, power plants and other human sources are absorbed by the
world’s oceans.
The result? A frightening phenomenon that's making seawater
more acidic, meaning disaster for many marine animals, from
plankton and coral up the food chain to sea stars, salmon, sea
otters, whales — and ultimately people, who rely on oceans for
food.
Together we will do an experiment using chalk as coral and vinegar as acid in the oceans to test the
affects of acid on living organisms such as coral.
Problem:
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Write a hypothesis that we can test: If……then……because….
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What is the control? __________________________________________________
Name at least 4 constants:
1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
4. _________________________________________________________________
What is the independent variable in this experiment?
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What is the dependent variable in this experiment?
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Materials:
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vinegar
water
chalk
graduated cylinder
Beakers or containers
Goggles
Masking tape and pen (for labeling containers)
Two strips of litmus paper.
Balance (might have to share with other groups)
Procedure:
1. Using the masking tape and pen label 1 beaker “vinegar” and 1 beaker “water”.
2. Pour 100 ml of vinegar into the vinegar beaker.
3. Pour 100 ml of water into the water beaker.
4. Using the pH strips, record the pH of the water and vinegar.
5. Record the mass (in grams) of the chalk. Place in the water beaker.
6. Record the mass (in grams) of the other chalk. Place in the vinegar beaker.
7. Swirl the beakers for 10min (to simulate waves). Record at least 3 observations of the chalk in each
solution during this time.
8. Record ending mass of both pieces of chalk.
Data:
Water
pH
Start chalk mass
End chalk mass
Change in mass
Observations – Chalk in water:
1.
2.
3.
Observations – Chalk in vinegar:
1.
2.
3.
Vinegar
Conclusion Questions: TYPE and submit to apereira@ctriveracademy.org
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Restate your problem and hypothesis. Was your hypothesis correct?
Describe what happened to the chalk in the acidic solution. Why do you think this happened?
Would you consider your data to be reliable?
Could somebody follow the same procedure and get similar results to yours?
Is there anything that you would do to improve this experiment?
Do you think that acid has this effect on all sea life? Explain why or why not.
What would you tell the EPA about how acid affects coral?
Why might marine biologists and other scientists be interested in doing a test like this one?