(Sample of Past Student Research)
Title: ARSENIC IN LARGE CHERRY TOMATOES
Student Name(s)________________________________________________
______________________________Middle School
Objective: To find out if large cherry tomatoes will absorb arsenic from 40 ppb arsenic soil using regular water.
Hypothesis: If there is arsenic in the soil I think that the cherry tomato seeds and the growing
cherry tomato plants will absorb the arsenic.
Materials List: Cherry Tomato Seeds, 2 Pots, 40 ppb Arsenic Soil, Tap Water, Hach Arsenic
Test Kit
Procedure: Step 1 Selected seeds that I wanted to grow.
Step 2 Put potting soil in 2 pots. My name was written on one pot, my teammate’s
name was written on the other pot. We were in charge of watering our own pot.
Step 3 Counted and planted 29 seeds in each pot on March 16, 2004.
Step 4 Seeds were watered for first time on March 23, 2004.
Step 5 In order to learn how to do arsenic testing, we watch 3 students from fall
class perform arsenic testing on samples that they brought from their home environments.
Step 6 Observed pots everyday. Watered the seeds with tap water once a week
with the help of teachers. Teachers took pictures of students watering seeds.
Step 7 First noticed plants coming through the soil on April 2, 2004.
Step 8 Teachers took pictures of 14-day old plants on April 6, 2004.
Step 9 Selected a title for project, started designing project display board.
Step 10 Located information about arsenic from the Internet. Started a folder
on facts about arsenic. Continued to design project display board.
Step 11 Teachers took pictures of plants. One teaspoon of soil was taken from each pot, mixed together and allowed to dry in a paper envelope before testing.
Step 12 One gram of the dried soil was weighed and tested with the Hach kit.
Step 13 Green plant samples were taken form each pot and grounded with a mortar and
pestle. Sample #1 was 4.1 grams and sample #2 was 4.0 grams. The ground
plants were put into 2 separate test vials and tested with the Hach test kit. See the
Hach test procedures that are attached to this report.
Results: 1 gram of dried soil = 30 ppb arsenic
Green, non-dried samples of our were taken from both pots.
Sample 1, 5.55 grams = 10 ppb arsenic
Sample 2, 5.56 grams = 5 ppb arsenic
Conclusions: 1) Our tomato plants absorbed 10 ppb & 5 ppb of arsenic from the 20 ppb arsenic water
and the 40 ppb arsenic soil.
2) It is not a good idea to plant tomatoes in arsenic soil or to allow arsenic water to get on growing plants.
3) The soil in our pot went from 40 ppb arsenic to 30 ppb arsenic.
(Sample of Student Research)
Title: ARSENIC IN GRASS
Student Name (s)_______________________________________________________
________________________________________Middle School
Objective: To find out if grass will absorb arsenic from 100 ppb arsenic soil.
Hypothesis: If there is arsenic in the soil, I think that the grass seeds and the growing grass plants
will absorb the arsenic.
Materials List: Grass Seeds, 2 Pots, 100 ppb Arsenic Soil, Hach Arsenic Test Kit
Procedure: Step 1 Selected seeds that I wanted to grow.
Step 2 Put 100 ppb arsenic soil in a pot.
Step 3 Counted and planted 119 seeds in the pot on March 16, 2004.
Step 4 Seeds were watered for first time on March 23, 2004.
Step 5 To help my classmates learn how to do arsenic testing, I performed arsenic testing on a soil sample that I brought from my backyard. My soil sample tested at 100 ppb of arsenic, which is a lot of arsenic for a backyard.
Step 6 I Observed my pot everyday. I watered the seeds with regular tap water once a week
with the help of teachers. Teachers took pictures of students watering seeds.
Step 7 First noticed plants coming through the soil on April 2, 2004.
Step 8 Teachers took pictures of 14-day old plants on April 6, 2004.
Step 9 Selected a title for project, started designing project display board.
Step 10 Located information about arsenic from the Internet. Started a folder
on facts about arsenic. Continue to design project display board.
Step 11 Teachers took pictures of plants. One teaspoon of soil was taken from my pot and allowed to dry in a paper envelope before testing.
Step 12 One gram of the dried soil was weighed and tested with the Hach kit.
Step 13 3.68 g of green plants were taken and grounded with a mortar and pestle.
The ground plants were tested with the Hach test kit. See the Hach test
procedures that are attached to this report.
Results: 1 gram of dried soil from my backyard = 100 ppb arsenic
3.68 grams of non-dried grass plants = 5 ppb arsenic
Conclusions: 1. There is a lot of arsenic in my backyard.
2. My grass only absorbed a small amount of arsenic from the arsenic water and the arsenic soil. My grass does not like arsenic.
(Sample of Student Research)
Title: ARSENIC IN SUNNY GRASS
Student Name(s) ___________________________________________________________
_______________________________Middle School
Objective: To determine if sunny grass seeds will absorb arsenic from 40 ppb arsenic soil and 20
ppb arsenic water.
Hypothesis: If there is arsenic in the water and arsenic in the soil, I think that the grass seeds and the
growing grass will absorb the arsenic.
Materials List: Sunny Grass Seeds, 2 Pots, 40 ppb arsenic soil, 20 ppb Arsenic Water, Hach Arsenic
Test Kit
Procedure: Step 1 Selected seeds that we wanted to grow.
Step 2 Put potting soil in 2 pots. My name was written on one pot, my
teammate’s name was written on the other pot. We were in charge of
watering our own pot.
Step 3 Counted and planted 123 seeds in each pot on March 16, 2004.
Step 4 Seeds were watered for first time on March 23, 2004.
Step 5 Watched 3 students from fall class perform arsenic testing on samples that
they brought from their home environments.
Step 6 Observed pots everyday. Watered the seeds with 20 ppb arsenic water
once a week with the help of teachers. Teachers took pictures of students watering seeds.
Step 7 First noticed plants coming through the soil on April 2, 2004.
Step 8 Teachers took pictures of 14-day old plants on April 6, 2004.
Step 9 Selected a title for project, started designing project display board.
Step 10 Located information about arsenic from the Internet. Start a folder
on facts about arsenic. Continued to design project display board.
Step 11 Teachers took pictures of plants. One teaspoon of soil was taken from my pot, and allowed to dry in a paper envelope before testing.
Step 12 I weighed 1gram of the dried soil and tested it with the Hach kit.
Step 13 The following week, I collected 2.3 grams of plants from my pot and
grounded the green plants with a mortar and pestle. I put the grounded plants into a test vial and did arsenic testing with the Hach test kit. See the Hach test procedures that are attached to this report.
Results: 2.3 grams of non-dried grass plants = 20 ppb arsenic
1 gram of dried soil from my pot = 25 ppb arsenic
Conclusions: 1) My grass plants absorbed 20 ppb of arsenic from the 20 ppb arsenic water and the
40 ppb arsenic soil.
2) Grass plants will absorb arsenic from 20 ppb arsenic water and 40 ppb arsenic soil.
3) It is not a good idea to plant grass seeds in arsenic soil or to allow arsenic water to get
on growing plants.
2) The soil in our pots went from 40 ppb arsenic to 25 ppb arsenic. Some of the arsenic in the original 40 ppb soil was being absorbed by the grass and some was probably washed out of the pot during watering.
Follow-up Testing: I could add 50 ml of water to the drain tray and test to see how much arsenic washed out of the arsenic soil.