The Effect of Location on the pH of Soil and Water

Overview

My Science Fair Project was the effect of location on pH. I also looked into the types of pH sensors on accuracy. I was trying to find out if location had an effect on the pH, could the water and soil pH be higher at a lake rather than a pond. I also tried to find out whether pH meters will share similarities. My hypothesis was that a lake would have the highest pH because it had the most water, this massive amount of water would cause the highest change. I also believed that the YINMIK water pH device and the SONIKR 3-in-1 would be the most accurate due to the YINMIK being used in labs and the SONIKIR’s two prongs helping accuracy. My research supported my hypothesis, as it showed that lakes would be very high at 7, due to being almost pure. This is known as neutral molecules. Neutral molecules are molecules without positive or negative charges, when they break into ions, they can be positively or negatively charged, in lakes there are likely to be negatively charged ions and stable, unlike other locations, making it likely to be 7. I also looked into various pH damaging factors like acid rain and sediment, both of these can have very drastic effects on pH, acid rains need buffering, or else the ecosystem can be destroyed, sediment is also ecosystem destroying as well. also proved that there may be similarities in sensors through the usage of electron membranes. The first time I performed the experiment was getting my soil pH meter, and calibrating my water pH meter. After this, I went to three locations, Lake Woollomes, the San Joaquin River Delta, and the pond on Drive Road in Delano, I tested the water by putting it in jars for easier ways to measure. The soil meter, I just stuck into the ground. The second time I tested, I almost did the same thing, with the two water pH meters, I calibrated both of them, quite easily. When I went back to Lake Woollomes, I made sure every variable was held constant, like the same person testing, and the same weather. Since I could not use my original pH meter, I decided to use the remaining two pH meters on not only Lake Woollomes but the San Joaquin River Delta, and the pond on Pond Drive as well. I did the same thing with meters, testing them at Lake Woollomes. I also used the original soil meter at the River and the pond.In my first experiment the results were that the lake had both the highest pH in both soil and water, at 9.80/7.43 respectively. The river scored second, at 6.85/6.43 each. Finally, the pond came in at the lowest at 6.03/5.57. I saw that the lake would be the location with the highest effect meaning that my hypothesis was correct. My conclusion was that the location did have an effect on the pH, as depending on the location the pH would be drastically different. I tested a second time with my experiment but this time I was looking for whether a pH measuring instrument would be similar or would have an effect on accuracy. I tested with 2 water pH measuring instruments and 3 soil pH measurements. I tested the original soil meter as well. My results were that the water pH meters definitely shared similarities in accuracy; on Lake Woollomes, the River, and the pond, one sensor, the YINMIK got 9.26, 8.3, and 7.75 respectively. The other meter, the GIDIGI got 9.17, 8.1, and 7.33, needless to say these meters had very similar results. However, for the soil side of things, the SONIKR 3-in-1 was the closest to the original soil pH meter, the SONIKR had the result of 7.03 while the original had 6.97 at Lake Woollomes, the others were not as close to the original soil pH meter. My conclusion was that my hypothesis was correct as the SONIKR did have the most correlation to the original meter, however the YINMIK and GIDIGI were very similar in results.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Chemistry (Junior Division) · Entry J-05-02

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