The Good, Bad, and the Ugly of CO(2)

Overview

Objectives/Goals I started this project because I was curious about the greehouse effect and global warming. My objective was to research and educate myself. I found it all starts in the atmosphere with its gases and carbon dioxide. I choose an experiment that uses carbon dioxide as the main element and interest. How much carbon dioxide is produced by different gas sources? Methods/Materials The experiment uses four different gas sources to produce carbon dioxide: ambient air, human exhalation, nearly pure CO(2), and car exhaust. Each source of air was inflated into different balloons, then through a straw, the gas was leaked into its own test tube of bromothymol blue indicator solution. The goal of the experiment is to neutralize the carbonic acid by adding diluted ammonia to each test tube, documenting the drops used. Materials listed in brief: 5 test tubes,20 funnel straws, 5 modeling clay washers, 20 balloons-5 sets of 4 different colors, bromothymol blue solution, ammonia, vinegar, baking soda, a tire pump, and a car. Results My hypothesis is: Car exhaust releases more carbon dioxide than the other gas sources. The result did not support my hypothesis. The nearly pure CO(2) released more carbon dioxide than any other gas source. After the experiment trials, I realized that it was now obvious that the nearly pure CO(2)used to represent the natural carbon dioxide would release more gas because it is a created part of the atmosphere. Conclusions/Discussion Carbon Dioxide is important for life on Earth. Natural sources produce carbon dioxide and man made sources produce carbon dioxide too, keeping the balance seems to be the issue. I don't believe that global warming is an accurate description of why our climate is having changes, but there is evidence that pollutants produce harmful effects and too much carbon dioxide has potential to be a problem for our atmosphere. Changing some actvivities big or small can make a difference. I would have liked to have interviewed a climate scientist and discuss all the techniques used to record weather and predict climates. It would be interesting to discus global warming with scientists who are for and against the topic. In conclusion, we all need to be good stewarts of Earth which sustains us all.

Competition history

• CSEF 2007 Environmental Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1015

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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