Does the Amount of Turbidity Effect the Amount of Dissolved Oxygen in the Water?

Abstract My hypothesis was correct because the data shows that the lower the turbidity levels are, the higher the dissolved oxygen levels. The data for Maryus was increasingly different from the other locations because it is farther inland than the other locations so it takes longer for the fresh water to get to that location. Maryus is very much like a marsh. Crown Point Marina was closer to the mouth of the York River and Gloucester Point was in-between the two locations. I made mistakes in the data by not specifying how far out to go in the water for the data. I could make this experiment better by measuring out how far I go the first time and repeat that length the rest of the time. Another mistake was when I was mixing the chemicals with the water I did not time how long I was stirring. The amount of time I was supposed to stir was two minutes.

Problem Does the Amount of Turbidity Effect the Amount of Dissolved Oxygen in the Water?

Hypothesis If the turbidity levels are low, then the Dissolved Oxygen levels will be high.

Purpose The purpose for this is experiment was because my future career is Marine Biology so I am interested in this field. I am interested in learning all I can about this field to help me decide what I want to study.

Literature Research Fr. Pietro Angelo Secchi was the inventor of the Secchi disk. The meaning of turbidity is the amount of dirt in a liquid. It also measures how far the light can penetrate the water. The deeper the light can travel means a higher turbidity. The more soil erosion, algae, waste discharge, and plankton in the water means the water would have less turbidity. The higher turbidity there is in the water the warmer the water is because particles that are suspended absorb more energy or heat. This can reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. To measure turbidity there is an instrument called a Secchi Disk. In order to use a Secchi disk, it must be lowered into the water until the disk can no longer seen.

Literature Research The length of how far down it went is the amount of turbidity in the water. If the water is slow moving it will most likely have a lower turbidity. If the water is fast moving then the water will most likely have a higher turbidity. If it rains then the objects on the land that are near the water get washed into the water making the water have low turbidity. Dissolved oxygen is when oxygen enters the water in two natural ways. First through the atmosphere by wind and waves. The other by aquatic plants releasing oxygen into the water. Microbes decrease the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water when they decompose organic matter using oxygen.

Experiment Dissolved Oxygen tablets Secchi disk Kayak 3 Plastic jars with lids Tape measurer Recording Journal

Experiment Design Independent Variable- amount of turbidity Dependent Variable- Effect on dissolved oxygen Constants - type of secchi disk, way to get data for the dissolved oxygen, and around the same time for every location Number of Repeated Trials - 3

Experiment Clean jars and lid thoroughly. Rinse well. Label each jar with the marina name or the river you will be taking your samples at Go to a river and bring the kayak, Secchi disk, Tape Measurer, Plastic Jar with lid and Recording Journal Take a kayak with adult supervision and go about half way out from the beach. Then take a jar and fill it full of the river water and close up the jar with lid. Close tight. Drop the Secchi disk in the water slowly until you can not see the black and white in the water.

Experiment 7. Pull Secchi Disk out slowly and take the Tape measurer and measure from the bottom of the disk to the edge of the wet part of the string. 8. Record in Recording Journal 9. Go to second and third location and repeat steps 3-8 10. Take samples home 11. Take a Dissolved Oxygen tablet and place it in a jar for about a minute 12. Record data in Recording Journal

Experiment 13. Repeat step twelve with new Dissolved Oxygen tablets on other locations 14. Repeat steps 1-13 the next day 15. Repeat steps 1-13 the next day after that 16. Compare data

Data Table

Data

Conclusion My hypothesis was correct because the data shows that the lower the turbidity levels are, the higher the dissolved oxygen levels. The data for Maryus was increasingly different from the other locations because it is farther inland than the other locations so it takes longer for the fresh water to get to that location. Maryus is very much like a marsh. Crown Point Marina was closer to the mouth of the York River and Gloucester Point was in-between the two locations. I made mistakes in the data by not specifying how far out to go in the water for the data.

Conclusion I could make this experiment better by measuring out how far I go the first time and repeat that length the rest of the time. Another mistake was when I was mixing the chemicals with the water I did not time how long I was stirring. The amount of time I was supposed to stir was two minutes.

Pictures

Pictures

References http://water.usgs.gov/edu/turbidity.html http://water.epa.gov/type/rsl/monitoring/vms55.cfm https://www.cbf.org/document.doc?id=170 http://www.cbf.org/document.doc?id=183 http://www.cbf.org/Doent.Doc?id=268 http://web.vims.edu/bio/shallowwater/physical_characteristics/dissolved_oxygen.html