The effect of acetic acid on the growth of Raphanus sativus sprouts

Grade:

10

Teacher:

Elyse Wexler

Globally, environmental issues like acid precipitation have been increasing in recent years. But the data from the type of damage and harm from acids like sulfur and nitric varies as there are many factors like plant species, climate, occurrence, and period of growth that can affect it. While certain plants benefit from these acids, a large majority do not. For environmentalists, studying these effects on plants in ecosystems is difficult and unfortunately can continue to contribute to the growing problem. Instead, using a specific type of plant like cherry belle radishes during a specific season like winter in a controlled space as well as measured amounts of acid like acetic acid, allows the ability to study specific effects of acid on plants without further harm to the environment. This experiment focused on the weight, height, and appearance during a two-week period, using cherry belle radish sprouts in four groups of three, each with a different amount of acetic acid starting from 0ml up going up by ten until the max of 30ml. In the experiment, as acetic acid increased, the average height and weight decreased. The results showed that the group with 0ml of vinegar had the highest average weight of 0.33 grams, the highest average height of 3.53 cm, and was the only group with a green color after 2 weeks. While groups with acetic acid preformed significantly worse with average weights like 0.09 grams to 0.103 grams, 0 cm in height, and all groups having a yellow color after 2 weeks. Thus, as acetic acid increases, growth and weight decreases because the acids drop the pH level below recommended levels, decreasing a plant’s ability to intake nutrients. The importance of this research and experiment is to show more specifically how plants are affected physically by acids.

Project presentation

Lab journal excerpts

Research paper