Prelab
Problem
- Identify the six major air pollutants tested by the EPA.
- Understand different methods of testing air quality.
- Describe the air quality of Wake Forest using Ozone and PM measurements.
- Understand different methods of testing air quality.
- Describe the air quality of Wake Forest using Ozone and PM measurements.
Hypothesis
If an ozone test strip and particulate matter collector is placed outside and another ozone test strip and particulate matter collector is placed inside, then
the ozone test strip and particulate matter collector placed outside will have more ozone parts per billion and a higher amount of particulate matter.
the ozone test strip and particulate matter collector placed outside will have more ozone parts per billion and a higher amount of particulate matter.
Variables
Independent: location of the ozone test strips and particulate matter collectors
Dependent: ozone parts per billion and particulate matter
Control: ozone test strips, particulate matter collectors, amount of solution and petroleum jelly on tests strips and collectors
Dependent: ozone parts per billion and particulate matter
Control: ozone test strips, particulate matter collectors, amount of solution and petroleum jelly on tests strips and collectors
Experimental Groups
Control Group: ozone test strip and particulate matter notecards
Experimental Group: all of the ozone test strips and particulate matter notecards were put in various places
Experimental Group: all of the ozone test strips and particulate matter notecards were put in various places
Materials
Potassium Iodide
Corn starch
Beakers
Spatulas
Large Graduated Cylinder
Test Tube Rack
Filter paper
microscope slides
microscope
Petroleum jelly
Q-tips
Corn starch
Beakers
Spatulas
Large Graduated Cylinder
Test Tube Rack
Filter paper
microscope slides
microscope
Petroleum jelly
Q-tips
Procedure
Preparation
1. Half the class should work on preparing the ozone monitoring test strips by placing 100ml of water in a 250 ml beaker, and adding 5g of cornstarch. Then heat and stir the mixture until it gels (when the mixture becomes thick and clear). Remove the solution from heat,
add 1 g of potassium iodide, stir well, and allow to cool. After the solution has cooled, lay a piece of filter paper on a petri and brush the paste onto the
filter paper. Turn the filter paper and brush the paste on the other side. Hang up and allow the filter paper to dry. Cut the papers into 1 inch-wide strips.
Store the strips in a plastic bag out of sunlight.
2. The other half of the class will prepare Particulate matter collectors by smearing a thin layer of petroleum jelly onto a microscope slides. Try to make the layer as even as possible. Use a q-tip to lightly smear the specimen side of each slide. You will need to prepare 2 slides per group and place them in a slide container to avoid smearing the petroleum jelly on anyone.
Data Collection
3. Each group will place one labeled slide on the exterior of the school. Some groups should choose areas that would receive few particulates, others should choose locations that produce more particulates. (Keep in mind sources of particulate matter)
4. One member from each group should take the second slide and place it in a location inside the school.
5. You should then place your ozone monitoring strip outside for 8 hrs. Before placing the strip outside, dip the strip in distilled water, then
attach the strip out of sunlight. When placing your strip find the relative humidity for that day.
6. The next day, each group should collect their slide and ozone monitoring strip.
7. Dunk each strip into distilled water. Use the Schoenbein Number chart to determine the Schoenbein Number of your strip.
8. Use the relative humidity and the Schoenbein number to calculate the concentration of ground level ozone using the Relative Humidity Schoenbein Number Chart.
9. Look at your particulate matter slide under the microscope. First decide the amount of particulates and then attempt to estimate the source of the PM. Your group will need to decide how you can classify what type of PM was collected.
10. Make sure you record all you lab information into your notebook.
1. Half the class should work on preparing the ozone monitoring test strips by placing 100ml of water in a 250 ml beaker, and adding 5g of cornstarch. Then heat and stir the mixture until it gels (when the mixture becomes thick and clear). Remove the solution from heat,
add 1 g of potassium iodide, stir well, and allow to cool. After the solution has cooled, lay a piece of filter paper on a petri and brush the paste onto the
filter paper. Turn the filter paper and brush the paste on the other side. Hang up and allow the filter paper to dry. Cut the papers into 1 inch-wide strips.
Store the strips in a plastic bag out of sunlight.
2. The other half of the class will prepare Particulate matter collectors by smearing a thin layer of petroleum jelly onto a microscope slides. Try to make the layer as even as possible. Use a q-tip to lightly smear the specimen side of each slide. You will need to prepare 2 slides per group and place them in a slide container to avoid smearing the petroleum jelly on anyone.
Data Collection
3. Each group will place one labeled slide on the exterior of the school. Some groups should choose areas that would receive few particulates, others should choose locations that produce more particulates. (Keep in mind sources of particulate matter)
4. One member from each group should take the second slide and place it in a location inside the school.
5. You should then place your ozone monitoring strip outside for 8 hrs. Before placing the strip outside, dip the strip in distilled water, then
attach the strip out of sunlight. When placing your strip find the relative humidity for that day.
6. The next day, each group should collect their slide and ozone monitoring strip.
7. Dunk each strip into distilled water. Use the Schoenbein Number chart to determine the Schoenbein Number of your strip.
8. Use the relative humidity and the Schoenbein number to calculate the concentration of ground level ozone using the Relative Humidity Schoenbein Number Chart.
9. Look at your particulate matter slide under the microscope. First decide the amount of particulates and then attempt to estimate the source of the PM. Your group will need to decide how you can classify what type of PM was collected.
10. Make sure you record all you lab information into your notebook.
Observations
Outdoor Particulate Matter Notecard:
a lot of hair vasaline turned yellow black specks Indoor Particulate Matter Notecard: (in Rybarczyk's room) barely any hair or particles |
48 hour (80 % humidity) Ozone strip:
very, very purple 24 hour (30% humidity) Ozone strip: brown at first still pretty purple after dipping it in water |
Data Table and Graphs
1. Use the relative humidity and the Schoenbien number to calculate the concentration of groudn level ozone using the chart below
24 hour (30% humidity) Ozone strip = 7
48 (80% humidity) Ozone strip = 10
2. Look at your particulate matter slide under the microscope. First decide the amount of particulates and then attempt to estimate the sources of the PM. Your group will need to decide how you can classify what type of PM was collected.
Indoor = light particulate matter
Outdoor = medium to heavy particulate matter
24 hour (30% humidity) Ozone strip = 7
48 (80% humidity) Ozone strip = 10
2. Look at your particulate matter slide under the microscope. First decide the amount of particulates and then attempt to estimate the sources of the PM. Your group will need to decide how you can classify what type of PM was collected.
Indoor = light particulate matter
Outdoor = medium to heavy particulate matter
Analysis and Conclusions
Lab Questions
1. The highest rating the EPA will allow for a community for ground level ozone is 80 ppb. Any community with over 80 ppb for an average over three years is in noncompliance with the Clean Air Act. Compare your number to this standard. Did Wake Forest meet the standard on this day? Using what you know about the formation of ozone, decide if you believe the measurement you made was an accurate measurement of the air quality
and why.
According to the collected data, Wake Forest did not meet the Clean Air Act's standards. The slip that was out for 48 hours was out in 80% humidity recorded 80ppb, which is right on the brink of being under the standards of the Clean Air Act. The slip that was out for 24 hours was out in 30% humidity recorded 170ppb, which is way above the average that it is supposed to be. The measurement of the ozone strips may not have been exactly accurate due to the rain or other weird weather.
2. 13% of counties in the US are not meeting the Ozone requirements of the Clean Air Act. Use the Attainment and Nonattainment Areas in the U.S. 8-hour Ozone Standard map and information from class to explain the reason for the location of the counties in Non-attainment.
The location of the counties in non-attainment are mostly found in extremely developed areas, such as northeast region of the United States and southern California. These areas are very industrialized with things like manufacturing plants and factories which emit pollution into the air. These areas are also highly populated which means more cars are driven; therefore, more pollution is released. These two factors explain why these counties do not meet the ozone requirements of the Clean Air Act.
3. Particulate matter has recently been added to the requirements of the Clean Air Act. Theorize reasons that it was not part of the act until the 1990’s.
Particulate matter might not have been part of the Clean Air Act's requirements until the 1990's because it did not become an evident problem until then. Surely particulate matter existed before then since it's emitted from vehicles, factories, and construction sites, which were established before the 1990's. It is possible that the particulate matter concentration was not even considered as an issue until the 1990's, which is why it wasn't added into the Clean Air Act's requirements until then.
4. Compare and contrast the different PM samples – did they meet your expectations? Why or why not?
During the experiment, the PM sample that was placed outside had heavier particulate matter than the PM sample that was placed inside. This was definetly expected by us and these results definetly support the hypothesis.
5. Explain why air quality monitoring is important for the health of the economy.
Monitoring the air quality is quite imporant for the health of the economy. Without monitoring the air quality, there could be an excessive amount of air pollutants in the atmosphere. This impacts the health of not only humans, but also plants and animals. Each of the six air pollutants, ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, lead, and carbon monoxide, provide some sort of damage to human health, plants or animals.
General Conclusions
1. Evaluate Your Thesis: Did your results support your hypothesis? Why or why not?
The results did support the hypothesis. Our outside particulate matter notecard had a higher particulate matter than our inside particulate matter notecard. Also, our ozone strips placed outside recorded more ozone than the ozone strip that was placed inside.
2. Possible Sources of Error: How could your lab technique or the experimental design be improved in order to produce more accurate data?
During the experiment, it rained and we experienced varying levels of humidity. This could have effected the accuracy of the data on the ozone test strip and particulate matter collector placed outside. The rain could have changed the ozone measurements and wash away pieces of particulate matter on the collectors. I definetly think that there was an error in the experiment at some point considering how extreme the data was that we collected.
3. Application: How does your experiment fit into the big picture? What information have you added to our knowledge about the world?
According to the article below, that was published in 2010, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was expected to announce the nation's
strictest-ever ozone limits; however, if our data was even close to accurate, this experiment shows how desperate our world is for even stricter ozone limits. This experiment displays the need for Wake Forest to carefully watch what pollutants, such as ozone and particulate matter, are released. It is a call to action that these pollutants can effect the health problems of the citizens, plants, and animals around the Wake Forest area and North Carolina as a whole.This experiment adds to our knowledge of how much pollution the world produces. The data from this experiment should warn scientists that the Clean Air Act needs to be enforced. This article says that by 2020 keeping the air clean will cost us up to billions of dollars and, therefore, I think that's it's especially important for us to help our health and our government by pitching in and taking percautions to keep our air as clean as possible.
1. The highest rating the EPA will allow for a community for ground level ozone is 80 ppb. Any community with over 80 ppb for an average over three years is in noncompliance with the Clean Air Act. Compare your number to this standard. Did Wake Forest meet the standard on this day? Using what you know about the formation of ozone, decide if you believe the measurement you made was an accurate measurement of the air quality
and why.
According to the collected data, Wake Forest did not meet the Clean Air Act's standards. The slip that was out for 48 hours was out in 80% humidity recorded 80ppb, which is right on the brink of being under the standards of the Clean Air Act. The slip that was out for 24 hours was out in 30% humidity recorded 170ppb, which is way above the average that it is supposed to be. The measurement of the ozone strips may not have been exactly accurate due to the rain or other weird weather.
2. 13% of counties in the US are not meeting the Ozone requirements of the Clean Air Act. Use the Attainment and Nonattainment Areas in the U.S. 8-hour Ozone Standard map and information from class to explain the reason for the location of the counties in Non-attainment.
The location of the counties in non-attainment are mostly found in extremely developed areas, such as northeast region of the United States and southern California. These areas are very industrialized with things like manufacturing plants and factories which emit pollution into the air. These areas are also highly populated which means more cars are driven; therefore, more pollution is released. These two factors explain why these counties do not meet the ozone requirements of the Clean Air Act.
3. Particulate matter has recently been added to the requirements of the Clean Air Act. Theorize reasons that it was not part of the act until the 1990’s.
Particulate matter might not have been part of the Clean Air Act's requirements until the 1990's because it did not become an evident problem until then. Surely particulate matter existed before then since it's emitted from vehicles, factories, and construction sites, which were established before the 1990's. It is possible that the particulate matter concentration was not even considered as an issue until the 1990's, which is why it wasn't added into the Clean Air Act's requirements until then.
4. Compare and contrast the different PM samples – did they meet your expectations? Why or why not?
During the experiment, the PM sample that was placed outside had heavier particulate matter than the PM sample that was placed inside. This was definetly expected by us and these results definetly support the hypothesis.
5. Explain why air quality monitoring is important for the health of the economy.
Monitoring the air quality is quite imporant for the health of the economy. Without monitoring the air quality, there could be an excessive amount of air pollutants in the atmosphere. This impacts the health of not only humans, but also plants and animals. Each of the six air pollutants, ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, lead, and carbon monoxide, provide some sort of damage to human health, plants or animals.
General Conclusions
1. Evaluate Your Thesis: Did your results support your hypothesis? Why or why not?
The results did support the hypothesis. Our outside particulate matter notecard had a higher particulate matter than our inside particulate matter notecard. Also, our ozone strips placed outside recorded more ozone than the ozone strip that was placed inside.
2. Possible Sources of Error: How could your lab technique or the experimental design be improved in order to produce more accurate data?
During the experiment, it rained and we experienced varying levels of humidity. This could have effected the accuracy of the data on the ozone test strip and particulate matter collector placed outside. The rain could have changed the ozone measurements and wash away pieces of particulate matter on the collectors. I definetly think that there was an error in the experiment at some point considering how extreme the data was that we collected.
3. Application: How does your experiment fit into the big picture? What information have you added to our knowledge about the world?
According to the article below, that was published in 2010, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was expected to announce the nation's
strictest-ever ozone limits; however, if our data was even close to accurate, this experiment shows how desperate our world is for even stricter ozone limits. This experiment displays the need for Wake Forest to carefully watch what pollutants, such as ozone and particulate matter, are released. It is a call to action that these pollutants can effect the health problems of the citizens, plants, and animals around the Wake Forest area and North Carolina as a whole.This experiment adds to our knowledge of how much pollution the world produces. The data from this experiment should warn scientists that the Clean Air Act needs to be enforced. This article says that by 2020 keeping the air clean will cost us up to billions of dollars and, therefore, I think that's it's especially important for us to help our health and our government by pitching in and taking percautions to keep our air as clean as possible.
Real Life Example
Murawski, John. "N.C. Opposing Clean Air Rules." Newsobserver.com. N.p., 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/15/741087/nc-opposing-clean-air-rules.html.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/15/741087/nc-opposing-clean-air-rules.html.