Seawater Lab

On Monday we continued with the seawater lab. Today we tested the viscosity of corn syrup, fresh water , and seawater. To test these we put 100ml of each liquid into a graduated cylinder. Then we took round copper pellets and dropped each one into the liquid separately to perform 10 tests in all. As we dropped the pellets in, at the 70 ml mark, time was recorded from that measurement to when they hit the bottom. For the corn syrup recording data was very easy but for the water test it was very difficult to get accurate results because they moved so quickly. After all the data was collected the average was taken and the velocity was calculated.

On Tuesday we started the class by taking notes. The notes were on the different physical features that exist in both deep ocean and shallow ocean areas. To help show the correlation we drew a diagram of the different physical features such as continental slope and continental shelf. After that we continued with our seawater lab viscosity lab tests. Today we made the graphs displaying the velocity of each sample. The velocity of the corn syrup sample was much higher than the other samples because it is more viscous. The best way to display this data would be in a bar graph because the bars would easily compare the data side by side.

On Wednesday I was not at school during science class because I was attending an awards ceremony for the Azalea Festival art competition.

On Thursday we started class by taking notes. Today the notes were mainly on the different shallow and deep water environments that marine life live in. Even with modern research, scientists still do not know all the marine life that live on the deepest part of the ocean floor. A large majority of the marine life that live down there have adapted due to the harsh environments.  Most organisms living in the deep rely on a food source called marine snow which is a shower of organic matter from the shallow water. Due to the deep ocean's lack of sunlight most photosynthesizing organisms cannot live there. Instead they occupy a shallow region called the photic zone in which sunlight is easily passed through. After taking notes we worked on our lab. Today we did the last test which was to test the pH of both seawater and freshwater. My hypothesis for this test was that fresh water would be able to regulate pH more efficiently but after the data was collected it showed that my hypothesis was incorrect. After collecting the pH for both samples we put the information on a graph to show the relationship between the two samples.

On Friday we spent the class working on work we needed to finish for science. I worked on my study guide for the test next Wednesday. I knew most of the questions but some of them were very challenging. The questions were on the unit 7 oceans. Most of the new material was on the different parts of the ocean such as the photic and aphotic zone. The photic zone has access to light and can sustain phytoplankton but the aphotic zone is so deep in the ocean it has no access to light. Overall the thing that I can most improve on is studying for the test next week by doing the study guide in advance.