Is beet salt more environmentally friendly than rock salt?
We have been investigating the impact of Road Salt on the germination of seeds. It is important to understand the impact on seed germination because few seeds germinating means fewer plants growing and possible a less diverse ecosystem. Fewer plants could lead to less food in the ecosystem or an increase in erosion.
We have determined that road salt reduces the rate of germination on a variety of seeds and studied the literature to see that research shows road salt has negative impacts on a variety of organisms in the ecosystem. In the search for more environmentally friendly solutions for melting ice and snow on the road beets and sugar from beets have been identified as potential substitutes. We wonder if is really is more environmentally friendly. There are many factors to consider like the fact beets are an organic, renewable resource but one key factor is whether or not it impacts the germination of seeds.
We are going to try “crowd sourcing” the data to determine how beet salt compares to road salt when it comes to impact on rates of seed germination. It is important that you follow this procedure and report this data so we can combine it for analysis.
Research Question: How does the impact of beet salt on radish seed germination rate compare to the impact of regular road salt?
Independent variable: type of melting agent
Dependent variable: rate of germination
What are possible hypotheses?
- Beet salt will have less impact on rate of seed germination than road salt
- Beet salt has the same impact on the rate of seed germination.
- Beet salt has more impact on seed germination.
What is our procedure?
A. Set up the experiment
(watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi2HSV3rBIo )
Mixing a solution of road salt and water
- Put 2 cups of water in a bowl or cup.
- Add ½ of a teaspoon of road salt to the water.
- Mix the water and road salt until the road salt is dissolved.
Setting up road salt replicates
- Label 5 plastic cups “road salt”
- Cut a paper towel in half
- Place 10 radish seeds on the paper towel.
- Fold the paper towel over the seeds.
- Put the paper towel and seed packet in the cup
- Use the pipette to squirt 10 mL of salty water onto the papertowels.
- Cover the cup with a paper towel or paper and tape the cover on.
- Repeat this four more times.
Mixing a solution of beet salt and water
- Put 2 cups of water in a bowl or cup.
- Add ½ of a teaspoon of beet salt to the water.
- Mix the water and road salt until the beet salt is dissolved.
Setting up beet salt replicates
- Label 5 plastic cups “beet salt”
- Cut a paper towel in half
- Place 10 radish seeds on the paper towel.
- Fold the paper towel over the seeds.
- Put the paper towel and seed packet in the cup
- Use the pipette to squirt 10 mL of beet salt water onto the paper towels.
- Cover the cup with a paper towel or paper and tape the cover on.
- Repeat this four more times.
Running the experiment
- Place the 10 cups in a warm (64-68 degrees) location
- Leave it for one week.
- Check to see if the paper towel is still damp. If it looks dry add 1 ml of tap water to keep it moist.
B. Record data
- After one week open the cups.count how many seeds have germinated in each cup.
- Open the paper towels to view the seeds.
- Photograph the seeds in each cup.
- Send your photographs to the group chat.
- Record the number of seeds in the chart below.
- Take a picture of the data table.
- Send the data table to the group chat.
Your Name _______________________________________________-
| Treatment | Count of Seeds germinated Cup #1 | Count of Seeds germinated Cup #2 | Count of Seeds germinated Cup #3 | Count of Seeds germinated Cup #4 | Count of Seeds germinated Cup #5 |
| Road Salt | |||||
| Beet Salt |
C. Submit your data
Enter your data here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RNH5xxdbVGjgyxvVUbGSTIYkTBnBJ02lS2HeGYcrpFI/edit?usp=sharing
D. Summarize your data:
| Total Seeds Germinated | |
| Road Salt | |
| Beet Salt |