The Automotive Pioneer

Table of Contents

 Introduction 1

 Hypothesis 2

 Procedure/Experiment 3

 Results 4

 Conclusion 5

 Credits/References 6

Introduction

My family has a burning site on the side of our house. We use this site to burn our trash which mostly contains plastic and rubber. My dad also grew small palm trees on the same side of the house. Although my dad grooms the palm trees on a weekly basis, they always seem to turn brown or die. This inspired me to find out if the palm trees were affected by the plastic, rubber, or both toxicants combined. I will go about testing this by letting three palm trees be exposed to the smoke from the toxicants separately every morning. Observation will take place until changes have occurred and eventually to the death of the plant. This experiment will give a clear result of the affect of pollution on the environment.

Hypothesis and Background Research

Plastics and synthetic rubbers are very harmful to the environment because they both are composed of several different toxins. When plastic or synthetic rubber burn, they release dioxin, the most nastiest man-made organic chemical, because of the chlorine in these toxicants (Campbell, 1997). Dioxin is just one of the many dangerous toxins that are released by these two toxicants that affect plants and the soil. As I observed how my dad's palm trees were affected by the smoke from the burning site, I tried to figure out which toxicant could do such damage to the plant or were all characteristics of a plant affected by toxins the same. I hypothesize that the plant exposed to the smoke from the plastic and synthetic rubber combined (Plant A) will be the first to show changes and die because there will be a mixture of toxins in the smoke causing it to be more deadly. Also, the plant exposed to the smoke from the plastic (Plant B) will be affected faster than the plant exposed to the smoke from the synthetic rubber (Plant C) because of the many toxic additives it contains such as: benzene, stynene, acetone, sulfur oxide, etc,(Krupnik, 2002).

Procedure/Experiment

Materials:

* 3 Small Palm Trees

* 3 Plant Pots

* Soil

* Water (Put in a spray bottle, to control the amount of water used on the plants.)

* 3 Stands for Plants (Stands should have a hole according to the size of the pot used to hold the plant)

* 1 Plastic Bottle

* Scrap of Synthetic Rubber (tire)

* 1 Box of matches

* 1 Pair of scissors

* Ruler

* Pairs of Gloves

* 1 Notebook

* Pen/Pencil

Procedure:

 Put on pair of gloves to be protected from any toxins that may be released. (Always use different gloves when there is experimentation.)

 Take the palm trees and place them into the plant pots.

 Add the soil.

 Water the plants. (Have a set amount of times you spray to avoid drowning the plants.) Water the plants everyday!

 Label the plants

 Plant A-Exposed to both toxicants

 Plant