Experimental design

Experimental Design:

Experimental Question: Does heating up the temperature of the water around coral effect how fast the coral will erode

Hypothesis: If changes in temperature affect coral erosion then the rising temperature of water will make coral erode faster

Dependent Variable: The erosion of Coral

Independent Variable: Temperature

Controlled Variable:

· Size of bowls 1&2

· Amount of insta ocean put into 500&300mL beakers

· How much Coral put into the sheer organza bags

·

What is being measured: The amount of coral that erodes from the beginning of the experiment to the end

Materials:

· Insta Ocean

· Bowl 2300mL (2)

· Crushed Aragonite Coral

· Beaker 500mL

· Beaker 300mL

· Grams Scale

· Tap Water

· Tank Heater (2)

· Refractometer

· Measuring Spoon (mL)

· Sheer organza bag (2)

Procedure:

1. Put 500mLs of water in the 500mL beaker

2. Repeat step 1 4 times

3. Put 300mLs of water into 300mL beaker

4. Put Insta ocean into bowl 1 and make sure the salinity is between 33-36 PPM

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for bowl 2

6. Add heater to bowl 1 and set temperature at 86°F

7. Add heater to bowl 2 and set temperature at 76°F

8. Fill 2 sheer organza bags with Crushed Aragonite Coral

9. Dunk sheer organza bags in water

Measure sheer organza bags of coral on grams scale

10. Make sheer organza bags of coral are a equal 50g

11. Put sheer organza bag into bowl 1

12. Put the second sheer organza bag into bowl 2

13. Take observations as to the Coral in the organza bag conditions every three days for the rest of the experiment

14. Cover both bowls in Saran wrap so that no water evaporates

15. Take observations of the water conditions every 3 days for the rest of the experiment

16. Take measurements of the salinity of the water in bowl 1 and 2 every three days to make sure its 33-36 PPM

17. Every Tuesday and Thursday measure how much coral is left in the sheer organza bag

18i. Compare beginning and ending weight of the Coral in bowl 1 and bowl 2