The Role of Carbon Dioxide Within Lake Michigan's Nitrogen Cycle

Mentor 1

Russel Cuhel

Location

Union Wisconsin Room

Start Date

28-4-2017 1:30 PM

End Date

28-4-2017 4:00 PM

Description

The goal of this experiment is to determine how surface area effects the growth of nitrifying bacteria. This type of experiment is called a roller bottle experiment because there are 9 different bottles on a rolling table. The 9 bottles are separated into 3 groups; sand, beads dosed with ammonium, and beads dosed with nitrite. The beads represent zebra mussel shells on the floor of Lake Michigan. In the bottles that contain beads there is one with 90 beads, one with 45 beads, and one with zero beads. By comparing the increase or decrease of nitrite and ammonia in the different bottles we are able to pick up on trends that relate to the surface area. We can anticipate that the bottles dosed with ammonium will show an increase in nitrite and a decrease in ammonia. The bottles with the highest surface area (90 beads) will have the largest amount of nitrite. Something different happens for the bottles dosed with nitrite, as in the levels of nitrite will decrease and levels of nitrate will increase; with the 90 beads bottle having the higest amount. I specifically studied the levels of carbon dioxide in each of the bottles using flow injection analysis. Doing so we were able to predict roughly what level the other compounds were at. This is due to the fact that the nitrifying bacteria require carbon dioxide to oxidize ammonia to nitrite and then nitrite to nitrate

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 28th, 1:30 PM Apr 28th, 4:00 PM

The Role of Carbon Dioxide Within Lake Michigan's Nitrogen Cycle

Union Wisconsin Room

The goal of this experiment is to determine how surface area effects the growth of nitrifying bacteria. This type of experiment is called a roller bottle experiment because there are 9 different bottles on a rolling table. The 9 bottles are separated into 3 groups; sand, beads dosed with ammonium, and beads dosed with nitrite. The beads represent zebra mussel shells on the floor of Lake Michigan. In the bottles that contain beads there is one with 90 beads, one with 45 beads, and one with zero beads. By comparing the increase or decrease of nitrite and ammonia in the different bottles we are able to pick up on trends that relate to the surface area. We can anticipate that the bottles dosed with ammonium will show an increase in nitrite and a decrease in ammonia. The bottles with the highest surface area (90 beads) will have the largest amount of nitrite. Something different happens for the bottles dosed with nitrite, as in the levels of nitrite will decrease and levels of nitrate will increase; with the 90 beads bottle having the higest amount. I specifically studied the levels of carbon dioxide in each of the bottles using flow injection analysis. Doing so we were able to predict roughly what level the other compounds were at. This is due to the fact that the nitrifying bacteria require carbon dioxide to oxidize ammonia to nitrite and then nitrite to nitrate