Experiment Success

The experiment for my senior project finished successfully.  After 13 days the experimental group grew to an average of blah and the control group grew to blah.  Even though the experimental group plants did not grow as tall as the control, the difference is minute.  Solar distillation is still a great way to produce freshwater for growing crops where potable water is not easily attainable.
All that is left for the project is to complete the portfolio, project board, power point, and reflective paper.  By the end of this week, I hope to have the portfolio done, and over the weekend I hope to finish the board.

Control(left) is taller than experimental(right) on last day of experiment

Plants after a week without water

Project Completion

The project has been completed successfully.  The control groups ended up being taller than the experimental group plants by an average of 5 cm.  I still feel that the distilled water did an adequate job in sustaining the growth of the bean plants, so solar distillation should be considered a suitable option in bringing freshwater to third world countries.
Now that the experiment is finished and the data has been collected, all that is left is to create the presentation board, write the final paper, and assemble the portfolio.  I plan on completing all of this in the next couple of weeks.

Final growth of second group of plants.
Control (left), Experimental (Right)

Final growth of failed first group.
Control (left), Experimental (Right)

Significant Growth

This weekend, a number of the bean sprouts fully germinated.  The first one to germinate was one from the experimental group and it measured in at 11 cm.  By Monday morning almost all the seeds from both groups had fully germinated.  It is too soon to tell whether or not the experimental group is growing better than the control group, but after this week I will know for sure.
I will continue to measure and record the growth of the plants everyday for the rest of the week and to collect distilled water.

Growth Saturday morning

Growth Sunday morning

Small sprouts

This week I continued to monitor the growth of the plants and on Thursday, one of the seeds started to sprout for the control group.  On Friday, four out of the six seeds sprouted in each group.  They seeds are showing equal growth at the current moment.  During the weekend I hope to see more growth and I will record it accordingly.  The plastic wrap for the stills was getting worn so I gave it a fresh wrap.
This weekend I will write the works cited page for the project proposal and start making outlines for the project board and transfer my log entries to a journal.

Growth on Thursday

Growth on Friday

Seeds Planted

This weekend I was able to plant the seeds for my experiment.  I planted six seeds in one pot and six seeds in another.  I put one teaspoon of soil in each of the six compartments, the seed, and then two more teaspoons of soil.  In the control batch, I watered each seed with two tablespoons of tap water and the experimental seeds were watered with two tablespoons of the distilled water.
If the soil is still wet this afternoon I will not water them.  From now on I will only be watering each seed with one tablespoon of water.  Hopefully, some growth should be visible by the end of the week.
I did not put the stills out today because it is supposed to rain.  However, this afternoon is supposed to be hot and sunny, so I will put them out then.  This week I will continue to distill water, monitor the growth of the plants, and work on my proposal.

Planting the seeds

Seeds watered

Success in Distillation

I ran into some trouble earlier this week.  The original design for the solar stills was not successful and all five yielded a couple milliliters in total.  I experimented with a couple more designs .  One consisted of a small bucket within a larger bucket, with plastic wrap directing the evaporated water into the smaller bucket. This design was just as bad as the soda bottle design.  The next design, however, proved far better.
I was able to make a still out of an aluminum tray with a small glass cup in its center.  A thin layer of saltwater was poured into the tray, and plastic wrap covered it which allowed for the evaporated water to be directed into the glass cup.  I made a duplicate still and another of the same design but with a black plastic bin.  The three stills created approximately 90 mL of water.  Each one made about 30.  Placing the stills on a glass table also helped increase the yield.  Today, I will collect another batch of water and will start planting the seeds.

First batch of water on Tuesday

Third batch of water on Thursday

Start the project

This weekend I was successfully able to gather all the supplies for the senior project.  I have the bottles, the seeds and the saltwater.  I went to the beach on Sunday and filled up 3 5-gallon buckets and a cooler.  This is more than enough but I would rather have too much than too little.
Today I will finish setting up the project.  The solar stills will be completed and the bean seeds will be planted.  I have changed the design of the stills slightly.  Instead of soda cans I am using glass jars to collect the freshwater.  They are more stable and heavier than the cans.
Throughout the week I will begin to keep a journal of the experiment and take extra photos for my display.  I will also continue working on my proposal.  The purpose is all that is left to be finished.  My sources are also disorganized and I will have to make the proper citations for them in my paper.

Saltwater collected

Solar stills set up