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Problem!
We want to find out how much styrofoam, aluminum foil, a sun chips bag, a regular chip bag, an apple, an orange, cotton, and paper will decompose over about an 8 week period buried. -
Materials and Equipment!
MATERIALS
*Styrfoam
*Aluminum Foil
*Sun Chips Bag
*Reg. Chip Bag
*Apple
*Paper
*Cotton
*Orange EQUIPMENT
*Shovel
*Rebar
*Caution Tape
*Labled Wood Stakes -
Hypothesis!
I believe the apple will decompose the most. Apple-65%
Orange-45%
Sun Chip Bag-30%
Styrfoam-25%
Paper-20%
Cotton Fabric-6%
Plastic Bag-5%
Aluminum Foil-0% -
Procedures!
We buried the items on the 7th, now we have to keep track of weather and research these items. -
Weather Week 1
Started out in the low teens but made its way up to the high twenties and low thirties. Wind chill made its way from the high teens to high twenties. We got some snow but not much. -
Styrfoam!
Around 25 billion styrfoam cups are thrown away every year. If you were to throw away a styrfoam cup today it would remain in landfill soace for close to 500 years. Reduce-Use glass or other better products
Reuse-Use the cup more than once
Recycle-Take your used styrfoam to your local recycling center where they melt it and form it into new products -
Aluminum Foil!
It takes 400 years for foil to break down naturally. The average American throws away 3 pounds of foil every year. It takes 95% less energy to make new foil out of recycled foil. -
Weather Week 2!
This week has been cold.
The temp. has stayed in the high teens and low twenties.
We got a little bit of snow and icy roads. -
Weather Week 3!
Started in the high twenties on Monday and made its way up to the mid-seventies.
We didn't get any precipitation. -
Sun Chips Bag!
It is biodegradable.
Decomposes very quickly.
Not as bad for the environment. -
Regular Chip Bag!
It does not decompose, but brakes up into tiny pieces and eventually turns into plastic dust. This process takes hundreds of years. -
Weather Week 4!
Any where from 5 degrees to 15 degrees.
Ice and snow up to 6 inches or so and huge snow drifts. -
Weather Week 5!
This week was REALLY cold.
Started off in the negatives to the teens. Warms up towards the end of the week.
More ice and snow, about 6 inches. -
Apple!
Apples decompose much faster if they are cut open than if they are left whole.
It takes about 3 weeks for it to decompose. -
Weather Week 6!
Nice over all. In the 50 to 70 degree region. -
Paper!
Paper in a warm moist landfill will decompose in 2 or 3 weeks. If it is cooler and drier, then it will take longer. Paper will survive in a very dry climate for many hundreds of years. -
Cotton!
It takes about 5 months to decompose. -
Weather Week 7!
Lots of rain, temperatures from 30 to 50 degrees. -
Weather Week 8!
Mid 70's most of the week. -
Orange!
Orange Peel-About 6 months to decompose.
The insides decompose alot quicker. -
Orange!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed about 80%
I thought it would decompose about this much. I wasn't surprised by the results. -
Apple!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed about 80%
It decomposed about how much I predicted. -
Sun Chips Bag!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed about 1%
I expected this to decompose a lot more, the results surprised me. -
Regular Chip Bag!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed 0%
I didn't expect this to decompose much. -
Paper!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed about 50%
I really thought that the paper would be completely gone. -
Styrfoam!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed 0-5%
The styrfoam actually decomposed more than I expected, even though it wasn't a lot. -
Foil!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed 0%
I didn't expect this to decompose. I was right. -
Cotton!
Dug up on 7-3-11
Decomposed 0%
This was obvious to me that it wouldn't decompose in an 8 week period.
