My daughter's CO2 science project!

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scottracy

scottracy

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For my experiment I chose to make CO2 and show how to use it to grow aquatic plants. To make CO2 I used 3 cups of white granulated sugar, 1tsp of yeast, and 1tsp of baking soda and put them in a 2L bottle. I filled the 2L bottle with lukewarm water up to the place where the bottle begins to curve inward. Then I closed the bottle with a special top with a hole in it and airline tubing sealed to the hole. My father helped me to connect it to a bell diffuser and place it in a aquarium that he had setup with aquatic plants. After ten minutes CO2 bubbles began to come out of the diffuser. The CO2 was produced as a result of the yeast consuming the sugar and taking in oxygen and then releasing CO2. Then the CO2 traveled from the bottle through the airline tubing into the bell diffuser, where it was processed into tiny bubbles and released into the aquarium. The CO2 is dissolved and used by the plants for growth.
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This was my daughter's science project. She is in the 3rd grade. We used a 5.5g with 100% eco-complete and a dusting of peat. For lighting we used a mini-coralife providing a total of 18W (3.27 WPG). She did the entire project with minimal assistance. The focus of the project was CO2 production. The tank provided a bit of a twist and a nice display. She came in 2nd place and was bested by a "How to best clean pennies" project. I'm still proud of her initiative and interest in aquaria. We plan on using the new tank to house our betta. It currently lives in a plain 2.5g. The CO2 is 6.6 and I will be adjusting it to 7.0-7.2 with the aid of a needle valve this week. He should appreciate the new digs.



Scott
 
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Darkblade48

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Getting kids into the hobby early in life :)

What a great way to get more people addicted to keeping aquariums. Soon, she'll be making more DIY CO2 than you have tanks, and then you'll know it's time to buy more tanks ;)
 
J

jonathan03

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Feb 12, 2005
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It looks like a great project. I'm not sure how they could have possibly liked the penny project more. It has been done so many times before unlike something unique like a planted tank.
 
djlen

djlen

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Aug 19, 2002
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HOW TO CLEAN PENNIES??!!!!!!!?? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME.
What's the matter with those people??!!?? Get them on the phone.....we need to talk. Cleaning pennies......now there's a worthwhile endeavor!!!!!!!
You tell her she's number one in my book.......still can't believe this.............what a ripoff........

Len
 
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1865

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Be honest. This was just an excuse to get a new tank, wasn't it?



:p :p :p
 
buddha_red

buddha_red

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thats awesome how she's into the hobby so early. i know full grown men that wont build a DYI yeast.

woohoo extra tank! cant have too many or too large.. dont tell my wife i said that hahahaha
 
scottracy

scottracy

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HOW TO CLEAN PENNIES??!!!!!!!?? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME.
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BTW ketchup cleans pennies the best according to the winning experiment!! I pretty much thought to myself at the science fair what Len stated but did not share this with Madison. Like with the other tanks and animals it gave us father-daughter time!
Be honest. This was just an excuse to get a new tank, wasn't it?
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Thats funny! I now have 5 different tanks. My wife said the other day "I never thought we would be pressed for room to put another aquarium." Sort of snowballs on you!

Thanks for all the kind words.

Scott
 
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Darkblade48

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scottracy said:
BTW ketchup cleans pennies the best according to the winning experiment!!

Scott
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Ketchup?! I thought it was lemons (at least according to my textbooks it is...after all, the tarnish on pennies is due to the formation of CuS and CuO, and when you use a lemon, the citric acid reacts with them, forming a Copper complexation, which returns the Copper to it's original shine....)
 
djlen

djlen

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Does anybody really care what cleans them?!!!!? You clean a penny and put it back in circulation and two days later is crappy again.
The girl is trying to learn stuff like biology and they give the ribbon for how to clean pennies? Come on!!!
Either somebody's got some pictures or there was a payoff!!! I think you should ask for an investigation Scott.

Len
 
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