The objective of this experiment was to answer the question ‘Does St. Michaels have acid rain?’. We did this by using pH meters to measure the acidity of the soil of various places around the school. For each place, we took three readings, to reduce the affect of any anomalies, and for each measurement, we placed the pH meter approximately 2.5 centimetres into the soil.
The results showed that St. Michaels could potentially have acid rain, but only in certain areas.
To begin with, the first area measured, the rugby field, was not of the acidity expected of acid rain, and is actually more alkaline than the average soil, with an average pH measured at 6.77. This could potentially be due to football boots containing a neutral or alkaline material that could be embedded in the soil. The marsh nearby was close to neutral in its soil as well, with an average pH of 6.93. A nearby area, the hillside, was also measured with a mildly acidic pH average of 6.13.
The left field, located to the north…show more content… Michaels may have acidic rain in areas around the boarding house, but this could be due to the result of building materials being embedded in the soil. Therefore, I do not think that the school has acid rain, due to the fact the other results are above the expected pH of soil that has had acid rain.
These results also may not be repeatable, because they were taken on a specific day with certain weather conditions. The day we recorded our results on had no rain, nor had there been rain for the past few days. This could mean that soil would be less representative of the pH of the rain. If we recorded these results on a different day, we may have had vastly similar results.
The experiment was quite reproducable, with similar results coming from Sam’s group and Rebecca’s group, excluding the discrepancy on the boarding house measurements. Overall, according to the results and the analysis of them, St. Michaels is unlikely to have acid
