Salinization

For this test, each group in the class made different solutions consisting of water and varying amounts of salt to show how well beans could grow based on the amount of salt present in the water feeding them. Our group was tasked with creating a solution with 3 grams of salt, but because we used 120 mL of water instead of the standard 100 mL, this was converted to 3.6 grams by multiplying 3 grams by 120 mL then dividing by 100 grams, or 3 g x 120 mL = 100 mL x X g goes to 100 X / 100 = 360 / 100 to yield 3.6 g. Six bags containing the beans (our side of the room handled the red beans) and paper towel saturated with the solution were created, and each lab desk was given one of each of the levels of saturation as well as a control bag:

The bags were then surveyed over the course of approximately one week to see which beans grew, how well, and for which solutions did they grow best. The bags were eventually all clumped together on each side:

As the experiment went on, it became evident that lower salt solutions such as 1 g:

As well as 2 g, our 3 g, 4 g, and 5 g were not very good at producing plants from the seeds being placed inside. Most of these beans failed to grow at all. Ironically, the control bag, the solution with no salt, grew very well, as seen here a few days into the experiment (these are the white beans- it appeared that the same results were found for both types of beans, though the white beans did grow a bit more than the red):

And here near its conclusion:

Also, despite 1 g - 5 g being unsuccessful, .5 g of solution also yeilded quite a bit, as shown here a few days in:

And here near its conclusion:

Although not growing as well as no salt at all, .5 g was able to yeild a crop while the others with salt content failed. This proves that a small amount of salt in the water going to plants and crops is okay, but the mass pollution of water supplies with excess salt leads to crop failure and inability to grow as the salt content becomes too high. Drainage improvement, chemical remediation, and the flushing of soil in combination with not allowing for evaporation can all help to remediate overly salty soils. Salt content in soil and water is okay, but can quickly become too much and mst be monitored as such to ensure healthy vegetation.

- Andrew