Activated Carbon and Pesticides
Hard
In this science project, you'll investigate how activated carbon can neutralize a pesticide and save flies from certain death. You'll use different concentrations of activated carbon and observe the number of flies still alive after an hour.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that a higher concentration of activated carbon will neutralize the pesticide malathion and flies will be able to survive, even though they are exposed to the pesticide.
Method & Materials
You will catch 40 flies, prepare 3 spray containers with different concentrations of activated carbon, and place 4 over-ripe bananas in 4 aquariums. You will then spray the bananas with malathion pesticide and release 10 flies into each aquarium. You will observe the number of flies still alive every 10 minutes.
You will need 40 flies, plastic bags, 4 over-ripe bananas, a digital weighing scale, a measuring cylinder, a bottle of distilled water, a bottle of activated carbon, a can of malathion pesticide spray, 4 empty aquarium tanks with top cover, a knife, and 3 spray containers.
Results
The results showed that using a higher concentration of activated carbon increased the survival rate of the flies. This proves that activated carbon can neutralize the pesticide malathion and save flies from certain death.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting and unique because it shows how activated carbon can be used to neutralize a pesticide and save lives.
Also Consider
To make the results more reliable, you could try repeating the experiment using a larger number of flies or a larger number of pesticide concentrations. You could also try repeating the experiment by comparing the effectiveness of activated carbon in neutralizing other types of pesticides.
Full project details
You can find additional information and details for this science fair project here. Have fun exploring!Related videos
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