The Effect of Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Carbon Dioxide ...

The Effect of Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, and
Abstract:
Carbon Dioxide On Caladium Plants
By Audrey and Nadine
We chose the project because it’s fun to work with. We did the project to see
the effect of sulfur dioxide on plants. We polluted the plants. We and Mrs.Gordon
doubled the amount of sulfur every day. When we stopped polluting the plants, we
collected data and took pictures of the plant’s cell. Also it took us about three to
four weeks to notice that the sulfur does not really help the plants but the plants
died. The pollution starts showing on the plant cell by changing color from green
to light brown.
Introduction:
Our research came from this article by Sonya 3 Die from Toxic gases At
California Ski resort. When we finished reading that article we learned more about
what the smell of sulfur and what the cause of death at the ski resort. We also read
another article by Howie Iceland volcano fumes from EU. From this article we
learned more about the ash that comes from the volcano. From this article we
thought we probably could “copy cat” the sulfur and experiment on the caladium
plant since this plant was already growing in the lab. This is the type of plant we
are polluting. Our other resource was an article called “Volcanic fumes warning.”

From this article we noticed the fact is that volcanic fumes were hazardous to
public health and volcanic fumes contain hydrochloric acid, carbon dioxide,
sulfuric acid, and glass particles. This was very interesting to us. People died from
carbon dioxide which we think was replaced with oxygen. Maybe there was too
much carbon dioxide. Another good reference was “Volcanic gases and their
effects.” From this article we took notes and learned that the air is 5% CO2 and if
this gas increases to 6-10% this will cause shortness in breath, headaches,
dizziness, and sweating. That is what could happen from exposure to the volcanic
gases to humans. That is what happens from the emissions of volcanic gases.
When we talked to our partnership, the Soltis Research Station in Costa
Rica, they told us that the volcano is not near the backyards of people’s homes.
The plants around the base of the volcano are fine. Also, in Costa Rica they told us
that they try to control how much pollution comes from their cars and trucks.
People in Costa Rica use more mass transit than the United States.
Throughout the experiment we mostly recorded how much water the plants
were getting, we made sure each plant receive the same amount of sunlight, and
took notes about the plants leaves. When we took notes on the plants we observed
the gas effects on the leaves and noticed if the leaf’s condition looked ‘polluted’.
We also had to check up on the plants every hour once we polluted the air. Now

that the experiment is over we know that sulfur dioxide (such as volcanic fumes) is
harmful to the caladium if this plant was exposed to this gas for 5 or 4 hours.
Helan J. Challand A New True Book Volcanoes Canada children`s press 1983
Neil Morris Volcanoes New York crabtree publishing company 1996
Andres Liamas Ruiz Sequences of Earth & space, volcanoes &Earthquakes New
York A division of Grolier publishing 1998
(Plant C leaf piece under microscope at 10x. Not polluted)
Problem: Volcanic gas fumes can be dangerous.

Hypothesis: Volcanic gas of sulfur dioxide is more dangerous than volcanic carbon
dioxide on nitrogen dioxide because the natural air already has carbon dioxide in it.
Objectives:
Materials:
1) To see the effects on a common tropical caladium from sulfur dioxide
fumes
2) To learn how to plot the measurement of sunlight exposure and
watering the plants.
3) To study and compare the plant cells when exposed to different gasses
of SO2 , CO2 , and NO
2
Five caladium plants, soil, 5 plant containers, hot plate, 100 ml cylinder beaker,
ruler, sulfur pellets, journal, pencil, microscope, CO2 meter, SO2 Dosci tubes,
mortar and pestle

Picture of Microscope similar to the microscope we used.(picture off of Internet,
http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-44102-Laboratory-Biological-Microscope/dp/B000Q7964S)
Procedure:
Part 1: Before you start labeling your plant you need to cut some of the plants. You
get the five plants from this huge plant. You pull the single plant, put it in the black
plastic pot and also put soil in the pot. Then water the plant. One you have done
this then you can start the experiment.
1) Part 2: The first step is labeling the five plants plant a, plant b, plant c, plant
d and plant e. Then set them in different places that will give the plants even
sunlight. Also to record the temp before you start polluting. You then ground
up the sulfur pellets into powder. You should at least use about 60 grams of
sulfur pellets.

2) Second step is to read the instructions for the CO2 and SO2 tubes. Stick them
some where you can read them with duck tape still showing the reading.
3) Third step is to check on the two tubes every hour and record the reading in
the journal.
4) Fourth step if the plants don`t look polluted then start burning the sulfur.
Make sure to weigh how much sulfur you will be burning. Record what time
you burned the sulfur just in case you have to burn more sulfur the next day.
Burn 32 grams of sulfur.
5) Fifth step as the days roll by if there are some changes take note in the
journal. When the plants start dying then you have finished the experiment
then you now know what volcanic fumes can do to the plants.
The actual cost of tubes =$10 eachX12 tubes=$120
Cost of plant = $11.94
Hot plate = $167.85
Sulfur Pellets = $19.99~20
Microscope =$ 174.89
Light meter= $89

CO2 meter=$199
Total cost of project =$ 782.67 * please note that many of the items were
already in our science lab. We only had to spend $10.00 each for the Dosci
tubes.
Safety: When burning sulfur make sure you wear safety goggles and an adult is
monitoring you while burning the sulfur. We also used the fume hood at first;
however, we did want the fumes to go everywhere so we moved our
experimental set up out of the hood.
Close up of Plant C leaf under the microscope at 60x (before the plant was exposed to polluted
gasses).
DATA:

Date Identification
of tube
Observations &
Recorded readings
of gasses(ppm)
10/1/2010 SO2 Color change
(10ppm)
NO Darkening
2
yellowish(

(3.0ppm)
Plant Name Where the plant is located
Plant A On top of soil bags where window is
Plant B By the south window under a plant shelf
Plant C On south window under plant shelf away from
plant B
Plant D On the ground on the short little stool
Plant E Under the shower head
Close up of Plant C leaf under the microscope at 200x (after the plant was exposed to polluted gasses).
Notice the darker coloration of the top surface within the leaf.
Calculations:
Between the two gases of SO2 and NO2 the difference was:

low reading for SO2 = 10 ppm and high reading = 100ppm
Range difference was 90ppm
low reading for NO2 =

Graphs:
m-2 s-1 is the unit of sunlight the plant is getting.

Observations: On plant C the plant cells looked healthily. The cells were the
color green and light green. After polluting the plants with the SO2 I did not
get any results. So I had to burn sulfur pellets. After a few weeks passed I
started getting results. The plant cell started changing from light green to
light brown. At that point I knew that the plant cells were getting enough
pollution. I then looked at the other plant cells from the other plants. From
the look of the results I then got my results for the after part.
Discussion of results: Before we started polluting the plants, plant E died. We think
because E was the smallest plant and there were some problems with the sunlight

and water. When we finished the project we still did not know what the problem
with plant E was. When we talked about the plant she thought Plant E died because
it was too near the door so kids who were coming into the lab may have played
with this plant. Plant D started to grow after we polluted it with sulfur dioxide and
then after three weeks or four it start dying. Plant A was doing well at first and it
was growing but then it started polluting and then it died. Plant B was doing good
too but it did not grow very fast and then Plant B ended up dying. Also plant C was
going very well and was the tallest plant, the pollution did not show very much
until the end of the project. At the end of the project Plant C died because when we
took Christmas break we did not get a chance to water it.
Explanation of graph: This graph represents the plant growth in inches during our
project. You can see that the plant that grew the most was plant D. it was the tallest
plant between the plants. The shortest plant was (plant E) it was the one that died
the quickest when compared to the other plants.
Explanation of temperature conversion: The formula for converting Celsius to
Fahrenheit is Tf= (9/5)*Tc+32. For using this formula you have to use pemdas.
Which is Prentices, Exponents, multiply, divide, add and subtract. First you divide
9 by 5. You will get 1.8. Next multiply 1.8 by 19.5. You should get 35.1. Then you
have to add 35.1 and 32 together. The Fahrenheit you should get 67.1 as the
answer. You use the same process for 19.6. For the Fahrenheit the answer should
be 67.28.
We also realized that the CO2 was changing every day, actually every half an hour,
we also noticed that the when the CO2 in the room changes the plant changes. The
last week before the plants died they stopped growing, which makes you think that
the sulfur dioxide makes the plant grow fast at first but then they stop growing.
Now we know that the sulfur doesn’t help the plants at all.
Conclusion:

At first, we made a hypothesis about the sulfur dioxide harming the plant
instead of carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. From the data, we learned
that the sulfur dioxide does not help the plant at all. The reason why is that
we thought the sulfur may help the plant because it increases the acid in the
air and soil so this plant would do better in a decrease of pH conditions. We
saw in the following days of polluting the science lab the plants looked more
healthy than polluted to us. Then a few more weeks of polluting the plants
the plants then started looking poorly. The fourth day the plants slowly
started to get polluted and the plant cells changed in color and shape. The
began to turn slightly brown.
1) To see the effects on a common tropical caladium from sulfur dioxide
fumes
In the project we did end up using SO2,, NO2 ,and CO2 and sulfur pellets
which we ground up into a powder to burn. We also recorded what the
effects of the tropical plants did when they were polluted. Take for example
the tallest plant (Plant D) must have taken the most time before the leaves
were showing any results. After Christmas break and about three weeks
Plant D was starting to show some results. The leaves started to change from
healthy green to light polluted brown. We think it was the sulfur dioxide
since this gas had the highest reading on the Dosci tubes rather than the

carbon dioxide and the nitrogen dioxide. Further testing would really be
needed to pinpoint the exact gas, but with our collection of data, that is what
we think.
2) To learn how to plot the measurement of sunlight exposure, and watering
the plants.
During the project we did end up learning how to plot the measurement
of sunlight exposure and watering plants. At the end of the project we
had to type up a research paper. In the paper we had to include a graph
about the measurement of sunlight and sunlight exposure and the
watering of the plants. So then on the computer we had to plot the
measurement of sunlight and sunlight exposure and watering the plants.
3) To study and compare the plant cells when exposed to different gasses
of SO2 , CO2 , and NO2.
Before we had to start the project we had to study about SO2,
CO2 and
NO2. Once a few weeks past of doing the project we then stated to look
at plant cells under a microscope. We looked at the plant cells before
polluting and recording what we saw. Then when we polluted the plant
cell we then took another look at the plant cell after polluting it with
SO2, CO2 and NO2.

At first all the plant cells looked the same for a few weeks when all the
plants were healthy. When the plants started getting polluted we then started
getting results. Plants A, B were not showing any brown color at all. When we
looked at plants C and D we started to see some light brown color. Probably plants
A and B weren`t really close to where the sulfur pellets were fuming. For plants C
and D they were some where close to the sulfur to even get polluted. By the end of
the experiment plant E was completely polluted.
Annotated References:
1. Costa Rica Field Trip
• We did not actually go to Costa Rica. We went to a
conference room for a video com.
• There we got to listen to some of the students about the
volcano there.
2. http://pollution-plants.blogspot.com/
• Seedlings are little pods and are more sensitive to SO2 Than
older plants.
• The NO2
gas will affect the plants and seedlings.
3. http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/pollution_eff
ects_overview.html&edu=high&links=/wildlife_forests.html

• Pollution can harm plants and animals.
• Pollution can also harm Earth`s climate.
4. http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/8523/1/Plants-That-Will-
Withstand-Pollution-And-Reduce-It.html
• Nitrogen dioxide can stop plant growth without any change
to the leave.
• Sulfur dioxide can produce markings on the leaf leaving
damage to the leaf.
5. http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/view/3
• Power plants produce sulfur.
• Sulfuric acid damages our environment.
6. http://5e.plantphys.net/article.php?ch=e&id=262
• Pollution can even stop plant growth
• Vegetation starts to slow down just by air pollution
7. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/monograph/
• Pollution may not be bad to health but probably can cause
some damage.
• There are two different kinds of air pollution.
8. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php
• Hazards of pollution
• Effects of volcanic gases
9. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/globalwarming/pollution-overview.html
• Fossil fuels make air pollution
• Very effective to environment
10. http://www.westonaprice.org/environmental-toxins/249fluoride-worse-than-we-thought.html
• Affects humans if inhale too much
• Can affect the human body inside

11. http://www.greatdreams.com/red_warning.htm
• Warning of pollution destroying the earth
• Pollution affects weather changes
12. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php
• Air 5% CO2 increase 6-10% in human health
• Talks about CO2
13. http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884
• Ash mist light brown
• Ash cloud dark brown
Acknowledgements Parents for helping type the paper, Mrs.
Gordon for helping a lot on the paper suggesting corrections and
for being the teacher, Librarians for having the text books , partner
for helping collect data and doing the references and the graphs,
internet for typing up paper and Costa Rica for volcano
information.