Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Lake Core Investigation

Question: How many diatoms are there if you went 1 inch in the core compared to 10 inches in the core?

Procedure:
1. Gather materials: ruler/meter stick, slides, slip cover, toothpick, water, water dropper, notebook and pencils.
2. Get the ruler and measure 1 inch in the core.
3. With the toothpick get a small sample of the core.
4. Put the sample of core on the slide.
5. Put one drop of water on the slide and cover with slip.
6. Look at the slide under the microscope and count how many diatoms you can find. (Write in notebook)
7. Now put the ruler 10 inches in the core.
8. Get the same size sample of core as the first time.
9. Put the sample of core on a different slide.
10. Put a drop of water on the slide and cover with slip.
11. Look at the slide under a microscope and count the diatoms you find. (Write in noteboook)
12. Now see which measurement had more diatoms in the core and write the answer in your notebook.

Data Table:

Slide 1 2 3
Measurement Amount of Diatoms
1 inch 13 13 14
10 inches 24 24 18

Conclusion: We found that their were more diatoms on the 10 inch slides compared to the 1 inch slides. On the 1 inch slides the average amount of diamtoms was 13. On the 10 inch slides the average amount of diatoms was 21. The possible reasons their are more diatoms on the 10 inch slides might be because it was deeper in the core.

Two Further Questions:
1. How many more diatoms would you find if you had a shallow core and a deep core?
2. What types of diatoms would you find in the 1o inch compared to the 20 inch and what type of enviroment do they live in?

By: Brittany, Kali, Myranda, and Zac

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