Centennial Collegiate 2009 - Saskatoon, SK
Dr. Robert Blyth (CLS), Colin Mininelly, Dr. Lucia Zuin (CLS), Mrs. Jacqueline Gregoire (CC), Victoria Glass, Maryam Waseem, Mr. Kevin Kaiser (CC), Angela Son, Safal Suryavenshi, Ryan Peng, Dwip Parekh, Mrs. Tracy Walker (CLS), Palak Suryavenshi, Mrs. Amy Friesen (CLS)
Exploration of Acid –Treated Boreal Forest Soil
Through the Students on the Beamlines program, five Centennial Collegiate Institute (CCI) students invited an additional four students to join them in the submission of a proposal to the Canadian Light Source for beam time. To be invited to the CLS is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with world-renowned scientists in a world-class facility. The CLS allows high school students on to the beamline to perform experiments. This extremely exciting and extraordinary opportunity could not be passed up.
This experiment was an exploration of the possible effects of nitric acid rain on boreal forest soil. This type of soil is susceptible to acid rain effects due to low buffering capacity and its geographic potential for exposure. Initially northern Quebec soil was studied as it is potentially vulnerable to acid rain deposition as a result of industrial pollutants carried on prevailing winds. Closer to home, we were concerned that this situation may be mirrored in Saskatchewan as a result of prevailing winds from the oil sands projects in northern Alberta. As a result of emissions legislation and industrial filter systems for sulphur oxides, levels of sulphuric acid in rainwater are falling. Controls on oxides of nitrogen are not as stringent, and so we studied the effects of nitric acid
Aluminum is one of the most prevalent minerals in the Earth’s crust. Aluminum is of interest because it is an important buffer and elevated concentrations of it may influence the cycling of important elements like phosphorus and sulphur. We suspect that there are physiological, biochemical and metabolic interactions and relationships between aluminum, sulphur and phosphorus in plants. We would like to see the effect that nitric acid rain has on these elements and their interrelationships in boreal forest soil. In previous experimentation we used soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy to investigate the effects of nitric acid rain on boreal forest soil. We concluded that nitric acid rain has an effect on aluminum in boreal forest soil. The acid treated soil retained the four-fold co-ordinated aluminum but was “missing” some of the six-fold co-ordinated aluminum. The “missing” Six-fold co-ordinated aluminum reappeared in the scan of the acid residue; suggesting that acid rain can remove and transport aluminum from soil. In 2009 VLS-PGM was used to do more detailed scans to confirm these results and expand the investigation to include phosphorus and sulphur. Soil used in 2009 was SK soil
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You can view the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghTlnIurtHQ&feature=related
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View of the sample chamber on the PGM beamline |
View inside the chamber (sample sits on the face of the ‘knob’ protruding from the left) |
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Puzzling through the plan to make sure they are able to collect as much data as possible in the limited time available. |
Students arrive on the beamline to begin setting up for their scans (view from the Mezzanine) |
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Coordinating the log book with the beamline and sample set ups takes some discussion |
Results are always interesting but sometimes they take some real puzzling to figure out |
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Students run the beamline and record all the information while the adults merely get to ‘supervise’ |
Students analyze their initial data to look for interesting peaks to pursue more closely with the next scan |
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Making connections between readings, understandings, and data using whatever tools are at hand |
and takes everyone’s input |
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The first of many presentations of their data and conclusions to the CLS staff, a workshop organized by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, The SK Environmental Protection Branch, and the College of Agriculture Soil Sciences faculty. |
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In early 2009, the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) published a short video about this project. The CCL is an independent, non-profit corporation that promotes and supports research to improve all aspects of learning - across the country and across all walks of life.
Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:36