Testing Toxicity Levels of Ammonium Sulfate on Daphnia Magna
Introduction
Everyday humans put themselves within breathing distance of a toxic chemical. Many people have these toxic chemicals in their homes without knowing it. One of the most common carcinogenic chemicals Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, is found in many hard plastic containers, the lining of canned foods and 40% of store receipts (takepart). Although it is not used in food, it is used in the containers that store food and it can leak into the food it stores. BPA effects In a study by PubMed.gov, the LD50 of BPA on adult female rats is, “ 841 and 35.26 mg/kg body weight for ip and iv route…” LD50 or LC50 is the lowest dosage or concentration that a compound kills 50% of a certain population. The FDA approves the use of BPA because, “studies using standardized toxicity tests have shown BPA to be safe at the current low levels of human exposure…” (WebMD). However they have expressed “some concern” due to the results of animal testing.
In order to study the toxicity levels of common chemicals, an experiment was conducted in order to test the toxicity (the degree to which a substance can damage an organism) of Ammonium Sulfate, a compound that was commonly used in agriculture due to its high levels of nitrogen and sulfur, on Daphnia Magna (freshwater crustaceans that are sensitive to changes to their environment).
If Daphnia Magna are exposed to a low concentration (0.02%) of Ammonium Sulfate, then 50 percent of the population will die.
Methods and Materials
Five solutions were made, four of the solutions contained a different concentration of ammonium sulfate,( .02%, .03%, .04%, and .05%) one solution was only spring water to be the control group. 70 mLs of these solutions were poured into a respective culture jar and by using a different pipet per solution, five Daphnia were transferred into these solutions. In total, there were 5 Daphnia per culture jar, 5 jars per group, and 5 total groups resulting in a total of 125 Daphnia. After 24 hours the mortality of the Daphnia was observed.
The experimental groups were the solutions with different concentrations of ammonium sulfate because the amount of Daphnia that died would depend on the concentration of the solution. The group that contained just spring water was the control group because all of the Daphnia were expected to live in that group because the spring water had not been manipulated. The independent variable is the concentration of Ammonium Sulfate because that was being controlled, the dependent variable are the daphnia because their mortality rates depend on the concentration of Ammonium Sulfate.
Results
Introduction
Everyday humans put themselves within breathing distance of a toxic chemical. Many people have these toxic chemicals in their homes without knowing it. One of the most common carcinogenic chemicals Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, is found in many hard plastic containers, the lining of canned foods and 40% of store receipts (takepart). Although it is not used in food, it is used in the containers that store food and it can leak into the food it stores. BPA effects In a study by PubMed.gov, the LD50 of BPA on adult female rats is, “ 841 and 35.26 mg/kg body weight for ip and iv route…” LD50 or LC50 is the lowest dosage or concentration that a compound kills 50% of a certain population. The FDA approves the use of BPA because, “studies using standardized toxicity tests have shown BPA to be safe at the current low levels of human exposure…” (WebMD). However they have expressed “some concern” due to the results of animal testing.
In order to study the toxicity levels of common chemicals, an experiment was conducted in order to test the toxicity (the degree to which a substance can damage an organism) of Ammonium Sulfate, a compound that was commonly used in agriculture due to its high levels of nitrogen and sulfur, on Daphnia Magna (freshwater crustaceans that are sensitive to changes to their environment).
If Daphnia Magna are exposed to a low concentration (0.02%) of Ammonium Sulfate, then 50 percent of the population will die.
Methods and Materials
Five solutions were made, four of the solutions contained a different concentration of ammonium sulfate,( .02%, .03%, .04%, and .05%) one solution was only spring water to be the control group. 70 mLs of these solutions were poured into a respective culture jar and by using a different pipet per solution, five Daphnia were transferred into these solutions. In total, there were 5 Daphnia per culture jar, 5 jars per group, and 5 total groups resulting in a total of 125 Daphnia. After 24 hours the mortality of the Daphnia was observed.
The experimental groups were the solutions with different concentrations of ammonium sulfate because the amount of Daphnia that died would depend on the concentration of the solution. The group that contained just spring water was the control group because all of the Daphnia were expected to live in that group because the spring water had not been manipulated. The independent variable is the concentration of Ammonium Sulfate because that was being controlled, the dependent variable are the daphnia because their mortality rates depend on the concentration of Ammonium Sulfate.
Results
Conclusion
In the control group (the culture jars with spring water only) all of the Daphnia survived. In the solution that had a concentration of 0.02% of Ammonium Sulfate there were no survivors as was the case for all of the solutions containing Ammonium Sulfate except for the solution with a concentration 0.03%, that solution had one survivor. The LC50 of Ammonium Sulfate on Daphnia can be estimated to be about 0.01% because that is where 50% of the mortality rate crosses the line at. The hypothesis is not supported by the data because more than 50% of the population died when exposed to varying concentrations of Ammonium Sulfate. 0.02% was not the lowest concentration that would kill at least 50% of the population of Daphnia.
Works cited
Antoniades, Andri. "12 Disturbing Chemicals Commonly Found in Everyday Products."
TakePart. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Sept.2015.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/10/28/environmental-working-group-dirty-dozen-endocrine-disruptors
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, June 2012. Web. 14 Sept. 2015 <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22734254>.
"The Facts About Bisphenol A, BPA." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.webmd.com/children/environmental-exposure-head2toe/bpa>.
In the control group (the culture jars with spring water only) all of the Daphnia survived. In the solution that had a concentration of 0.02% of Ammonium Sulfate there were no survivors as was the case for all of the solutions containing Ammonium Sulfate except for the solution with a concentration 0.03%, that solution had one survivor. The LC50 of Ammonium Sulfate on Daphnia can be estimated to be about 0.01% because that is where 50% of the mortality rate crosses the line at. The hypothesis is not supported by the data because more than 50% of the population died when exposed to varying concentrations of Ammonium Sulfate. 0.02% was not the lowest concentration that would kill at least 50% of the population of Daphnia.
Works cited
Antoniades, Andri. "12 Disturbing Chemicals Commonly Found in Everyday Products."
TakePart. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Sept.2015.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/10/28/environmental-working-group-dirty-dozen-endocrine-disruptors
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, June 2012. Web. 14 Sept. 2015 <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22734254>.
"The Facts About Bisphenol A, BPA." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.webmd.com/children/environmental-exposure-head2toe/bpa>.